DPI Spec I Exhaust Heat Shield Mount Failure

[81dmc]

Yesterday, I started hearing a rattle from the exhaust, and found one Z mount to the heat shield broken. After removing the remnants of the upper left mount, I found that the lower left mount had also broken. Seems like the thin stainless didn't like the stress.
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Anyone else ever have this issue, and more importantly are these systems even covered under a warranty?

[sdg3205]

Contact josh before posting threads like this. It’s always a good idea to check in with the vendor first.

But no, no failures over here and I got my spec 1 used!

[Jason]

I had the same issue. Josh offered to replace the muffler if I sent the old one back, but I at the time I didn't want to have the car off the road for that long, so I ended up modifying my old heat shield (also stainless) and heat shield mounts that I had been using with the original style exhaust to fit with the DPI exhaust.

This seems like a better solution to me, as the heat shield isn't in contact with the thing is supposed to be shielding heat from, but I have no data or measurements to show that it makes a difference.

[81dmc]

I had the same issue. Josh offered to replace the muffler if I sent the old one back, but I at the time I didn't want to have the car off the road for that long, so I ended up modifying my old heat shield (also stainless) and heat shield mounts that I had been using with the original style exhaust to fit with the DPI exhaust.

This seems like a better solution to me, as the heat shield isn't in contact with the thing is supposed to be shielding heat from, but I have no data or measurements to show that it makes a difference.

Do you have any pics of that setup? Would be quite expensive to ship my muffler to Josh.

[DaraSue]

I actually had that happen just now on a long road trip. The mechanic who was with us said it would be a quick weld and his shop might not even charge me for it so I didn't even bother contacting Josh about it yet. I might drop him a line just to make sure it won't hurt anything to weld with it still on the car but if you've got somebody local who can fix it cheap that might be easier than trying to ship the whole thing back to DPI.

[DMC5180]

After seeing that failure and now hearing that it’s not isolated. It definitely appears to be a weak design.

A better and more stable configuration would be this. |__| welded with the legs vertical. The only thing that would be needed is to profile the muffler curvature to the flat pattern design before press-brake forming. Cost of the would be identical, roughly the same amount of material with 2 bends and welds, but with twice the structural integrity. Much less likely to fatigue.

What ever is done to fix yours, it needs to be tig welded with a Stainless filler wire.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[81dmc]

After seeing that failure and now hearing that it’s not isolated. It definitely appears to be a weak design.

A better and more stable configuration would be this. |__| welded with the legs vertical. The only thing that would be needed is to profile the muffler curvature to the flat pattern design before press-brake forming. Cost of the would be identical, roughly the same amount of material with 2 bends and welds, but with twice the structural integrity. Much less likely to fatigue.

What ever is done to fix yours, it needs to be tig welded with a Stainless filler wire.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is exactly why I decided to post on talk first... to see it there is a fault in the design.

Will probably do a stock heat shield if I can figure out how to mount it.

[Michael]

This is exactly why I decided to post on talk first... to see it there is a fault in the design.

Will probably do a stock heat shield if I can figure out how to mount it.

The thing is DPI is the golden boy of vendors for Talk. Negative threads get locked and locked quickly. Most other vendors are fair game.

[sdg3205]

Given how long these systems have been around, how many of them are out there and that this has just cropped up recently, it makes me wonder if something has changed.

[Delorean Industries]

This next batch will push us over 700 systems I believe currently in the community. I've seen fewer than 20 failures like this in total. This includes the ones mentioned above. Also as stated above we always take care of it.

Cause has been determined a few years back. Owners who install without adjusting the CO tend to run leaner. On all of the muffler bodies we have warrantied they were heavily champagne on the outer skin.

This style muffler body has been superseded with the GEN3 version as of late 2016 with an updated muffler body not requiring the additional external heat shield. GEN 1 had a thinner mount, the one above is a z tab (gen2). We will be offering a secondary substrate that bolts directly to mounting points on the timing cover for owners who absolutely want one. But testing has shown it is a mute point.

As always it's best to contact us directly if you have a problem or concern with a product. We will tell it to you straight and you won't get the "i've never seen this before and I've sold 100's" line others in the community dish out. I'm sure the owners we have assisted with this concern in full will chime in regarding the process.

[Delorean Industries]

The thing is DPI is the golden boy of vendors for Talk. Negative threads get locked and locked quickly. Most other vendors are fair game.

Thanks for highlighting our community status. While I would like to think we are the only ones who receive preferential treatment... we are not alone.

[DMC5180]

The thing is DPI is the golden boy of vendors for Talk. Negative threads get locked and locked quickly. Most other vendors are fair game.

I don’t see any negative portrayals. Only a design that could be Adjusted for better long term durability in some instances.

I wholeheartedly agree with Josh that the shield is not needed. I do not use one on My 5 x 8 oval Magnaflow modified original Stage I exhaust. I’ve been running this configuration about 13 years so far. The muffler has very little Heat toning due to the internal Free flowing X pipe design.


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[Iznodmad]

I’ll throw my 2 cents in as an owner that purchased 2 systems and ran them for many thousands of miles before upgrading to the twin turbos. Never had an issue. Granted, I was not running the heat shields and CO/dwell was set correctly. Come to think of it, my cars are always upgraded to the next best design constantly. So when Josh says he takes care of it, he does exactly that.

