So I previously ordered a set of 200 call cats and downpipes from VAP Performance for my 2017 SVR. Installed them and while they obviously helped add power along with the lower crank pulley and tune from VAP that I Installed as well, they did not sound good at all in my opinion. Screaming loud on cold start and just an unpleasant metallic raspiness throughout most of the RPM range. The only exception was WOT where they sounded decent but were still extremely loud. I kept them on there hoping I would grow to like them but neither myself nor my wife could ever warm up to them after several months. I initially planned on adding some resonators myself but there wasn't room for the vibrant resonators they recommended. In hind sight I might have been able to make them work if I found a model skinny enough. I eventually contacted VAP and they agreed to make me a set of custom resonated down pipes with the 200 cell cats. It took about ten to twelve weeks to get them but they eventually showed up. They were beautiful quality parts with expert quality welds. It took me probably 7 or 8 hours to install the first set, well, it only took about 3 and half hours to install the resonated ones. It's certainly helps that I had all the right tools this time! I got them done a few hours ago today and took the car out for about an hour to burn off the coating and hear cycle them some. Let me tell you, THEY SOUND FREAKING AWESOME! They are still louder than stock but not longer ridiculous loud and more importantly, all the high pitch raspiness and unpleasant metallic noise is totally gone. The car sounds fan-freaking-tastic. If you have been considering the 200 cell downpipes for your R or SVR I would HIGHLY recommend that you have them build a set of resonated ones for you. They may cost more but it is more than worth it. Honestly the other ones made the car a little embarrassing to drive. These resonated pipes are the way to go 100%

 

By the way, I have some very lightly used VAP 200 cell cats and downpipes for sale for a good price. They sound great.........LOL. seriously though I will sell them cheap and they only have about 1000 miles on them. They might sound better on a R model with the normal exhaust rather than the SVRs titanium exhaust. Also they could be made to be resonated, you would just need to find resonators that are skinny, maybe an inch larger total in diameter than the pipes. The vibrant resonators I bought were more like 2 inches larger diameter and wouldn't fit. The buyer could contact VAP a d ask for the EXACT make and model of the resonators they used on the custom set they built me.

 

Please send us details of the resonators. I have the same cats and they are pretty loud. A picture would be great too. If I am to get a local shop to splice resonators into mine, it would be great to follow a proven design.

 

This is a case of you should have left it original. If it ain't broken, then don't fix it.

 

Its not uncommon for FType Jags to kill their cats. The pops and bangs so many people enjoy creates a lot of heat which causes some cats to disintegrate into ceramic dust. Under negative back pressure this can be sucked into the engine. I have experienced this on another car and my engine builder has seen it many times as a major cause of engine failure in hi performance engines - and a lot of car makers are putting the cats close to the engine manifold for efficiency elevating this risk. Metal cats don’t suffer this type of failure. Now this may never happen to the Jag, but for me, i choose to remove ceramic cats as a kind of insurance, given my experience.

 

I wanted more power, a deeper tone, and a little more volume. And like others have mentioned, the factory cats are pretty restrictive, delicate, and likely to fail with the pops and bangs that came with the factory tune for SVR. I kept the same level of pops and bangs with the VAP tune that the factory tune had. Also, the SVR trim's exhaust is titanium from the x-pipe to the tips so it had a higher pitch naturally that I wanted to make lower/deeper. I agree that for some people and things that saying has a lot of merit, however if I followed that "lesson" I would not have the fastest F-Type around here, no beautiful 3-piece 21" wheels, no tint on the windows, no dustless Red Stuff brake pads, and the mediocre factory tires instead of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. Also I wouldn't have a 950 wheel horsepower Redeye that can beat nearly everything on the road, "supercars" included!

 

I should have taken pictures of everything before I installed them. Not sure why that never occurred to me! I will throw it up on a lift within a couple of days and get back to you with exact measurements and some pics. The resonators were welded in the straight sections of pipe on either side of the transmission. Like I mentioned in the original post, when I first contacted VAP they thought the resonator idea was good and told me they had built a few custom pairs at the request of a few customers. I asked what resonators to buy and they gave me a Vibrant part number for for an 8" inch resonator with an overall length of 12" inches and with a resonator diameter of 4" inches. There was ZERO mays to make them fit. They were the right length resonator but the resonator housing was too wide to squeeze in. I figured that VAP was running a longer down pipe length to fit the flow-thru resonators in along with an extra bend or two to make it work, but it turns out they are exactly the same length with the same bends and locations for the O2 sensors. Oh and before I forget to mention it, if you are going to modify yours with resonators go ahead and order two new clamps to replace the factory ones from where the rear end of the downpipes goes into the factory x pipe. I reused the factory clamps the first time around and they had to have been leaking a little due to the soft metal lining inside flaking away and falling apart. They are most likely a one-time use type of clamp because of the way the inside metal lining molds to the pipes when fully tightened down.

 

Really appreciate it if you could send a photo. I installed my cats and can see where the resonators could fit (pictured) but the diameter would be an issue given the path between body and transmission. I’ve asked my local VAP dealer to enquire about the resonators you used. My car is a V6, not the V8, and is pretty loud although when I activate the bypass on the rear muffler it’s ok. The sound on the 6 could be less raspy. It’s comes down to preference- definitely first world issues here.

I know the clamp on the Xpipe you are referring to. Mine took some manual encouragement to remove but is still in tact. You’re right a new one is needed. In the V6 they use a mid muffler not an X pipe (don’t think an Xpipe works on even pulsed V6.).

