Recovery from cat theft with almost no tools

Bought my third Prius. Napped inside to discourage cat theft for 3 days. Finally about to protect cat. Skipped a night. Cat gone.

Almost no tools at my disposal. Forced to work on street. This will be a challenge.

Purchased two 18" X 1.75" ID flex pipes, a union, and some high temp tape. 2 clamps included with pipes.

Hoping to stack wood and use Prius jack.

Any bright ideas welcomed. Planning more permanent fix. Need car while waiting and for chasing parts.

Yet to get a good look at length needed.

First cat theft adventure. Stay tuned.

 

It is reality. Lesson learned.

 

Me too. Did that. Just needed to install it. The day I wanted to install it, that morning, super early, they struck.

I am willing to spend more than $100 to sleep in my bed. I already do that. I am far from home at the moment.

No worries. I will persist.

 

90018

About 40 miles from your zip.

 

Used Prius jack. Unsafe without stands. Found some plastic Rhino Ramps. Moved 30 feet to alley.

Unwilling to work with only smartphone light. Got a peek. Might get lucky with flex pipe length.

Tomorrow beckons.

Hopefully, 9 inch lift of ramps will be enough. Could be tight. Need to shrink my head.

Will probably dream about being under car.

Would it be great if you could float under your car and see everything with ease. That is a good dream.

 

Just to make sure I get your meaning: Are you claiming I caused this theft?

 

Position of the forward cut seems to preclude my initial plan. Might be reduced to waiting on part delivery instead of using Prius to transport material.

In Texas I would fabricate needed parts. Here that won't happen quickly.

 

Will do photo tomorrow.

A sleeve joint will work for the rear cut, from what I saw. But the forward cut, if memory serves, is so close to the bell that a sleeve would have to insert inside the flange stub. Am I wrong about that being a problem? A sleeve, when used properly, is sealed by a clamp. And clamps for the bell shape, well, I have never seen that.

In other words, short of using something like JB Weld, there seems to be no way to do a quick attachment to the bell stub. I will avoid doing anything that prevents me from doing a proper job later. Right now the second flange, not the exhaust manifold flange, is cut right where the pipe expands. So unless I am mistaken, the sleeve contact would be very small, basically like a ring, instead of the preferred contact area of an inch or two along the lengths of the mating pieces.

If there is only a contact area of say an 1/8", it seems likely it will leak, making noise. Could be an intermittent whistle. I realize that hoping for a really good seal, in a temporary fix, might be unreasonable expectations.

Using bailing wire to hold a right-sized pipe inside the end of the bell might work. Seems very iffy. And leaky.

Another thought: Remove flange stub and use JB Weld to attach a short sleeve. Then use the flex pipes I have. The challenge is diameter reduction. The reducers needed must be ordered.

Quickly handling this seems out of reach at the moment.

 

Depends on where you are in the zip. It is right next to USC. One mile as the crow flies. Still, a mile can be light-years away.

 

By proper repair I meant "just like Toyota made it". Springs, bolts, flanges, gasket. Nothing extra, and nothing less than stock.