I bought a Tanabe Medallion axle back muffler at the end of the season last year, and I just got around to installing it yesterday. It seemed to bolt up just fine, but I'm not sure it's correct. I'm not a fan of how the muffler bolts on personally, and I don't like how it just cups over to the next pipe with no real gasket, but whatever.

Anyway, my concern is that the muffler isn't really bolted on correctly. Those spring bolts are annoying but I tightened them to about the point how the old unit was. The connection seems fine but it was leaking some cloudy water when I first started the car. It stopped after a few min (with the car still running) and I don't hear any odd noises, but I thought that was a little odd.

I think I may try tightening the bolts a bit more, even though it's not leaking, just to be sure. The muffler itself sounds fine, and there isn't much smoke. Thoughts? Was I supposed to use an aftermarket cat-back with this muffler?

 

The only gasket needed in that application is the donut gasket which would have been sitting on you B-pipe (also reffered to as mid-pipe)'s flange. So as long as you have this (see picture below)...



...still in place and you've tightened the exhaust properly, you should be ok. There's no harm in double checking your work, if memory serves me right I think the torque for the axle back's nuts is 16 lb ft. Here's another shot of a donut gasket installed on a pipe.

 

Thanks, that actually helps me out a bit.

I know for sure that it's still on the mid-pipe; I wasn't sure if it was considered an actual gasket or not. This had me scratching my head a little when I saw it. I don't really see why they couldn't have just made it a traditional joint with a flat gasket and not spring loaded bolts... but hey they're the engineers.

Ugh, well I guess if I have any issues I'll just order a new gasket, but it seems alright at the moment. Thanks again!

 

Its a ball-and-socket type of design; which seals much better than flat flanges with gaskets. You should be ok with the original donut gasket unless of course there is an obvious difference in size or your previously existing gasket was damaged during the installation of your new muffler.