1994 Geo Metro 1.0 liter mileage: 58,000. I'm hearing loud exhaust noise from the front of the car. The down pipe, converter and all other components are either new or clean and solid. I'd swear this is coming from the spring-loaded coupling between the down pipe and manifold. Does the gasket in there routinely disintegrate? When I had the converter loose to put in a new resonator section I noticed that the whole catalytic assembly swung mighty easily. Could my problem be a leak at that gasket after only 58,000 miles?