Result: Plan A (was Side Pipe Symphony)

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

Well, either they changed their name in the past six
years or my memory was faulty, but Amazing (not Magic)
Mufflers in Sunnyvale saved the day.

We got the car up on the lift and sure enough, the
entire circumferential weld at the exit of the front
muffler had separated, allowing exhaust gases and a
hellacious amount of noise to exit under the driver's
seat.  (I've heard the front muffler on Alfas referred
to as the "resonator," and its function apparently is
to modulate the pulses from the downpipe collector,
but that's another story.)

In ASCII art, here's a schematic:

<-- front           rear-->

\--[_1_] --[_2_]---[_3_]---

The break was at the exit of the #1 muffler, where
I've left a space instead of a dash in the schematic. 
Only the weld had snapped; the steel of both the
muffler and the pipe was undamaged.  We could also see
the part of the tube that goes into the muffler from
the rear, and it was shiny and unrusted, so there was
no reason to replace anything (certainly not 700 miles
from home).  The mechanic backed another car off the
lift and fixed the Spider while I stood there (looking
away when he struck an arc, of course).

The rest of the system looks very good -- there is no
visible rust in any of the pieces, and the resonator
itself wasn't damaged.  The weld just cracked.  

$30 and a little skilled work with the MIG welder
later, I have a stock, original, functional exhaust
system again, good for probably several more years. 

Quiet, though.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
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