Yeah, I knew the OE clamp was getting worse. Even from the original photos to later ones. I never would have looked or known except for hearing a rattling at idle, then seeing the clamp crack.Shouldn't be, proper materials would withstand the heat the same as the pipe does.
Where is the strain relief in this setup? I don't understand any of this, to not just slip fit some pipe together and weld it (or clamp, a standard generic sleeve clamp, if you must) before all this... Okay I see later in the topic that you're drifting that direction, but it took a while.
OEM exhaust setups are great, until they aren't.
Strain relief? Not really sure. There’s a firm attachment point just forward of this junction. Everything is hanging on rubber mounts behind that afaik.
I originally started this thread to learn if I needed the assembly paste in the joint. Simply because it was a touching joint without much holding it.
When I took it apart I saw the start of some porosity in the one end. The other mating side looked fine.
Thus I could replace half or both sides. I could coat it with paste or not.
My gut tells me to expand the one half of this new stainless part, then cut the oe exhaust, and slip one end that I expanded onto the OE pipe. This way I minimize compromising the oe pipe, can adjust length, and then just clamp it with some assembly line helping the seal.