I started hearing this poppy noise a few hours after wheelin yesterday coming from near my feet i think. About a month ago i took a rusty clamp/exhaust fastener that was dangling infront of the cat off. Now I look and there is no clamp connecting the header to the exhaust. Should there be one? if so how big, 1.5 or 2"? Thanks

 

thats not an exhaust clamp, that is a bracket that secures the header down pipe to the tranny bellhousing, there is a small 14 mm bolt that bolts through that bracket into the bellhousing. if it came undone and wiggled its way bakc and was just dangling then i wouldnt worry about having taken it of. its not really necessary. as long as you still have two bolts that hold the down pipe flange to the cat flange then you are fine. the popping noise might be the downpipe hitting the bellhousing occaisonally. go take a peek under there again and see if you can figure it out.

you could just bolt an old bumpstop or somethig into the bellhousing to keep the pipe from knocking it on the trail.

 

so should there be a bracket around where the header connects to the pipe goign into the cat, because there is none? and its deff an exhaust sound more than a rattling sound i am pretty sure

 

My local exsost shop guy told me to always bult that clamp down bacause you are likely to crack your manofod without it. Your pipe will sway side to side puting a lot of strees on it so I sugest you get a bolt and hook it up again.

 

I think that possibly i know what it is. There are 6 bolts that connect the top of the manifold to the block and the 2nd one from the right lost its head, how do you get that out now? anyone know?