If you're in a time rich cash poor situation striking up a friendship with the local scrap yard might be worthwhile if they happen to have lots of old Mercedes with half OK parts on them.
If not - removing the exhaust to see what needs to be done is arguably more work but it does give you a better chance to weld and / or smear on whatever fix you desire to try and get the fix to last a bit longer.
New exhaust sections are sold here in Europe at fairly low prices - not sure about your neck of the woods though...
|