Front exhaust section questions, advice wanted.

[psneddon]

Hi,

My car (97 V6) was up on a ramp the other day and I noticed that the front exhaust section is in quite bad shape. Also one if the mental rings that goes around the end of the exhaust flex pipe has come off and is rattling around freely. I had a look at parts and it seems no 3rd parties make front exhaust sections so I would need to buy the mazda part at £260+ So my questions are.

1) The metal ring that has came loose, how essential is that - can I now expect the flex pipe to fail because of it. Also how is it attached in the first place? Some sort of hi-temp glue?

2) Are there any other options for replacing the front section instead of paying mazda £££££

Paul

[garfy1981]

I had my whole exhast system replaced at a cost of £150 from the cat back, I had a quote from powerflow and that was £400, I would have prefered the powerflow but shortage of cash at the time meant i had to go for the £150 option. the exhaust is made by power train products. I think they are based near me as the reference sticker is still on the backbox, the noise is different from the mazda exhaust tho which is quiet throughout this one has a deep performance tone up until 2000rpm then it is quiet, if i can find a way i record the sound and post it ( somehow ?? ) its a weird exhaust has the sounds of performance at low revs but is quiet a high revs so no annoying burble on motorways !!

[Teal_93]

The metal ring that has came loose, how essential is that

Just cut it off that's what I did. It's welded on under that ring.