Exhaust Tailpipe Bracket/Hanger

On my RV-6. Bringing this to the RV-6 Forum. When I bought my RV-6 the tailpipe bracket on the pilot side was very loose and had safety wire wrapped around part of it with a rubber strap hanger. This had the tailpipe very loose and was flopping around. Looking on the vetterman site, I saw a picture of where they were trying a mount fabricated from aluminum flat bar. Using this as a guide I did the same thing. On the Co-Pilot side the hanger has done great over the last 20 hours. I believe the heater muff and hoses are giving some support and dampening vibrations. The pilot side has broken where I bent the aluminum bar to a 90 degree angle. I am sure that bend significantly weakened the bar and let the vibrations break it. At that break, I cut a piece of aluminum angle and bolted that to the fabricated tailpipe clamp. I feel the angle will have more strength. Does this sound feasible or have any other owners found a better way. Also the pilot side does not have a muff on it, so the only support is from the hanger. Thanks.

Oh and I am loving the RV-6! A few interesting take offs and landing but nothing outrageous.

Can you post a picture, different setup require different hagers. The most common are rods comming down from the rear of the engine with an added crossbrace from one pipe to the other. That way eveything is attached to only the engine and they vibrate in unison.

As mentioned, hard to say without a photo. I would keep it rubber mounted if it isn't already.

I have been told that the new Vetterman exhaust hangars are stainless steel, not aluminum. True?

Really the ONLY problem I've had with our RV-8A (in 20 months and 200+ hours) is the copper tubing/rubber tubing exhaust system mounts. They have consistently broken and been a problem, so I'm planning to order an entirely new set from Vetterman.

jjhoneck said:

I have been told that the new Vetterman exhaust hangars are stainless steel, not aluminum. True?

Really the ONLY problem I've had with our RV-8A (in 20 months and 200+ hours) is the copper tubing/rubber tubing exhaust system mounts. They have consistently broken and been a problem, so I'm planning to order an entirely new set from Vetterman.

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Yes Vetterman uses stainless steel. And you can easily replace your copper tubing by steel brake line tubing available at your local automotive part stores. And steel is stronger that some stainless steel.

Here is the pic from the vetterman website. This is what I did on mine. It is 1/8 x 3/4 aluminum flat bar. From the wdg clamp to the attachment point for the hanger it is about 5 in. It seems to actually work like a spring


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Here is the narrative from the website.

Tail Pipe Mount
Here is a picture of the very simple tail pipe mount that I have been testing for @100 hours now. It is simply a 5 inch piece of 1/8 X 3/4 inch aluminum strap, with 2 ea. WDG 12 clamps mounted on the bottom engine mount tube. It can be used in conjunction with the standard mount kit sent out with the exhaust. Use the vertical method as shown in the mount kit and then use this for the horizontal support. I wanted to see how and when this set up would break and so far it has worked very well. It is also very important to keep the ball joints free by lubing them with mouse mild or some other high temp anti seize.

Larryskydives said:

Here is the pic from the vetterman website. This is what I did on mine. It is 1/8 x 3/4 aluminum flat bar. From the wdg clamp to the attachment point for the hanger it is about 5 in. It seems to actually work like a spring

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Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I thought the exhaust pipe couldn't be mounted rigidly to the motor mount? I thought it had to be mounted to the engine, so that (when the engine moved around at start-up and shut-down) it didn't put torque on the motor mount?

This is what I have been told by more than one A&P, anyway...?

Does that alumimum bar move enough to prevent that? I will try it in a heart beat, if so!

Mousse said:

Yes Vetterman uses stainless steel. And you can easily replace your copper tubing by steel brake line tubing available at your local automotive part stores. And steel is stronger that some stainless steel.

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Steel parts are not good down here on the coast.

Plastic rusts, down here!

Jay - On the exhaust, the header pipes are mounted to the cylinders, then there is like a ball swivel that allows movement going to the tailpipe. that is where they say to lubricate regularly with mousemilk.

I'm going to see how well this works. Was wondering what others were doing also?

I've had this setup for about 150-200 hours now, no problems. My setup is on the first post of this thread. Plenty of naysayers, of course, but it is still working without problem. It is a fair bit more flexible than it appears. This method does away with the tubing and hose, and takes a lot of junk out of the way.

Thanks for the input Alex. I like the idea of the angle I will see how long the flat bar last. My first clamps were steel and they cracked at the 90. The second was made from the aluminum bar and it cracked at the 90 also. I have modified it for use without a 90 on the clamp will see how long that lasts. Then may get the stainless from Vetterman. thanks again Alex

Larry:

I recently put a new Vetterman exhaust on my RV-6. I have the brackets from the old Vetterman exhaust that secures the tailpipes to the sump. The parts were identical from my old exhaust to the new exhaust. If you are interested in the old pieces I can send them to you along with the instructions. If you want pictures, I can send you some early next week.

Hank