Thoughts ...

is200 Newbie · October 2, 2016

I have managed to spend a bit of time this weekend fettling the exhaust into place and welding the tail piping to fit in the recesses under the car. I am replacing the existing stainless one that's on the car at the moment as I have never been happy with it (too noisy and drones like hell between 2k and 2.5k revs which was a novelty at first but cant live with it now as is).

The boxes I have used to replace the existing are two Rover MG ZT 2.5V6 boxes. I have had to flip one output side around and weld back up but am amazed at how well they fit the recess on the car. Exact depth but 4 inches wider and fit very well. I haven't specifically gone for dual boxes, its just the fact that this was the only box I found after searching for ages that would be a good fit for the car.

I have welded the boxes up / put the hangers on them and adjusted the inlet pipe - next week I will replace all the other pipes up to the cat and then fit to the car. The resonator I am using is an IS200 one which fits very well.

The picture below shows the boxes fitted to the car - only as a trial to see if everything went together and lined up... It did. They are not connected at the moment, I was a bit uncertain as to how the tail pipes looked. The box, once secured will be higher by about an inch into the recess and I plan to place a spoiler over the bumper which is on its way from the USA so this will hide the cut out so I will post another picture once all done ... question is ....

Do the exhaust tips look a bit too small for the size of the car (Diameter wise)? I can extend the size to just over 3" for each or I can add exhaust tips which will bring it up to a bigger size. The exhaust in the picture only shows the stock Rover size... The length of the pipes are not set yet as was leaving this until the spoiler arrived to see what length they needed to be with it on.

P.S... I fitted these temporarily to the existing tubes and tried it for a few hundred yards - very quiet considering (will be better once the resonator is replaced) it does however, which cannot be heard that much in the car, give a low "growling" sound at low revs which is quite unique. Will know more about how it sounds once all done.

madasahatter · October 2, 2016

Good job you done there, if you fit tips you may have to widen the cut outs on both sides. Look like they may catch and vibrate, or is it just the photo.

is200 Newbie · October 2, 2016

53 minutes ago, madasahatter said:

Good job you done there, if you fit tips you may have to widen the cut outs on both sides. Look like they may catch and vibrate, or is it just the photo.

Its just the picture - once they are fixed in properly there's plenty room around them (about an inch each side of the tips) I could not fix them properly to show in the picture

IS200D · October 2, 2016

Very impressive ingenuity. Well done finding boxes and resonator that fit - was there anything at all you could use from that noisy old stainless steel set up?

is200 Newbie · October 2, 2016

59 minutes ago, IS200D said:

Very impressive ingenuity. Well done finding boxes and resonator that fit - was there anything at all you could use from that noisy old stainless steel set up?

The back stainless boxes are fine - just too noisy for me - might put them on eBay and get some money back from them which would probably pay for the new Rover boxes. The rest of the stainless system is only good for pipe work. Wasn't that well made to be honest but its lasted 3 years...

IS200D · October 2, 2016

Yeah, I can certainly vouch for both its longevity and the noise, having had it fitted on both a car and a van. Although I did find it bearable, as I insisted on the fitter making it as quiet as humanly possible (and taking it back when it wasn't!), I realise it could never be 'lexus' quiet - so I fully appreciate you loosing your patience with it. Presumably the pipe work has little or no bearing on the noise, hence them being reusable. Good luck getting something for the boxes on eBay!