my exhaust is blowing from the front off the barrel. it was not fitted quite right so took it off to adjust it also fitted new gasket, unfortuantely one of the studs was not sitting correctly, turns out the thread is stripped in the barrel so i fitted a heli coil but now dosent seem as if it wants to do up tight enough to stop it blowing, has anyone had this problem or got any ideas what i could do? cheers.

It is quite difficult to get the tight fit what with studs that bend and aftermarket exhausts. You need two straight studs and preferably a new gasket. The trick, I find, is to get the exhaust tight to the barrel before you tighten any of the hanging brackets or fit the silencer.

If the stud is not doing up tight into the cylinder then you need to fix that first, if the stud is bent then get a new one and install it in the helicoil with some epoxy glue like JB Weld or Chemical Metal. Once that has set (over night) then as Steve says start at the cylinder and install the pipe with a new gasket (buy two as they are cheap) making absolutely sure that the gasket locates in the end of the exhaust correctly. It is very easy for the gasket to cock a bit and then the exhaust will never seal properly seal (yest that is the voice of experience talking!!!). Once the pipe is located flush and even at the cylinder screw the nuts on finger tight so that it cant move out of place while you install the other attaches. Its a lot easier with someone to help. If you it properly then you do not need exhaust paste to seal it.

Hope this helps,

Regards
SkidMark

bugger am now going to have to take the engine out barrel off and get the hole welded up and start again. but if its sorts it all good.

mk2-crm wrote:bugger am now going to have to take the engine out barrel off and get the hole welded up and start again. but if its sorts it all good.

the helicoil should work fine though - hard to know why it isn't with out seeing it - you broke the tang off right? otherwise the stud won't go full depth in the hole

sorry for lots of posts but the other thing you can do is to drill the hole out to a larger size and re-tap (with a bottoming tap) to the next size up. You buy studs that at one end is the next size up but still has the correct size for your exhaust nut at the other end.

mk2-crm wrote:
bugger am now going to have to take the engine out barrel off and get the hole welded up and start again. but if its sorts it all good.

Hope you can sort it without having to take the barrel off.
Not sure on the Mk2 but on the Mk3 you can take the barrel off with the engine still in the frame.