Exhaust Parts Information 1977 Bus

[Georgey0414]

Hey everyone! So I’ve got some holes in my exhaust, and I need to order some new parts. Can anyone tell me where to get them, and have them delivered to Canada?

I’ve attached a picture of the diagram of the parts I need highlighted.

[Hoody]

Those are not available new. Your U pipe flanges are also toast. Contact Scott at German Supply. I had my F pipes and U pipes rebuilt with new flanges by Scott and they are perfect. He’s in Canada as well. I don’t know if he still offers this service or not. But send him an email. Hope this helps.

[tommu]

They do not look like they're going to come apart easily. What condition is the rest of the exhaust in?
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[Georgey0414]

I’ll throw some pictures up here shortly. For what it’s worth I’m probably going to have to just do the whole exhaust. Anybody have any recommendations for a whole kit?

[tommu]

Do you have any emissions testing or parts compliance regulation that would force you to keep the same exhaust? If not it's worth exploring all options. You should have oval exuast ports on your manifolds - but be sure about that before you buy.
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[Georgey0414]

Here are the pics I could get just now from underneath.

[Hoody]

After seeing the rest of your exhaust I agree with you. You should replace everything. Do you have any aircooled VW mechanics close to you? This is not going to be an easy nor inexpensive job. Your head studs are going to be an issue based on the amount of rust that exhaust has. I would switch to the 72-74 set up drop the engine. Replace the head studs....which may lead to more. Good luck!

[SGKent]

can you hear exhaust leaking? Here is why I ask - the F and U pipes have a shield on them. That shield can rot and fall off but it doesn't affect how the exhaust works - just heat radiation from it. Your photos look like you still have a part of the shield left so it is unusual for the thick metal pipe to rot if the shield is still there. If the hole in the photo does leak, for now I would have a professional welding shop fix it still on the bus but disconnect the alternator plug at the VR when they weld. The inner steel pipe is usually thick and that is the first one I have seen burn thru is that is what the photo is showing. If it is just the shield ignore it. My fear is that you will snap studs on the head trying to fix it and then things really go downhill fast.

here is a photo from classifieds showing the pipes with the shields rusted off

Here is a photo of an afterburner and a little of the F-pipe where both still have shields. See how much wider / fatter they are with the shields?

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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Georgey0414]

Here is a link to a video I took earlier today. Just started it for the first time in a week.

https://youtu.be/nprhN5IbRQo

I couldn’t tell you myself if I can hear the exhaust leak.

I’d look into swapping for a 72-74, but I’m always a bit weary swapping parts for other model years. (Bad experience from when I was younger)

[Georgey0414]

I should also probably mention I currently don’t have any heat hooked up/ missing the lever on the dash. Never really noticed until after I bought it.

[SGKent]

my 2 cents is have it patched - welded professionally for now. There is a good chance the studs on the head are going to snap and if they do things will go down hill fast. Wait until you decide to pull the motor so if they do you can either take the heads off and to a machine shop, or replace them. Just my 2 cents worth.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Georgey0414]

I’m guessing that’s just a short term fix? I’ll take it to the local expert, Gunther’s.

Any idea in a ballpark for how much it will cost me to pull the motor and swap the exhaust? 1-2k? More?

[Hoody]

These things can lead to opening Pandora’s box. How is the engine running? How many miles are on it? Are you going to keep it? What does the underside look like? Is it rotted like your exhaust? What does your front and rear beam look like? My point is I know that part of the world is rough on cars in the winter. I used to live in New England for a long time. Yours looks to have been driven in the winter. If the underside and front and rear beams are not rotted too than it’s worth fixing right. If on the other hand it’s all rotted like your exhaust it may not even be safe to drive. Where the rear trailing arms attach to the body and the front beam. I think you should get it up on a lift with a pro and take a good hard look at everything first before you dump a ton of cash into a Bus that may need thousands more to be safe. Sometimes it’s just not worth it. I am hoping that is not the case. If it’s all rotted to hell under there your better off finding a donor body and and swapping things over. If your on limited funds and it’s safe to drive than I would do as Steve said just put some bandaids where you need to to get some more life out of it. Maybe you have not crawled under there and taken really good look at everything. But my advice would to be to get it up on a lift and with your VW expert and assess the rot. Not trying to discourage you. Just don’t want you to throw good money after bad.

[Hoody]

Let us know what you find with some pics. When you said the “local expert” was that an aircooled VW shop or a local welder? I don’t want to give you advice as how to proceed with before you take a REALLY hard look at the undercarraiage. Just to give you a quick example I recently heard from a friend about a guy that doesn’t know yet that he’s spent over 25,000 in metal and body work to get it back to where it needed to be. Which is totally insane. There are good donor bodies out there where the previous owner just through in the the towel. In fact I may know of where a nice Westy is that has no engine and can be bought for short money. But it’s been a couple years since I saw it and it may be gone. I don’t think many if anyone knows about it though. However I did not crawl underneath it. But the fact that it had all original paint and looked really good leads me to believe it was nice underneath. I would have bought it on the spot but don’t want and can’t afford another project right now. Like I said I am not trying to discourage you. Just realized via Google Gunther’s is a VW shop. You are VERY fortunate to have a place so close that specializes in aircooled VW’s. Good luck!

[Bleyseng]

Ken at thebusco.com should have what you need in stock.
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70 Ghia Black convert-9/69 build date-stock w/133k 1600 SP-barn find now with a rebuilt tranny and engine
77 Westy 2.0L w/Ljet, Camper Special engine-95hp and with LSD!(sold)
76 Porsche 914 2.1L L20c, 120hp Djet (sold)
87 Syncro Westy Titan Red 2.1L 2 knob 100k miles

[Wasted youth]

Here is work I did on my 1977 GD engine... you'll need to scroll down a little more than halfway to get to the exhaust parts. All my parts came from Bus Depot, except for the Catalytic converter and its clamp.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7358931#7358931

[Goach2]

I changed mine over to earlier exhaust, you can check it out here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693943&highlight=
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1977 FI Westfalia