I have an 82 T/A stock. I've had an exhaust leak for a while now from the driver's side because one of the bolts from the flange that connects the y-pipe to the header wasn't tightening all the way. I also noticed the rubber hanger by the cat is broken causing the exhaust system to hang lower. This caused my most recent problem. I guess I went over a bump and now my passenger side is messed up.

I took it to a couple muffler shops and one said it was my y-pipe and the other said it was my manifolds. I'm pretty sure it is the manifolds. The guy showed me that he believes one of the bolts on the manifolds is missing because the whole setup moves at the block and he told me somthing was funny where the y-pipe connects to the passenger manifold. I looked at it and it in fact does not look stock. A while ago I had my manifolds swapped out because my stock ones had a large hole in them and I pulled a set from a junker.

I have horrible exhaust leak I'm getting about 7 miles to the gallon if even that.

Also my ECM does not work and I noticed the AIR was not connected to the cat. My ECM hasn't worked in forever and I just noticed my AIR wasn't hooked up to the cat.

My question is that since my ECM is not working and the AIR seemingly isn't hooked up wither, would it be bad to get a cheap set of headers to run? If so which ones I just need the exhaust to be fixed because it's a daily driver (I never intended it to be). I don't have to get it smogged for another year so that gives me time to save up and fix everything else. I'm really on a tight budget because I currently don't have a job so I need a quick fix, I can only spare about $150. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

Any help? I really need to fix this becuase I cannot be driving around with a car that gets 7 miles to the gallon and sounds horrible.

 

If you've got 150.00 and a place to work on it, do it yourself. Find a salvage yard with a Thirdgen in it and get the parts you need AFTER you tear it down and figure out what you need. It's easily solved in a weekend. Yeah, exhaust is no fun to work on in stock form but, it sounds like you need to dedicate your time to it and get it fixed right, the first time.

 

I don't have a place to work on my car I live in an apt. complex, nor do I any longer have the tools. However I can get something installed cheap if I get them. Also an 82 ECM is hard to come by because its a one year only ECM. As far as I know and I've been told no other ECM works in my car because I still have a mechanical fan and a 200C tranny....maybe 83, but I"m not sure and even those are hard to come by at the yard. I don't doubt I can fix the AIR setup from yard parts, but it's the exhaust that needs my immediate attention.

I don't want to risk buying faulty manifolds which is what I think I bought the last time I replaced them. I'd rather get a new piece that I know works. I just need some time bought. I figure I can buy the summit headers that are like $86 and use those for a while. Or find some in the classifieds. Even if they're not legal it's not like my car can pass smog at the moment with the faulty ECM and AIR that isn't working. I've been driving my car around with out the ECM and AIR for nearly a year now...so would it make a difference now?

Once I fix the exhaust and get a stable job I'll be able to finally fix everything good the way it should be. I can probably also sell the headers I buy now and put it towards some legal headers after this too.

 

Fixing your exhaust isn't going to fix your 7MPG problem. I'd imagine some of that has to do with your ECM. Then again, what did the ECM control in '82 anyways? Did they use the electronic quadrajet in '82? Your distributor should have vacuum advance I think as well. If your carb OR timing is computer-controlled, then that is your mileage issue.

 

I know that is a big part of my mileage issue, but it isn't what is causing me to get 7mpg right now. This latest exhaust fiasco happened within that last few days so I know it's that. Before that I was getting about 12mpg which isn't amazing, but those extra 5mpg were due to the exhaust at least working semi well. I know I can get probably another 5mpg once I get the ECM stuff worked out as well, but what I need urgently is to fix my exhuast so I can then fix everything else good once and for all.