Replacing the exhaust / muffler on Bus

[LarsenAA]

All right since I am not sure anyone is really on here except for possibly Beetle and Sister Earth, I will just pretend I am writing to them and if anyone else chimes in, that would be bonus.  I have a J Clancy Magoo is a 1969 bay window bus.  It has been running great, but the exhaust fumes are killing us.  It gets worse if we are just sitting and idling, for instance going through a drive through.  I believe the problem is that the exhaust that is currently on there is is a dual exhaust and doesn't even clear the back of the bus.  Therefore the fumes are under the bus and coming up the back and getting sucked in around the back hatch seal.  I could be wrong, but is seams like a logical theory.  If I am not mistaken the correct muffler / exhaust should have the tail piece exiting on of of the sides and there for not entering the back of the bus and not giving me and my family headaches.  (We don't drive it very far as of right now)  I am looking at this one [url][http://www.busdepot.com/211251053ecurl]  I don't think my hyperlink is going to work.  Anyway it is the Complete Exhaust system on Bus Depot and I believe it is $179.00  Is this the correct one and will it possibly fix my problem?  I am also going to get a new rear hatch seal as well.  Just thought I would ask around.  The weather finally got nice enough to even think about letting the Bus back on the streets.  Way too much salt in the winter.  Thank you for your help.

[TexasAirCooler]

Hello, I've drifted in and out through the years.

If your exhaust that you have on your bus now is a beetle style you will have problems with fumes being drawn into the cabin. I had this problem on a '70 I used to have. I had bad rear hatch seals also.


The system your looking at from the Bus depot should take care of most your problem along with the seal. And your correct on thinking that the exhaust does need to clear the body of the bus. I also adjusted the fuel mix to lean my engine out just a touch.

[LarsenAA]

Thank you for your reply. I have taken and picture of my exhaust and tried to get some good lighting.  I am not sure how to add images on here, so I just copied and pasted and I hope that works.  This is the set up and you may not be able to tell from this angle, but the end of the pipes are a good 6" away from my bumper.  The previous owner said her dad used to drive them around when they were little in this and that she remembers the smell even then.  I would say they are lucky to be alive, because we just ran to get ice cream and we all had headaches for several hours.  P.S.  I am sure there is more than one hole rusted through this as well.

[TexasAirCooler]

Your pic isn't viewable, you'll need to upload it to a photo/image host site such as photobucket, imageshack or Fotki. Then you may insert the pics address using the icon from above that looks like a picture in a frame which will give you something like the following: [ img ][ /img ] I have placed spaces between the code brackets and the code so it would show up. Paste your link in the middle of the ][

[LarsenAA]

I am sorry about that.  I don't have access to those sites at this time, but I thought at one time you could pull images off of your computer and share on this site?  I will  see what I can come up with.

[TexasAirCooler]

the end of the pipes are a good 6" away from my bumper.  The previous owner said her dad used to drive them around when they were little in this and that she remembers the smell even then.  I would say they are lucky to be alive, because we just ran to get ice cream and we all had headaches for several hours.  P.S.  I am sure there is more than one hole rusted through this as well.

Would that be 6" under the bus or sticking out from?

[LarsenAA]

That would be they are 6" under the bus.  That means if the fumes do get sucked in like they say it does, then that definitely is the problem since it would roll right up the backside.  My wife gave me the green light to order the new exhaust since she is ready to get this thing drivable as well. The sad part is that I had a guy help me get this up and running when I first got it and he didn't notice the problem.  I think he was more of a beetle guy and possibly didn't know it would be an issue. 

[TexasAirCooler]

That is possible about your beetle friend.

JLT mentioned  It could also be the heat exchangers in the other post. (sorry I didn't reply to that one).
Not to take away from his suggestion. . . I had that problem on a bug once, but it was more pronounced when the engine was at speed with the heat open.

Do you have your heat hooked up?

[LarsenAA]

The heat is hooked up and as far as I can tell the heat exchangers look pretty good.  Now, I realize that looks don't necessarily mean much.  I have been sitting behind the bus working on it and noticed how all of the exhaust comes pouring out the backside and if the bus is a vacuum, then that would definitely get sucked in.  We also noticed it getting worse as we were going through the drive through.  The bad part is we had the kids strapped in the back.  I am going to order the new exhaust on Monday and the new rear hatch seal, and possibly the one for the engine compartment as well.  The Bus Depot guys wrote me back as well and said that is the one that would be best.  Hopefully they aren't that difficult to hook up and everything else is the right size. 

[LarsenAA]

Well... after 7 or so hours working on the exhaust system I have it put together.  Since there were no instructions, I am guessing it is right.  I had an extra brace that I didn't use since I wasn't sure what it was supposed to attache it to, or where it went.  I may have to look at little closer at it and see if I can figure it out.  The family and i have put about 40 miles on it this weekend already and it is purring nicely.  I still need to replace the seals, but believe I will need to get some sort of adhesive to put it in.

The exhaust went it fairly well, but it didn't line up perfectly with the engine tin, or in some of the connections.  It should have been about a 40 min job, but there were some issues.  Overall I think it will help and the Bus seems to run better and take off with less effort than before.  We will definitely be cruising around it a lot this summer.  Very happy to have the J.Clancy Magoo up and running.  It is the kids first choice of cars.

[TexasAirCooler]

No instructions seems to be the usually thing now days! Second brace maybe an option?

Permatex or 3M makes a good black adhesive.

Thanks for the update, have fun!