Anon
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That little something that always seems to happen and the cheap way to fix yer muffler...
Drove down to Athens from Thessaloniki (Greece) in my '79 CF a few days ago, loaded and with 6 people in.. Drove like a dream. Stayed a few days, and on the way back, half-way to Thessaloniki, a loud bang, followed by several thump-thump-clonks, and a few kling-plong-bangs, politely notified me that my exhaust has decided to give up after 32 years of faithful service... To be honest, I've never seen anything as rusty still working ever before, so it was about time.. It was in the middle of the night, so decided to drive the rest of the way like that (350 km). Soon after the exhaust went, the carb started icing like never before! It wouldn't idle, and wouldn't accelerate either. You had to keep your foot very still to keep it going..
So, I learned the hard way that when your exhaust goes, the carb goes out of tune because of the back-pressure difference.. In plain English, more air is free to leave through the exhaust, so more air is sucked in through the carb, which ices up like Mr Whippy..
The exhaust thing was the muffler, which was made of 99% rust and 1% steel, and had split open like a watermelon falling off the back of a pickup truck on the Greek highway.
Made it back, and having little to no money, decided to fix it the traditional Greek way. Go to the shoddiest shop you can spot, ask if they have any used mufflers, ask if they have an Oxy-Acetylene torch, and have them chop up the muffler, weld another one in place without touching the rest of the exhaust pipe, line it up, make a bracket, and 60 euros (stainless steel muffler) and 60 minutes later you're on the road again.. The carb has automatically been fixed, the noise is no longer deafening, and I can finally drive my Beddie again normally!
I'm off to Serbia tonight.. Wish me luck!
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