My nephew has wanted me to 'upgrade/make louder' the exhaust system on my '02 2.5 X.....replace the mufflers with Ansa tips. He remembers the sound that my XK140 made with this setup. I am in a rather unique position in that I am semi-retired and I have a RUNNING parts car('02 2.5 X). This translates to having plenty of time for experimentation without running the risk of damaging my driver car. Yesterday, with the aid of my sawzal, I removed both mufflers from my parts car....EZ work....took 30 minutes including cleanup. I cranked the car, it sounded pretty good-not loud for the ears of a career petrolhead. HOWEVER, the car, which was previously code free, immediately went into 'limp home mode'. It flashed the dreaded red x. point and orange engine icons. This was not expected, but this warning presented no threat, because I WAS ALREADY HOME!!! My borrowed scan tool(I haven't bought a new one YET) showed a myriad of fuel/emissions related codes due to the double amputation.
In an hour or so, I will have the muffler shop cobble up 2 short adapters so that I can reinstall the mufflers. BUT, before they go back on, I plan to remove the insides('gut' in shadetree speak) of both mufflers.
I will report my results when I have them....it may take awhile as I am slower at construction than demolition. Cheers, Andy

 

C3823, now might be a good time that if you were going to try out a few different mufflers to do that. I am considering going with an aftermarket muffler setup to try and gain a little bit in the way of mileage. The existing pipes are plenty big for the motor, so, really I will be dealing with only the mufflers and maybe some different tips. We'll see. I am thinking I will more than likely end up with some black powder coated tips to help blend them in to the back of my car vice having these bright shiny pieces on an otherwise muted rear end.

 

Hi Thermo, I just completed 'modifying' the first muffler. I cut a rectangular hole in its top side by cutting completely thru on 3 sides and scoring the other so as to be able to open it like a door. I removed all of the glass fibre packing (which was a lot). I bent the 'door' back into the proper position and welded it shut. For general info, these factory Jag mufflers are VERY well constructed. The internal structure is of a quality and design that is at least equal to most any brand performance muffler that I have had experience with. I will keep everyone posted as my experiment progresses. Cheers, Andy

 

Andy, the "cheapo" mod I have seen that you can do to factory mufflers is you get a hole saw that just fits into the tailpipe of the muffler. From there, using an extension bar, you feed the hole saw down the muffler the wrong way and when you run into the bend in the muffler, you use the hole saw to cut out part of the bend. This essentially opens the inlet chamber inside the muffler straight to the outlet pipe.

Thought I would pass that on.

 

Hi Thermo-I read someone's thread about doing what you are talking about. While that is certainly do-able, I think that the results might not be consistant from muffler to muffler because of the density and large amount of glass fibre....all speculation when it comes to 'shadetree' mods. After removing the glass fibre from one of my mufflers, the internal structure resembles any low restriction/high performance muffler....we'll know IF and HOW WELL my plan works sometime late next week....HOPEFULLY!!! Cheers, Andy

 

I'm an old (really old) gearhead and shade tree mechanic but also a trained pre-computer era mechanic. I'm very curious why removing the mufflers would cause fuel/emission codes, since the O2 sensors are up at the engine and nothing has changed ahead of them to cause any mixtures change. If removing the mufflers could cause these codes then changing to after market free flowing muffler should do the same. The Mina's I have on mine you can hold up to a light and look right through them. The only restriction being some very small bent baffle slots cut in the through pipe allowing some of the gases into the expansion chamber. But muffler or no muffler should change what the O2 sensors are reading. You're not going to get any more or less oxygen at the O2 sites.
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong in my thinking, but it just doesn't register in my mind.

 

Hello Green Machine, We come from the same era and I too am curious as to WHY the car threw all the codes that it did. I have been delayed by non-Jaguar responsibilities the last two days but I will work on the muffler project this PM. Just for gen info, after the glass fibre packing is removed, the internal construction of the OEM Jag muffler resembles a high quality free flow muffler....Update to follow soon....Cheers, Andy

 

I don't know about the free flowing design, but I do know the OEM's are heavy. Feels like they're made out of lead.

 

OK....time to report my findings. 1st-the crazy check engine lights on my parts car were due to heavily corroded battery cables and low coolant level-EZ fixed. 2nd-I field mounted the gutted OEM mufflers on my parts car-they sounded pretty good-very Jaguarish-mellow, no tinny sound, nor too loud....they're going on my driver this PM. I almost forgot, both cars are wearing the OEM resonator. Cheers, Andy

 

Andy:
Any updates, I'm very interested in doing this to gain a bit of growl from my exhaust as well
All the best
Gary

 

I do have a spare set of mufflers sitting in my garage right now from another members X-Type. I may have to look into what it would take to remove the stuffing from inside the muffler. But then, a little bit of looking at the internals may net some other ideas for me too. he he he he he.

I am not after that bumble bee sound. I would like to get something more like the classic car rumble. Some of the new Mustang/camaro exhausts make me want to listen to fingernails on a chalkboard instead of their exhaust.

 

Hello Thermo, With the gutted mufflers you won't be confused with the 'boy racer' who lives down everybody's street nor will the hot rod crowd drop in to see what kind of headers that you are running. About the best description that I can give is that it sounds Jaguarish....not quite like my XK140 sounded but similar. If you decide to open up your mufflers-cut about 1/2" to 3/4" inside the 2 outer reinforcement ribs that are stamped in the sides of the mufflers (they stop at top the edge-so just mark a couple of reference lines). This will prevent you from cutting into the 2 bulkheads inside the muffler....like I almost did. I cut 3 sides of a rectangle and scribed a heavy line with my ziz wheel on the 4th side- then I bent this piece back like a door. As you can see,you won't need a diploma of any kind to accomplish this task....just a little time and the proper equipment. When I got thru 'unpacking', I bent the doors back, welded them up, squirted some hi-temp paint on them, and.....well I'm SURE you know the rest....transfer case drain mod update coming soon. Cheers, Andy