Exhaust clamp question

[john.r2k]

I have a stainless steel exhaust system that comes in sections. Some sections connect using a flange-type connection, but a few—especially near the backbox/muffler—use a different method, as shown in the picture below.

This connection involves one pipe section being slightly larger so the other can slide inside it. A heavy-duty clamp with an M10 bolt is then tightened over the slitted part, creating a secure compression fit.

My question is: how durable are these types of joints? When I was test-fitting the exhaust, I noticed that if the clamp wasn’t tightened enough, the back section of the backbox would sag because the inner pipe could still rotate within the joint. However, when I lifted it into the correct position and tightened the clamp further, the fit became perfect, and there was no more sagging.

This has me wondering—how reliable are these joints? It seems like the only thing preventing the backbox from sagging is the clamp being tight enough to stop any rotation between the pipes. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but since I haven’t used this type of fitting before, I wanted to ask for advice.

Has anyone used these before? Would it be worth taking the exhaust to a shop for a few spot welds after tightening, just to prevent rotation, or would that be overkill?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you.

[GreenV8S]

Clamping exhaust sections is quite normal, and secure as long as the clamp is sufficient quality and done up properly. That's a very strong design of exhaust clamp - there are plenty of cheaper and less effective ones out there.

[stevieturbo]

john.r2k said:

My question is: how durable are these types of joints? When I was test-fitting the exhaust, I noticed that if the clamp wasn’t tightened enough, the back section of the backbox would sag because the inner pipe could still rotate within the joint. However, when I lifted it into the correct position and tightened the clamp further, the fit became perfect, and there was no more sagging.

This has me wondering—how reliable are these joints? It seems like the only thing preventing the backbox from sagging is the clamp being tight enough to stop any rotation between the pipes. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but since I haven’t used this type of fitting before, I wanted to ask for advice.

Sounds more like you need to be concerned about the quality/fit of the exhaust, than the clamp itself.

The expanded section should be a nice snug fit over the section it slides onto. The clamp is really only to prevent the two sliding apart. But if it's a stty loose fit, that is not a fault of the clamp.

That clamp itself looks perfectly fine, assuming of course it too is the correct size for the application.

[hengti]

Mikalor supra and norma gbs are two popular examples of the type, yours looks especially stout. Never had trouble with those named although bolts corrode eventually.

[john.r2k]

GreenV8S said:

Clamping exhaust sections is quite normal, and secure as long as the clamp is sufficient quality and done up properly. That's a very strong design of exhaust clamp - there are plenty of cheaper and less effective ones out there.

Thank you

stevieturbo said:

Sounds more like you need to be concerned about the quality/fit of the exhaust, than the clamp itself.

The expanded section should be a nice snug fit over the section it slides onto. The clamp is really only to prevent the two sliding apart. But if it's a stty loose fit, that is not a fault of the clamp.

That clamp itself looks perfectly fine, assuming of course it too is the correct size for the application.

The quality of the exhaust is actually really good. The two sections that slot into each other are perfectly snug yes. I have to push and twist it in (that's how snug they are, sometimes it's even quite hard to twist) but my question was the cantilever effect thats created on the joint basically means the weight of the backbox makes the joint turn from the other section that's held but once clamped down super tight then it's rock solid and doest move. So my original question was just to get advice on if it's secure and it wont come loose

[E-bmw]

As others have said, done up correctly as you did second go around, they are very common & work fine.

[stevieturbo]

john.r2k said:

The quality of the exhaust is actually really good. The two sections that slot into each other are perfectly snug yes. I have to push and twist it in (that's how snug they are, sometimes it's even quite hard to twist) but my question was the cantilever effect thats created on the joint basically means the weight of the backbox makes the joint turn from the other section that's held but once clamped down super tight then it's rock solid and doest move. So my original question was just to get advice on if it's secure and it wont come loose

Your silencer should be hung, it should not be relying on the pipe to hold it up.

Are there hangers missing for the silencers ?