The rattle is making me go crazy. The metal shield surrounding the exhaust before the cat is lose. It's thin and in poor condition. It has been welded tight sometime before it seems but now there is no way to tighten it. Can I cut and remove it? Any real danger in removing this?

 

It had to come off.. it Was in a horrible condition with lots of rust. The metal was smuldering away .
The question now I guess is if the heat will damage wiring to O2 sensors or other things. I will probably buy a brand new complete exhaust system sometime soon though. . I guess it's time..



I also discovered I have the notorious crack in the rear manifold 🙁. . I guess I will have to find someone to weld it .

 

I'm talking to myself here but someone might find the information useful one day..
I removed all the heat shields on the exhaust. And there is still a rattle. Not as much, but definitely some rattle from the catalyst area. So it might seem that something inside the catalyst has come lose. Which is REALLY annoying and actually ruining the joy of driving. Looks like I'll order a complete exhaust.

 

From what I understand inside the Cat is just a ceramic substrate carrier for the platinum alloy unless there is a metal cage on the back to hold it in place . If you can locate something on the outside stuffing the area of interest with some brass ( not steel ) wool may be a temporary fix . On the cracked exhaust manifold unless the unit is in a oven and heated way up then bolted to a flat table before welding it may crack again . With this in mind I mapped out a repair for my cracked one with cut and rethreaded 90 degree bicycle spokes with a patch underneath it before I try welding it . If it doesn't work I can remove it . You don't have to remove the manifold to do the repair . My crack is only 1/3 of the total circumference . My crack is between the 2-3 cylinder . Should fit under the manifold shield . I have not completed the repair but these are pics .

 

Common problem with the exhaust manifolds. See AL NZ's recent posts, and welcome to the "Club In-Search-Of-Exhaust-Manifolds"!

Your downpipes with the front cats are breaking up and were overdue for replacement. The heat shield is bolted onto the exhaust manifolds so if your exhaust manifolds are cracked or loosened up, the heat shield will become loose as well and lose its primary role of heat deflection. Your rubber hoses nearby will be toasted in no time. Looks like you will need a full exhaust system from exhaust manifolds onwards. David Manners has a good priced set of full system from downpipes to tailbox, but you will need to tackle the exhaust manifolds first. OEMs are nowhere to be found.

 

I was very lucky and found a member from the norwegian jaguar club that had a spare manifold he could sell for a very cheap price.
I also went a bit over the top today as I have just ordered the cat and downpipe from David manner AND the sports exhaust system from quicksilver.

I can't wait to get it on!

 

Turned out the spare manifold also was cracked. So I have now decided to get the manifold welded.
I removed both manifolds as well as the downpipe as the new exhaust system is on its way..

Only sad news is that quicksilver exhaust needed 28 days to manufacture the sport exhaust system.

 

I found a local metal shop that had experience in welding cast iron and they sorted it out today in about 1 hour.
Very pleased and eager to have it installed again.

I noticed however when removing the downpipe that there was a gap between the front manifold and the downpipe. No wonder it's been running a bit rich. A new exhaust will do this car good.

 

Got the downpipe and catalyst from David manners and they look good, but there is a rather big gap between manifold and downpipe. Can't seem to tighten it any further.
Is it supposed to look like this?

 

Donut gasket atop the downpipe flair ? Common available item . It would cover the shinny area in pic just bellow the manifold bottom . It is 1.965 inches or 50 mm inside diameter . Verified for mine is off . The straight portion of the downpipe goes up into and loose in the manifold if the gasket is missing .

 

They're on yes. .. used the old ones though but they looked Ok.

 

Recommend use new ones for you don't want to remove and replace a second time . A leak throws off fuel mixture to run rich . This will cloud the O2 sensors . Then you will be 2 variables behind the curve on engine regulation . Ensure that you don't deform the flair on the downpipe that the gasket seats into . If the gaskets were already on in the pic and reset into the manifold grove the straight portion of the downpipe as new manufacture may be too long . Not hard to correct yourself before shipping back . Any questions , just ask . I found that I had to cut the web ( yours may not have it ) between the forward and aft downpipes in order to freely float ( pun intended ) into position and not have the studs damage the flair . Can be welded back later but it is my opinion that the web is there to prevent shipping damage that would hamper total car manufacture process on the factory line if it was bent out of shape .

Thanks , Parker

 

Not sure if am following you here Parker.. cut the Web? ?

I'm mildly frustrated now as I perhaps should have left this task to an expert. I've done some minor exhaust jobs before and always experienced some negative surprises in sizes, shapes and rusted bolts and nuts. It seems this will be no different.

I removed the donut gaskets and I'll order new ones today from Britishparts. I'll also order some clamps.

Manifold is repaired/welded and downpipe are now clad in aluminium exhaust bandage as there was no heatshield on the downpipe. It's ready to install but the clamp between the old underfloor cat and the silencer is completely rusted so I tried sawing off the catalyst and have now damaged the intermediate silencers as well. Yes i know. I'm stupid. Sometimes i do stupid things when i get upset while working on the car and do more damage than good. This means unfortunately that the car is useless until I get the remaining exhaust systems from quicksilver in about 4 weeks😓.
It's a very short summer here in Norway so I'm a bit depressed about this.

I guess now I will either wait for the remaining exhaust to arrive or tow the car to a garage and have them repair my damage so I can use the car while I wait for the sports exhaust.

 

Oops ,same post twice..

 

Human factors in exhaust systems , been there done that . The donut gasket should be available locally to get you along earlier . Any questions or tips to make it easier just ask .