[81dmc]

The thing is DPI is the golden boy of vendors for Talk. Negative threads get locked and locked quickly. Most other vendors are fair game.

If this thread is too negative for Talk then maybe it was a mistake joining the community...

As for Josh, there is absolutely nothing I have against him. In fact, I prefer to buy his quality parts over NOS or DMCH reproduction garbage. Only issue I've had with Josh are the long wait times, but with his busy business, that is to be expected. In any case, it's nice to hear Josh fixed this potential weak point, that alone shows that he has pride in his business and stands by his products.

Anyways, I didn't want to call him on a weekend so I decided to post here in the meantime to see what others had to say, but if y'all think that is too damn much than lock it and ban me while you're at it.

[Ron]

The thing is DPI is the golden boy of vendors for Talk. Negative threads get locked and locked quickly. Most other vendors are fair game.Reaching out to the community is not negative. As you know, it's the OT, dead horse, trolling, and personal attack posts, etc. within the threads that get them pruned or locked.
There are places for that, but it's not here...

[Michael]

If this thread is too negative for Talk then maybe it was a mistake joining the community...

As for Josh, there is absolutely nothing I have against him. In fact, I prefer to buy his quality parts over NOS or DMCH reproduction garbage. Only issue I've had with Josh are the long wait times, but with his busy business, that is to be expected. In any case, it's nice to hear Josh fixed this potential weak point, that alone shows that he has pride in his business and stands by his products.

Anyways, I didn't want to call him on a weekend so I decided to post here in the meantime to see what others had to say, but if y'all think that is too damn much than lock it and ban me while you're at it.

I wasn't exactly referring to this thread, just giving a heads up. It was the second post saying this wasn't the place that kind of triggered me...this is EXACTLY the place for the OP's problem. I'm not a big fan of keeping potential issues hush hush even if the vendor steps up and corrects it for the one customer.

[Ron]

If this thread is too negative for Talk then maybe it was a mistake joining the community...
..., but if y'all think that is too damn much than lock it and ban me while you're at it.
LOL...Not even close! Ignore the BS...

[Ron]

I wasn't exactly referring to this thread, just giving a heads up. It was the second post saying this wasn't the place that kind of triggered me...this is EXACTLY the place for the OP's problem. I'm not a big fan of keeping potential issues hush hush even if the vendor steps up and corrects it for the one customer.Then start a new thread, in the right section, and keep things factual, etc. WTH??

[sdg3205]

It was the second post saying this wasn't the place that kind of triggered me...this is EXACTLY the place for the OP's problem. I'm not a big fan of keeping potential issues hush hush even if the vendor steps up and corrects it for the one customer.

Not even close to what I said. I said check with the vendor first, and to me, that’s fair.

I’ve also been around this forum for 10 years and I’ve seen countless threads that criticize a product or vendor before a vendor has even been contacted. The OP will admit this too.

If, after the vendor is given a chance to make things right and they opt not to, then I pipe up, otherwise it’s often a case of an isolated incident.

[81dmc]

I wasn't exactly referring to this thread, just giving a heads up. It was the second post saying this wasn't the place that kind of triggered me...this is EXACTLY the place for the OP's problem. I'm not a big fan of keeping potential issues hush hush even if the vendor steps up and corrects it for the one customer.

I'm starting see the sarcasm in your first post...:eek:The rest went over my head.

In any case, let's now skip any more drama, else I'll think I'm on Today...:)

So how exactly does the stock shield mount? Forgot since I took it off back in 2014.

[dmruschell]

The heat shields on the catalytic converters on the DPI exhaust on my wife's car started rattling due to failed welds a year or so ago. Josh has stated a few times that these systems have a lifetime warranty on them, and told me directly that he'd repair or replace the cats if I sent them to him.

Well, somehow one of the cats become stuck on the muffler. Even prying the outer slip tube didn't break it free, so I sent the muffler and cats to Josh. He said there wasn't really any way to save the muffler due to the damage that would be/had been done to it while trying to separate it from the catalytic converter. I had to buy a new (updated) muffler, but he sold it to me at his cost, and sent me new cats, new (longer/updated) exhaust tips, and new installation hardware. It all bolted up just fine to the headers that were still on the car.

So, there is a warranty on these things if they fail, and the replacement will likely be an updated design (to me, that's a good thing).

I can verify that the new muffler doesn't have a heat shield on it. It also mounts slightly differently (only uses the lower mounts, which is easier to install) and seems to be slightly smaller. So, it seems that the issue the OP has will be fixed with a warranty replacement, which shouldn't be difficult to obtain.

[Ron]

So how exactly does the stock shield mount? Forgot since I took it off back in 2014.

Maybe this link (http://store.delorean.com/c-271-1-5-0-exhaust-systemmufflerheatshields.aspx) will bring back fond memories? :)

[Jason]

Do you have any pics of that setup? Would be quite expensive to ship my muffler to Josh.

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I have about 30-40k miles on that setup. I should probably remove the brackets and clean and paint them.