Just to share a bit of experience.
On my 2001MY XJR the rear muffler (silencer) broke clean off the exhaust pipe many months ago. It hung down a bit, but did not affect performance at all, and did make the car sound a bit more meaty...the thing I least like about the XJR is the lack of gut rumbling noise when pressing on. The car can be a beast, but does not sound like one.
Anyway, today I lined it back up and re-welded the carbon steel pipe to the stainless steel muffler (original Jaguar muffler). Access was a little tight one side, and partly overhead welding so not the prettiest weave in the world...but it is strong, lines up well, and now slightly quieter (never mind).
I believe the muffler to be 410 stainless (11-13 chrome) as it is ferritic (and so magnetic). I was a bit worried about its weldability, but it was fine using 0.6 mild steel wire on a MIG with Argoshield Light gas. Good weld pool, flowed well, very little spatter. I'd bought some 300 series austenitic stainless wire and already have a small spool of Inconel wire (v expensive)...but I did not need these, and need not have worried about it.
Long term, that mild steel weld consumable may suffer some preferential weld corrosion, but I'd expect it will last 5 years or so.
PS I did disconnect both terminals from the battery before welding...I was nervous that would create some electrical gremlins when I hooked it back up but nothing to note so far.
One more job off the list then. Happy Motoring.
On my 2001MY XJR the rear muffler (silencer) broke clean off the exhaust pipe many months ago. It hung down a bit, but did not affect performance at all, and did make the car sound a bit more meaty...the thing I least like about the XJR is the lack of gut rumbling noise when pressing on. The car can be a beast, but does not sound like one.
Anyway, today I lined it back up and re-welded the carbon steel pipe to the stainless steel muffler (original Jaguar muffler). Access was a little tight one side, and partly overhead welding so not the prettiest weave in the world...but it is strong, lines up well, and now slightly quieter (never mind).
I believe the muffler to be 410 stainless (11-13 chrome) as it is ferritic (and so magnetic). I was a bit worried about its weldability, but it was fine using 0.6 mild steel wire on a MIG with Argoshield Light gas. Good weld pool, flowed well, very little spatter. I'd bought some 300 series austenitic stainless wire and already have a small spool of Inconel wire (v expensive)...but I did not need these, and need not have worried about it.
Long term, that mild steel weld consumable may suffer some preferential weld corrosion, but I'd expect it will last 5 years or so.
PS I did disconnect both terminals from the battery before welding...I was nervous that would create some electrical gremlins when I hooked it back up but nothing to note so far.
One more job off the list then. Happy Motoring.
