Hello Everyone,

In doing the operation to remove my bevel gear, I made a mistake in putting everything back together.

There is a small steel bracket on the exhaust that supports the exhaust system (the pipe from the turbo to the cat). Normally it is bolted to the back (facing the pass side) of the bevel gear - two of the 5 bevel gear mounting bolts thread through it, and then it fastens to a bracket welded to the exhaust pipe.

When I put the bracket back on, I forgot that I was now missing the ~1/2" of space that the bevel gear housing provided, and torqued the bolts down tight on both the trans housing and the exhaust bracket.

I see now that the proper thing to do is shim the trans housing out with washers to support the bracket, but I didn't think of it then. Typical me :P

So anyway, when I tightened everything down it put a small tear in the exhaust pipe where the bracket is welded on. Now there is a leak there. I've got it sealed up temporarily with exhaust joint compound but I am pretty sure this won't last.

What I would really like to do is take the exhaust pipe out and take it somewhere to be welded - I think this is the proper way to fix it.

It's possible that they might be able to reach it from under the car without taking anything off too.

What is the advice? Leave it on and try to get it welded in place?

How much trouble will I get myself into trying to take that pipe off? I see it has ~4 studs holding it into the turbo, and there is a pipe fitting for the aux air system, the O2 sensor(s?) and then whatever fastening system is on the other end of the pipe.... I haven't had a chance to look yet - does the pipe end before the cat or after?

Any and all advice is welcomed.

I'd like to deal with this over the next couple of days as I have a relative's car on loan while they are travelling, so my family is up to two cars this week - makes it much easier to disable one :)
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1998 V70 AWD Turbo 195k+