Exhaust hanger woes

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:09 am

Stu - how much did that garage charge you to weld a new exhaust hanger hook onto your BX?

This morning my exhaust was a'bangin' and a'rattlin' ... and I found that the rear silencer was hanging down. Upon further investigation, I found the hook has corroded at its base where it's welded to the corner of a box section, and I was able to wiggle it around like a very loose tooth. Arse.

Looks as though my BX is heading in for its MOT early then - as it's due in a few weeks anyway... and might need a new rear HC and a lower wishbone bush. That'll be around the time I'm moving house and need to come up with some deposit/rent money... and also around the time I need to collect my GSA and pay a large final bill for the restoration. Ah joy!

Mark.

Terry Brooks · Post by **Terry Brooks** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:14 am

The rear hanger dropped off my BXTZD ......I remedied it by cutting a peice of slotted strip [ a bit like old "Meccanno" if you can remember that long back] ....and bolting it to the body as near as poss where the hanger had been welded ...I then put a long bolt through it [held on by a nut,obviously] and used the bolt as the hanger .....it went through it's MOT like thus only a month or so since so must be OK.
HTH
Terry

Cornishbx16v · Post by **Cornishbx16v** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:46 pm

a quick and easy fix is to drill through from the back corner of the boot floor and put a nice long bolt inplace!

Vanny · Post by **Vanny** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:37 pm

thats what i did cornish! And its the third car i've done it to!

saint gaz · Post by **saint gaz** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:49 pm

Had mine done last December. Cost me £50 as when they had a closer look they had to remove a piece about 8" square from the boot to were the join of the boot is to the wheel arch. My citroen may says its one of the most common places to go as the original weld from underside of boot to wheel arch wasn't that good and almost from day one started to get moisture trapped in and corrode away. Before i had it done they said its a half hour job and would be £25. in the end it was a two man job for an hour and a half. hence the £50.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:31 pm

Thanks for your replies. I've effected a temporary repair by tying the silencer to the adjacent towing eye using a cheap tow rope. Bloody good thing I had a new hockey stick and centre box recently, otherwise I could have lost the whole system by now.

Mark.

Kitch · Post by **Kitch** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:30 am

I had this fun recently.

Mine was all rusted and it was near breaking away.....

We cut the whole thing out then grinded it back to good metal. Then we welded a thick plate in its place....

Then we saved the actual hanger, and welded it to another plate which was then riveted to the new plate......

Then coat in underseal and Hammerite until satisfied

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:12 pm

Thanks for the great pics Kitch! That's *exactly* what's happened to my hanger. The hook is attached to a loose flap of corroded metal.

In the meantime I've got to untie that tow-rope and do it again... I couldn't exactly get it tied up nice and tight in the pouring rain...

Mark.

Cornishbx16v · Post by **Cornishbx16v** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:17 pm

just up behind the back box is a crossmember which can be quite effective in supporting a back box!! as mine is currently ties to that! haha! havent fixed mine since i bust the cordless drill i had! (trigger jammed open so you only had on and off!! thought i would have a look now its f##ked!

)
interestingly, passed mot like it too!

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:01 pm

Cornishbx16v wrote:just up behind the back box is a crossmember which can be quite effective in supporting a back box!! as mine is currently ties to that! haha! havent fixed mine since i bust the cordless drill i had! (trigger jammed open so you only had on and off!! thought i would have a look now its f##ked! )
interestingly, passed mot like it too!

Ah well, I suppose if mr MOT man finds the exhaust to be secure, then it'll pass!

I've re-secured the silencer with the tow-rope, but this time I've done it up too tightly and it's vibrating against the towing bracket and subframe - sounds awful! No time to adjust it now.. ah well, at least it's in no danger of falling off.

Mark.

Bluey1978 · Post by **Bluey1978** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:23 pm

This one thing happened to my wife whilst out driving our last BX the Meteor, she had just pulled into our local medical centre when she heard a loud crash and then a horrible scraping noise (the exhaust falling down and scraping along the car park) after this she had a total lack of confidence in the car and hated driving it - we eventually sold it.

This appears to be a common rust spot for BX's as all the elements seem to find it and accumulate there, first thing I checked when I bought my BX19RD, solid as a rock this one.

We ended up having to have the whole corner rebuilt as the welding guy had to go back so far to get good metal it was unreal - luckily he was a mate and it only cost me £20 - the steel alone must have cost half that, let alone his labour to grind it all out and weld the new section in. After the carpets were put back and a good coat of underseal, you could hardly make out anything had been done, especially after a couple of months of road dirt had 'colour-toned' the new work in with the old.

I will now keep an eye on this one section as that little support stud is responsible for the whole rear end of the exhaust - from memory I can remember using a long length of garden wire wrapped round the towing eye to hold the exhaust up in order to get the missus home......

Not nice - hope you get it sorted.

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:37 pm

If the exhaust clamps are tight and the system is sound the two rubbers on the cross box will stop the system hitting the floor, I have seen an aftermarket bracket that looks the part in my accessory shop, when I looked at mine it was sound but about six inches of the boot corner seam had opened up, having my van handy I just cleaned it up and laid two laminations of GRP in the boot corner, it certainly has stuck.
Stewart

Gareth Wales · Post by **Gareth Wales** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 3:17 pm

Kitch - noticed that you've got one of those after-market rear mudflaps which seem to rely totally on screws inside the wheel arch. But doesn't the unsupported inside part of the flap, flap about, so to speak?
Gareth

richard · Post by **richard** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:57 pm

Hi Folks

I have not been BXactive for a while due to home/work commitments, so I have not been on this forum for ages.

Interesting in reading about this problem. My BX is an E plate and the hanger seems solid, but the seam at the boot floor below the hanger has 'slight' play. This play is most likely caused by the weight of the back box flexing the panel. What a crappy design!!!! I assume it will be just a matter of time before it goes! All the same it's probably best to give it a clean and paint and hope for the best.