This week my 1992 245 became louder as I accelerated. With some investigation it seems that I have a leak at the front exhaust pipe that runs from the header to the cat. There is some rusting at the bottom of the pipe where it bends and the heat shields are, so I'm guessing it's leaking there. I can't really see well enough around to tell.

So...how difficult is this to replace myself?

I've got the sport exhaust from the cat back. This front exhaust pipe seems more difficult to replace.

Lastly, how much money to have a shop do it? If I can save $100 or more I'll likely try it myself.

What other parts/gaskets/fittings do I need if I tackle this myself?

Is Starla a decent brand?

Best wishes.

13

Ended up being a rusted out cat. That's probably the most expensive repair that could have been possible. Bummer.

Not if you go with an aftermarket cat, like Carsound and have a shop weld it in.
I think I paid $66 for mine and another $30 to have it installed.

I do know that if your in California you have restrictions on using a universal cat like above.

I bought the Volvo header pipe last November from Tasca-it was around $150 at the time. No issues with it at all.

I pulled (what seemed like) the original factory pipe off without too much trouble (soak for at least an hour or two with lots of Blaster spray). I had no other tools on hand other than 3/8 drive ratchet set with extensions and wobble joints which helped out a bit.

I had no experience whatsoever with ANY kind of sizable job. That doesn't matter though, it's all about LUCK.

Call Tasca, it's a no brainer IMO.

After reading all the previous posts on the quality of the aftermarket pipes I went with the Volvo header pipe. I paid around $160 right at the Volvo dealer, they gave me the VOA discount! It fit perfectly, bolts all came off with the usual soaking and squawking.....I put on new brass nuts at the manifiold and SS bolts to the cat......

The AC drips there, causing the break. I had my 91 re-welded about 7 years ago, still holding fine.

You can save a lot of money if you do it yourself, not if you use a stock pipe with a flange that connects to the cat, it will cost you more, a Volvo front pipe is $325, but a 'universal' pipe that doesn't have a flange can be welded into to the cat inlet pipe can cost less than $100. One from an early non-cat 240 like 76-77 is the type.
Starla is good, I have a universal one on my '91 245 that cost me $65 and another $10 to have it welded to the cat directly w/o a flange. It also depens on how good the existing pipe and cat is, needs to have good enough meat on it to weld to. Stock Volvo cats are stainless pipe and can hold up a long time. Doing it this way eliminates the flange gasket & bolt kit, and the trouble of separating it. Just cut the old pipe off behind the flange, bolt the new header pipe to the exhaust manifold and drive open pipe to the muffler shop.
I should also mention to use new flanged lock nuts & gasket on the pipe to manifold, get them from Volvo. Get the car up on jackstands and use a long 1/2 extensions to do the front flange nuts, they need to be very tight, adn teh old one's may be frozen, so expect them to break, use lots of penetrant overnight before you try, or before you have a shop do it, too, otherwise you'll be paying them for extracting broken studs, and will have some financial surprises. If you are not used to doing this sort of job it can be a bear on an old rusty exhaust system.

Some Starla and Bosal versions of this pipe suffer from the made-on-a-monday syndrome. If you go aftermarket, save yourself a lot of grief by comparing the new part with the old one before trying to install it. Look for incorrect alignment on the flanges, both sides. Some are good, others atrocious. I've no personal experience with the pipes Volvo still has, but have friends who recommend them at much lower prices than quoted by Pete. Here's an example of one of my posts on the subject found by the search "head + pipe."

Bosal Exhaust causes knocking noise on under carriage.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to.