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Today I was doing an oil change on my GTV6 and noticed that the down pipe (I think) is crushed at the bottom of the oil pan. It looks like the car hit something and completely smashed them.

What can I do to repair this? What new parts do I need? Is this a common problem?

I think I remember seeing this topic before, but I can't remember where it showed up. I tried searching but couldn't find anything.

Thanks for the help guys!

Carson

I think we all have had this situation at one time or another. I have tubular three into ones, dual down pipes, , dual cats, and both sides were crushed more than 50% just behind the oil pan. Get out the metal disc cutter and trim out the dented area. Go to your local auto parts store and buy 5$ worth of exhaust pipe. Cut, weld, and grind in a curved patch. Careful as exhaust pipe is generally thin and blows right through!

OR.. rip the whole thing out, fab some wide oval angular down pipe, lose the middle muffler, run straight through to the rear...

OR..spend $700 and get a whole new system

Or..leave it alone if the dents are not big

I went with the patch. On yours, looks like the heat shield took most of it...

imo there's no need to change this! The dents are not big and theres no powerloss ore something with that! Save the money!

I agree. These dents don't look bad at all. The dents in my down pipes were much worse and I pounded them out using pry bars from the inside.

Well, then. That's really good news. If you don't think that it'll affect anything, I won't change it. I have way more than enough left to do on the car without worrying about it.

Thanks!

Carson

In any case, it looks like the denting is in the metal heat shroud that surrounds the pipes, not the pipes themselves.

How can I tell? I couldn't see any pipes on the inside, but I could be wrong. Is there an easy way to tell if its just the heat shield?

Thanks!

I think you can see it in the pics you posted. If those aren't heat shields, you've got major (loud) exhaust leaks.

The std front (cat) section has heatshield 'outerpipes' all the way from where the horizontal starts to become 100deg curves up to the flanges that bolt to the manifolds. And they're usually rusted to bits, like yours. Which makes them hard to weld.

Dont worry about it. those are just knock in the heat shield. Grab it and you can move it a little bit.

Here's how it looks when you need to do something. It's from a 75 TS I bought some years ago. The previous owner didn't know any other way to lower the car than drop the torsion bar one step...

Okay, thanks for the help!

I'm only 17, and my Alfa is my second car. I'm just getting started in completely restoring it. My dad's helping me with the basic repairs and the interior, but I still don't know much about the mechanical side. Thanks for all the help!

Carson

P-hound: We will be seeing you on this site some more, guaranteeeeeed!
Good luck with the resto....

I always say, better to save an Alfa than have it wind up on ebay in pieces(which is also a good source of parts)...or in the scrap yard!