Exhaust C-Clamp Installation

Here's one for the Volkswagen owners out there.

The exhaust down pipe on older VW watercooled engines is held on by two C-shaped spring clamps. These are a bit of trouble to get off, I usually wrench them off with a BFS (Big Freakin' Screwdriver) after wrapping them in a rag so they don't shoot off and smash something when they let go.

Putting these clamps back on is a grade-AAA-screw-a-duck-PITA, it's basically impossible with regular tools. There is a specialized tool for putting these back on, but it's expensive. Last time I checked (2001) it was $99 or so:

Before spending all the money on the high-dollar tool that you will use maybe twice in the next ten years, be aware that it only works so-so. It's not much fun to use and I always felt that it was about to fail at any minute while under the tension of the spring clamp.

Since I was only borrowing the "real" tool, I decided to come up with something cheaper, easier and most of all, multi-purpose for installing these clamps:

What you see is a 2" muffler clamp, available at any auto parts store for 99 cents. Once you get it out of the box, remove the two nuts, pull the stamped clamp off, then thread the nuts back on. Put the stamped clamp part back on reversed from how you took it off (see photo). Place the modified muffler clamp inside the spring clamp as shown, and then "loosen" the nuts, thereby forcing the "U" part against the inside of the spring clamp. Keep turning the nuts until the spring clamp is nice and stretched, then put the whole mess under the car, slip the spring clamp ears over the exhaust manifold and down pipe flanges, then "tighten" the nuts releasing the tension and seating the spring clamp in place.

You're done.