[wyckedflesh]

The exhaust itself is irrelevent. Due to the size and weight of the full exhaust, it was decided that an additional bracket needed to be added. Unfortunately, the bracket itself was the Original Point of Breakage. Everything after was collateral damage. Had the bracket not dislodged the springs, the springs would have held the canister and header together, even as the canister got looser and looser from the additional flex. The springs held enough tension on the canister, it kept the header seated at the bottom of the canister input.

Once at home, and after I healed up enough, I took the canister and matched it up to the header. When we first assembled everything, it was a very snug fit. I had 2K miles on the exhaust before the bracket broke, and we had enough confidence in how tight the joint felt at the gas station where it was noticed I had lost the bracket, that we didn't think not having the springs there anymore would be a problem. The canister input had rounded out so much in 100 miles, there were cracks in the pipe and the joint itself was so sloppy I could use matches as shims and still have it be loose.