Your SVR must be incredible. Post some pics :-)

Seems the only place a resonator can fit

 

You are correct in where they are located, the areas you circled. I will get it up on the lift tomorrow evening. After driving it a couple of days I want to check all the clamps and joints where it snugs up to the domed collector fitting and make sure there are no leaks or clearance issues now that these down pipes have been thru a few heat cycles. The passenger side had plenty of clearance but the drivers side was REALLY close between the resonator and the transmission bracket. I drove it around quite a bit today and it has a much deeper tone to it that I was looking for while still sounding great under load thru the entire RPM range from idle to WOT. A genuine night and day difference.

 

Here are some pics of both of my fun cars. There is the 950 wheel horsepower Redeye with the Velgen VFMP10 3 piece wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and carbon fiber hood and trunk next to the SVR at a local meet, and then another of the Redeye with the newest set of racing wheels and tires I just got in last week, the 17x11 Weld RT-S 3-piece forged S80 Beadlock rears and matching 20x8 fronts with 315/50R17 Mickey Thompson ET Steet Rs in back and 245/45R20 Mickey Thompson Street Comp front tires. Then there is a picture of my SVR in front of my store with the 21" B-Forged 3-piece forged wheels also shod in Michelin PS 4S tires, and another picture of it with same wheel set up but after recoating the calipers red for a splash of contrast and applying a new Jaguar decal. They were black from the factory but the black was more gray than I liked and the Jaguar decal was barely visible.

 

Here are some close-ups of the new Welds and MT street and strip tire set-up.

 

Those Weld wheels look amazing. I am impressed you got the 6 piston Brembos behind those front wheels.
Such a joy to have two quite different cars for your differing moods.
I have an Aussie/American supercharged V8 and the F Type. Very different and enjoyable experiences.
Is the Redeye stock 950HP or have you tinkered with it ? More boost, meth injection? Its a beast!
Your F Type wheels look fantastic too. Aftermarket wheels on the F Type can be hit and miss, but yours suit the car beautifully.
Great collection!
I think our tastes are similar. My 2 fun cars are very different too.


A car for every mood

 

What model Holden is that?
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Hi there.
Its a 2011, VE SSV Redline Sportswagon.
VE Series 2 - 6.0 L77

 

He missed the first/main part - it's a Holden Commodore.

 

Thanks OZ XFR, yes it is a Commodore.
Not often found in the same company as Jags and the like.
Hated and loved by many (different people).

 

Wow! That is a cool car! Sorta reminds me of the Cadillac CTS-V wagon we had for just a few years in the US.
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What a great pair of cars! You are right we have very similar tastes. I liken it to a scalpel versus a sledgehammer! Both ways are lots of fun. Great to see a V8 wagon. I never understood why U.S. automakers shy away from them. They make them for a year or two and then stop. As soon as they stop the ones they have made get super hard to find and expensive, just like the CTSV Wagon someone else mentioned. My Redeye was 797 horsepower at the crank from the factory which equates to about 700 wheel horsepower. I have a whole build sheet a full page long single-spaced to get it to roughly 1100 to 1150 at the crank and 950 at the wheel. In addition to all the engine modifications I also beefed up all of the suspension components with much stronger billet stuff and braced the rear diff both front and rear. I have two different supercharger pulleys to run and two different tunes, a smaller pulley for E85 fuel and a stock sized pulley for 93 octane. The 93 octane tune is 830 wheel horsepower. I also have two complete rear end gearsets I can swap in about an hour or so, 2.62s and 3.09s. The highlights of the engine and supercharger mods are: a ported and polished supercharger inlet and snout, 1340cc ID injectors, a 108mm Throttle body, a pinned crank pulley, F.I. Interchiller supercharger spacers and gaskets and Interchiller heat blanket applied to underside of the supercharger, a quick-change supercharger pulley system, a triple pump fuel system, a carbon fiber air intake, Kooks long tube headers, Kooks Green Catted Midpipes, an AWE Touring Exhaust with valve deletes, fender mount UPR catch can, race spark plugs, a colder thermostat, and a billet BWoody idler pulley to a put nearly a full wrap of the Gates belt around the supercharger pulley. I have a full carbon fiber hood on the car and full carbon fiber trunk lid along with side skirts and rock guards. I am also a bit of a wheel *****...LOL I have 5 different sets of the wheels for the Redeye (2 sets of factory forged wheels and 3 sets of 3-piece forged wheels) and 2 different sets for the Jaguar (1 factory forged set and 1 3-piece forged set), and I'm waiting on another 3-piece custom set for the Jaguar currently being built. Once you do all the tasteful exterior mods that you want to do, the only way to change the look of the car is with wheels. Its like a wristwatch or jewelry for you car. A high quality set of 3-piece custom wheels is thing a beauty when they fit right and look great. As far as mods on the Jaguar, I have only changed the crank pulley to the larger size VAP pulley, installed the resonated 200 cell sport cats, and did the VAP tune on it. I have a full nitrous kit that was custom built for it but I may not ever install it and use it. If they ever come out with an E-85 "kit" for the Jaguar I would much rather do that instead.

 

If anyone is interested I have those non-resonated VAP 200 cell sport cats and downpipes for sale for $500 bucks plus whatever actual shipping would be. They are in like-new condition with no dents, dings, or damage of any kind. Way under 1000 miles on them, more like 5 to 700 miles. All of the O2 sensor fittings have perfect threads as-does the stud on the collector bracket. Will fit on ANY AWD V8 or V6 F Type. I just verified this with the owner of Velocity Automotive Performance that built them. New they were $1295 plus tax and shipping, so these are well under half price and you wont have to go thru smelling the unpleasant smell that stainless steel puts off during the initial dozen times it is heat-cycled. Any interested party just shoot me a PM.

 

i have had contact with the OP and he is rock solid! I wanted them but I have RWD