There have been a number of request in multiple threads about the inside of the first muffler or the center exhaust section of these cars and if they cross over.
I was able to score a second exhaust section and decided to have fun. Pics below:


I already hacked off the front pipes leading to the cats to make it easier to move around and made a long cut around the center box. --Right side is front of car.--
Pulled back the outer cover and what do we find? Another box!
(as a side note, this is a high quality exhaust for OEM. Thick SS took some effort to cut even with the right tools.



Open the box-in-a-box and we find two pipes running through. The right-hand side is where the exhaust comes in. In this pic I had already pulled the mesh out and put it back for reference. It was packed very tightly in there.
There are basically 3 separate chambers in here. First is the packed section, then middle section with two pipes and the third one on the left with the fit pipes that over the incoming ones.





Now I pulled the mesh packing out and we have preforated tubes.





While not a typical H-pipe or X-pipe there are two places where the exhaust gases are "combined". The first section is perfed pipes that dump into the same box but with a whole lot mesh stuffed in there so likely little cross flow between the two.

The middle section is completely closed, the last section is straight through pipes with the outer sleeve having some room for high flow "blow back". Not sure exact terms here. In this chamber under back pressure some flow will exit into the chamber. With increased pressure I doubt here there is much chance to combine the flows in a traditional sense. Seems like a "overflow" or retention chamber to catch noise and pressure when flow increases.

Hope this helps.

 

Cool Always interesting to open things up and see how they work.

 

x2 on cool, good to see whats going on in there. With mine I welded one "bank" shut and put it on a dudes S10. He was proud to rock a Jaguar muffler

 

Speaking of exhaust.. greverrr, do you happen to have any pictures of your new exhaust setup? I am plan to do mine the same way, and I am wondering what bends are involved, how you routed it, etc. I plan to buy everything myself, so whichever shop I use can't overcharge me for the parts. I already found the mufflers that you used, sections of 14ga 2-1/4" stainless pipe, as well as pre-bent multi bend pieces of the same 2-1/4" ss pipe. I want to buy pre-bent stuff for them to weld up, because I think the shops around here only have standard pipe benders.. I want nice smooth mandrel bends.

 

I'm sorry the exhaust is about the only thing I don't have a pictures of :/ Picture a stock exhaust in 2.25'' really. It would be pretty hard to take pics of the over-cv axle pipe installed, it is really tightly threaded thru that whole area.

I followed the exact path of the stock system but with 2.25''. I have a conventional pipe bender, but if I have any sort of "crink'' in the pipe I do what I call angle cutting pipes, just like you see on lots of turbo car downpipes, (reference pic below) a bunch of little pipe sections cut at angles then welded. Oldschool hotrodders did it that way as well. It usually gets a bit more expensive if you outsourced it to be done that way, time consuming.

As for ordering specific bends I wouldn't even be able to give you accurate references because everything I do is always by eye and test fit. I know Daim built an exhaust for his XJ8 more recently than me and maybe he could chime in or you could PM him about specific bend angles. Or you could crawl under with a protractor and go that route.

The main trouble I remember having was placement of hangers for the over axle pipes because of the spacial issues, it is very tight with the increased pipe size, also have them be cognisant of proximity of the pipe to the fuel filter. Other than that its pretty straight forward and any decent muffler shop shouldn't have a problem. It wasn't the easiest exhaust i've ever built, but it was one of the more fulfilling ones in the end

 

Oh ok.. Makes sense that the axle area would be the most difficult part. What type of hangers did you use.. Weld on, or clamp on?

 

For the over axle portion in order to retain the factory rubber hole hanger I bent and welded rod (maybe 3/8''?) like they use to hang the factory exhaust. I'm sure the muffler place you end up choosing would set you up just the same as its pretty much universal practice

 

Any plan when you will be pulling the trigger Johnny_B? Its exciting stuff, I always love to hear peoples reactions after exhaust mods on the SC'ed AJ's. If you are into taking advantage of the sportiness of these cars it really enhances the whole driving experience imo. I guess i'm a bit of an exhaust geek/phile, so this topic revs me up pretty easily. Def keep us updated

 

Hopefully soon.. Right now the car is out of action for about 3 weeks. I am sending off both passenger side wheels to be refurbished. The New York city roads/curbs were not very kind to them.. They look terrible. As if that wasn't enough, I also spent a bunch of money buying all new badges for the rear of the car

I can't wait to do the exhaust.. The car really deserves to make a little more noise, especially being a 100 I will also do a 3.5" intake setup at around the same time, so I can hear more of that wonderful Eaton whine