Some 6 months later since I had the centre muffler removed and there is little change in the exhaust sound - still sounds like a standard XJ12 even with X pipe in the center and sports mufflers/resonators at the rear.

I had the rears changed yesterday to straight through sports mufflers and again little change. These are not welded so I might get some stainless pipe made and see what the car sounds with nothing except the X pipe in place.

It is hard to make a XJ12 sound good.

Garry

 

The Xpipe certainly doesn’t gain you any additional sound. In fact it tends to blend exhaust pulses together

Smaller pipes will raise the tone of the exhaust while decreasing the power.
Better sound comes from more specific horsepower. This is where the camshaft change comes in it’s relatively easy to pick up 60-80 horsepower with just the camshaft change.
Incidently changing both camshafts is a lot faster than on a V8 . Mainly because the front timing cover doesn’t need to come off.

 

Thank you for the information. I will be installing the standard stainless steel non-CAT Bell system with mid. muffler then changing the rear muffler to a flow through reinator and larger 2-1/2" original rounded bell tip from Simply Performance.

 

the rear silencers of the Bell system(as well as the stock system) are straight through design, you can see straight through them. I have the bell rear silencers and SP tips on mine(with SP mid muffler deletes).

 

15+ years ago I went from two cats, muffler and resonator per side to a single cat and muffler.
I definitely now has a 'sound.' A low growl but not obnoxious like a '60's street rod. Just enough to suggest there is something under the hood.
I suspect I also picked up 10-20 hp as well. Again not dramatic but you can definitely tell the car has a bit more kick at low speed or from a light.

 

Interesting Thread reading the challenges enthusiasts suffer trying to get a "throat-ier" exhaust note from their V12's. A bit off the subject, but something I've always wondered: If an XKE exhaust system were somehow installed on the later XJS-6 cylinder car, would it sound similar to the old XKE ? LOL I know, a real novice type question. Just curious.