I've got a blueprint at my machinist buddy'* shop to turn a reduced diameter pipe out of carbon steel. Haven't heard from him yet what it might cost. I'll post when I hear.

I do have an upper repaired with a stainless steel sleeve that I'll send to someone who wants to be a test mule for the shipping cost only. I'd like to have that person'* upper as an exchange, however. .

Yeah, I am in the process of working up a cheap shrunk version of a reduced diameter pipe The pipe is 5/8" , same as GM'* new one. But I want to make sure the ring and pipe can be fitted into the LIM and UIM and end up close to a true center. Harry is gonna help by checking out my prototype, plus I will be making up some more test RD pipes with a taller ring in the next few days. If these look better, I'll be happy to send you one to try.

probably would be best to turn it out of a piece of 3/4 bar stock for the best concentricity.
If your going to reduce it to say .500 I don't think concentricity will matter.
Anyone know the exact dia. of the original pipe lower end?
Bill sent you a PM.

The original is .750 bore in the lower and .750 pipe.

You're right. A lathe does it best. It just costs more. And I agree that at ,500, you can afford to be a little off center. The KenCo sleeve OD is only .755, and if it has a .030 wall, that gives them a .695 sleeve ID. With a .500 OD tube, that'* a gap of nearly .100. (Just guessin' on these KenCo numbers, I've never had on e in my hands.) [edit: KenCo sleeve is .812 OD, 754 ID, giving a gigantic air gap of .127! (thanks for the numbers, Harry)]

GM should be providing replacement EGR tubes for free if its such a massive problem.
Instead they don't even stock this pipe even if you want to pay for their errors.
They want you to buy the entire LIM!
Don't get me wrong, I have always driven GM, but this one erks me!

SSEBONNE4EVA, I'd say you are "right on." I sometimes get the very real feeling that that HUGE GM GIANT has no real care or concern at all for the majority of their long-time faithful customers. ESPECIALLY the used car customer.

EVERY SINGLE TIME things like this come up, and I go out of my way to visit with and share our knowledge with Dealership people, -especially those in the parts and service departments, I AM JUST WASTING MY TIME.

The feeling I get is that GM only cares about selling as many NEW CARS as they can. And only when are they FORCED TO, do they come up with a cheap "bubble gum and duct tape" patch to get the car through the warranty period. And after that period is up, quite frankly they just DON'T GIVE A $#@% Essentially they NEVER ADMIT any guilt.

But what do I do, (talk about stupid) I keep on buying GM "H" cars. -like the 2002 SE that I have spend untold hours on already fixing GM design screw-ups. (at least with most of the GM messes, I'm able to make "home garage mechanic" repairs, unlike some of the horror stories I hear about other manufacturers, with things like bad transmissions, engines, etc)

Say, on the dimension of the EGR parts, please see Bill Buttermore'* thread on his "low cost EGR tube." I have a reply there that give the dimensions. And when I get my Brother'* LaSabre apart in a few days, I'll reply to that same thread on what I find there.

I guess if the NHTSB gets enough complaints on their website they could force GM
to take action. Those dealer people are just like you and me, employees trying to make a living.
We should all issue a complain / investigation.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
57Chevy thanks for the direction on the stove pipe dim.

-trouble is, I really don't think the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would really be our source. The things we are going through with the design defects can not really be pinned down to being a safety hazzard, don't you think ?

The frustrations I've had with their defects, has been more along the lines of a few areas of substandard quality, and just plain old crappy/stupid design issues.

The kinds of things that make you feel like "they just don't care about us little people out here."

I sure do wish that a few million GM current (and recent past) customers could find some sort of avenue of collective strength, and really "put the bite on them." -some avenue that would really get their attention. I just don't know what that is,,,

Exactly, if it is not a saftey related item NHTSA isn't interested. You'd have to find another avenue, but damned if I know what it is.