greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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A few people have posted on here saying that after lowering their cars they had
a problem with the exhaust pipe banging on the rear axle when they go over
bumps, speed humps etc. I discovered a super cheap fix today that works really
well so thought would post here in case useful to anyone else. My car is a 1.0 l
fitted with standard vauxhall back box and silencer, dunno if this will work with
custom exhausts or other engine sizes etc.
The problem is caused by the axle moving up and banging on the exhaust pipe
because the car is lowered there's no longer as much clearance. Also note
that there is often a bracket at that point on the exhaust pipe you have to be
careful that bolts on the bracket don't foul the axle, this usually solvable by
rotating the bracket so the bolts don't hit the axle.
Next thing I noticed was how spongy and flexible the vaux zorst mouting
rubbers are, the back box bounces around all over the place. Possibly this
is intentional, my fix will reduce the flex so it stops the zorst moving down
when you go over a bump at the same time as the axle moves up (reaction).
I'm hoping that by stiffening it up it's not going to cause excessive vibration
in the silencer (no sign of it when driving).
I looked at uprated (powerflex) exhaust mount rubbers, also checked the ford
fiesta and focus types that some other people say worked. The powerflex ones
were very expensive for what they are (I thought).
Then I thought I'd try halfords just to see what they've got. They had "universal"
exhaust mounts with the same hole spacing as the vaux ones but much more
solidly made, basically a rectangle of solid rubber with 4 holes moulded through,
two for the mouting pins. As these were on sale at £1.29 each I thought I'd blow
a couple of quid, put 'em on and see how well they worked.
I replaced the mounts on the back box, didn't bother doing the ones in
the middle of the car. Took me about ten minutes lying on my back on the
drive, you don't need to jack it up or anything though there's a knack to getting
the new ones on (put them on the back box pins first, then the body pins).
I've been really surprised to find that the result of fitting these has totally fixed
the problem! I've done about 30 miles this afternoon down lots
of really bumpy country lanes (really TERRIBLE road surfaces) and haven't had
a single "clang" all afternoon. Added to which the engine sounds smoother
to boot less vibration. Also went over a few speed bumps and some poorly
surfaced roads on the industrial estate and again no clangs at all. Before I
put these new zorst mounts on it was banging and clanging all the time forcing
me to drive really slow on these types of road surface, now I can go at normal
speed again.
Anyway total fix price £2.60 and it totally solves the problem.
Hope this is useful to someone ;-)
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Tom J
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Sep 03
Location: Bridgend
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where bouts is halfords will these be
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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just ask at the counter for rubber zorst mounts, they've
got about 4 or 5 standard types, there's only one type
which matches the vaux back box
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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Actually I've seen these on sale in other car spares
shops not just halfords, motor bitz in poole had them they
were labelled "ford escort" but looked just like the halfords ones which are called "universal"; I think they
were a couple of quid each in motor bitz so a bit more
than halfords
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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Right the halfords part code is
HEX403 "silencer mounting",
they come in a small plastic bag with cardboard label at top that says "halfords mounting exhaust fixing"
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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Hmn... maybe those escort ones I saw weren't the same now I think about it, best stick to the halfords ones
(I don't work for them by the way)
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Mistamist
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Registered: 16th Jul 03
Location: Gillingham, Kent
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i used the same ones, but instead of putting the rubbers long ways, u put them the short way (sideways) (o8o) <---something like that. works a treat
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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Mine are put on long ways I think there's a number of different types of these "universal" mounts so may get different spacing between hole centers, these HEX403's couldn't go on sideways at least not onto the standard
vaux back box the pegs are too far apart
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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But yeah they really do work a treat I was really surprised
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BabyBlade
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Registered: 5th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Rides: Ninja 600
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am i right in thinking the standard vauxhall ones are oval with 4 holes in?
mine are and the holes used were the two holes at the longest side of the oval, so i simply tunred my rubbers on its side and used the other two holes.
was a bitch to do as it was tight getting them on, exhaust doesnt rattle or move now 
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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The standard vauxhall ones for my car (12v) are 3 holes they're oval shape, a hole at each end of the oval and a great big gap in the middle which I guess is the third hole, you wouldn't be able to turn these on their sides. They're ever so stretchy and bendy because of the great big gap in the middle and the rubber ain't very thick. The alfurds ones I've replaced 'em with are 4-hole, almost rectangular but with a radius at each corner, much thicker rubber, one hole at each of the longways ends and two holes across in the middle. You could turn these on their sides but the pegs would have to be about 1 cm apart!
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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One thing that's different with these new mounts on is I can't lift the back box any more. With the old vaux mounts I could grab the tailpipe and lift the backbox up and move it around quite freely, would lift up probably about 3 inches or so, with the new mounts can hardly move it.
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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I hope putting these stiff mounts on ain't going to do any damage I've got this niggling feeling that vauxhall put loose flexible mounts on deliberately for some reason...
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greebo2
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Registered: 21st Aug 03
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Like they wanted the silencer to fail prematurely so you have to keep going back and paying for a new one!!!
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