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Video Overview:

A leaking exhaust not only sounds bad, it can lead to decreased engine performance, and poor fuel mileage. Our 1967 Sunroof Beetle's original muffler had seen better days and since we just received our very own 2 Tip GT exhaust that we've been developing for over a year, we figured what better opportunity to install it?

There are plenty of options when it comes to aftermarket exhausts for VW Beetles, even those that still exit out the stock VW apron cut outs. We aren't aware of many though that still have factory VW style preheat provisions. VW engineers did a great job of ensuring that the single carburetor, centered over the middle of the engine, and isolated away from the heat of the cylinder heads, stayed warm, by using the exhaust gases.

The preheat ports were designed with a high pressure side (right off the cylinder head) and a low pressure side (behind a tail pipe) to make sure that the exhaust gases flow through the tube. Most aftermarket exhausts put the ports right off of the head, which essentially puts the two ports in a battle against each other, with none of the gases actually flowing through from one side to the other as VW intended.

What does this matter for your VW? For stock and single carburetor equipped engines, it means that the intake manifold will be properly warmed up. This ensures smooth acceleration and performance regardless of the ambient air temperature. So follow along as our tech Sam installs the exhaust on our 1967, covers some tips and shows you how to install an aftermarket exhaust and retain the stock heater boxes and fresh air hoses.

Video Transcript:

Hello everyone, I’m Sam with JBugs.com. It’s been a minute, but we’re back to work on our 1967 Beetle. We haven’t done a whole lot with this car lately, other than taking it out to a couple of local car shows and cruise nights and testing a few products on it. While driving it around, I noticed a bit of an exhaust leak, so today we’re going to take care of that with a new two-tip GT-style exhaust system.

One thing that sets this exhaust apart from many others on the market is the separate preheat tube design. We have a low-pressure side and a high-pressure side. The high-pressure side pushes exhaust gases through the intake manifold and back down the other side, which helps prevent the intake from icing up. Without this, fuel vapor moving through the manifold can cause it to ice—similar to how a spray can gets cold in your hand when you’re using it for a long time. That’s why Volkswagen designed these preheater tubes in the first place.

So today I’m going to swap out the old leaking exhaust for the new system, replace all the gaskets, and take a look at the heater boxes. And yes—you might notice we have a lift now. After years of making videos, we finally added one. Everything we’ve shown you over the years can absolutely be done without a lift—I’ve restored entire cars, including my Super Beetle, on the ground. The lift just makes it easier to show what we’re doing… and, honestly, it’s nice not having to lie on the ground anymore.

With that, let me get the car up in the air and we’ll get to work.

Now that it’s lifted, I can see several pinholes along the backside of the muffler, which explains the exhaust leak. The heater boxes are old and crusty, but they actually look to be in decent shape. We’ll start by removing the exhaust. While the car is up, I’ll loosen the clamps here and here. No need to worry about the tailpipes yet—we’ll handle those from the top side after removing the rear engine tin.

It’s amazing this car still has a genuine Volkswagen muffler. It even had the factory clutch when we first pulled the engine. I never thought I’d say this, because I’ve never really been a fan of patina, but this car has grown on me. It’s so original and solid that I just can’t justify doing a full restoration. Sometimes it’s better to bring a car back to life and enjoy driving it rather than making it perfect and worrying about every scratch or dent.

With the rear engine tin removed, we’ll work on the exhaust bolts and the heat riser hardware. Anytime you remove old exhaust components, there’s a real risk of snapping a stud. One trick is to warm up the engine first so the heat expands the metal and helps loosen everything. It makes working on a hot exhaust harder, but it’s still easier than dealing with broken studs or pulling the engine to replace heads.

After warming it up, the bolts came free fairly easily. With the heat risers and exhaust hardware removed, the original Volkswagen exhaust is finally off. You can see the preheat tube design—one side carries higher pressure, and the other lower pressure. The soot buildup shows which side was doing the work. I tried blowing air through the intake preheat tube, but it’s completely clogged with soot. Short of removing and soaking the manifold, there’s not much that can be done right now.

Next, I’ll install new exhaust studs in the heads. The heater boxes still look solid, with no signs of leaks near the heads. With new studs in place, we’ll install fresh gaskets and slide the new exhaust into position. Everything lines up nicely on the heads, so we’ll install the wavy washers and high-clearance nuts and torque everything to about 14 ft-lbs.

From underneath, we’ll install the lower clamps in the correct order—bolt, flat washer, clamp, second clamp, spring washer, and nut—then tighten everything down. After that, we’ll move back up top to secure the heat risers and upper exhaust hardware.

With everything tightened, I’ll wipe down the stainless tailpipes. Any fingerprints or oils can stain once heated, so it’s best to clean them before firing up the engine. We’ll start the car, check for leaks, and listen to the new exhaust. It still has a bit of that classic Volkswagen whistle, but under throttle it sounds nice and throaty. The high-temp coating also seems to be holding up well with no signs of burning off.

Once the engine cools, we’ll reinstall the rear engine tin, heat riser block-off plates, and fan shroud hoses. The aftermarket hoses are usually too long, so we cut and use them as extensions from the tin down to the heater boxes, shaping them as needed for a proper fit.

With the hoses back in place and everything reassembled, the exhaust install is complete. The fit and finish are excellent, and the sound is exactly what you’d want from a two-tip GT system. With its 1⅜-inch internal diameter tubing, it’s best suited for engines under about 1800cc—an 1835 or mild 1915 would be ideal. Anything larger and you’ll start restricting exhaust flow and losing horsepower.

Hopefully this shows how straightforward it is to install your own exhaust at home. And with that, I’m Sam from JBugs.com. Thanks for watching—and remember, life’s full of good people. If you can’t find one, be one.