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Its my intention to remove my entire exhaust this next week to treat it. Often people have done such jobs and with hindsight would have done it differently.
So anyone removed their exhausts? Is there an easy way? Any tips?
Hi,
guess you intend to leave the headers and downpipes in place, so it should be an easy job.
To get the two front mufflers out (with elbow bending over the rear axle) it is necessary to remove the hanger insulator in the rear. And be prepared to renew the retaining nuts and studs at the muffler/cat flange.
Frank, why in the World would you do that for? The only time I have ever messed with my Exhaust was because: #1. It was leaking or #2. I wanted to change out something! I removed the entire Exhaust system from the Cats back and installed the Quicksilver Exhaust System from England, It was real pretty and shiny Stainless Steel and looks good....It's a little louder than the Stock set-up and I like it better...But Frank, why would you want to remove the Stock Pipes only to re-fit them? That's no fun...
The problem is that though these original exhausts are stainless steel its a poor quality one, I dont know what grade it is, 414?
I have been to my local SS exhaust manufacturer and he said replacing it would cost between 850 & 1000+ . Even worse it will make the exhaust louder by some 25% at least. I do not want my car any louder. I have 200 cell instead of 400 cell CATs and that increased the 'roar' by a factor of 3. By far loud enough for me.
So a new one is out. I hate anything rusty on my car and this exhaust needs doing. Ok I am fussy. I accept that. But I will not be happy till I get that exhaust as good as I can get it. Yes it will rust again within months, but hopefully not as bad.
I also tried different things to restore them Take a look
The next attempt will be more aggressive with different solutions etc. Just not practical, and probably not safe, to do this lay on my back under the car. Hence its coming off.
Luckily I have a friend who at his house he has a large barn type building inside of which he has two four poster lifts. He also possesses the knowledge and tools to help. I was wondering if anyone who has done it before would do it differently than myself. My intention is to remove the rear section. Unbolt it from the CAT's. Wiggle it backwards and down?
The "stainless" exhaust boxes and pipes are bad enough but the Cats suffer atrociously in our climate. I replaced one on my XK8 and both on my X308 because they rotted through. Circled are pinholes and severe rust on the support bracket. This was on a 2001 XJ after only five years:
Difficult to see unless removed. I also learned the hard way to replace manifold to cat studs and nuts whenever they are dismantled. Re-used ones are terrible to shift the next time.
As you can see from the photo below the CAT was replaced by a stainless one. Only time will tell if its better than the original structure wise.
David an interesting thread. My problem was not getting another exhaust but the noise factor. The actual exhaust on there is solid but I do not like rust and there is plenty of rust on my exhaust, and yes its the original SS one. Ok no one will ever see it, apart from the garage and myself, but I do like to do things to the best of my limited abilities.
The photo below is obviously before the new CATs were fitted.
As I mentioned earlier, I replaced my Exhaust System with the Quicksilver Heritage Sport System several years ago. It's a Cat Back system and really looked good new. I continued to use the Stock Cats as the Right one had not burned out at that time.....If I had known it was going, I would have replaced both with Cats like yours! The ones like your new ones are really nice and breath much better than the old Stock ones...I don't have a friend with a Lift like you so I have to use my mechanics equipment and thank Heaven, he had an old Right side Cat laying around and he let me use it. When we finished the job it really looked good, all shiny and Silver and the sound was somewhat loader, which I like anyway....I really like the sound and the looks as it is S/S. Some where along the way I hit something in the Road and knocked a hole in the Big Muffler in the middle, which I had patched...but that looked bad, so when I hit something else a few months later, I replaced it with a Magnaflow 4 Pipe...It was nice and shiny but that doesn't last long.....I like the system's sound better now but it's half S/S and Half ***.....as you can imagine!
My Quicksilver part of the system still looks pretty good but it's 3 or so years old now and dirty.....but it still works! I guess I will change out the entire system including the Cats like yours next but only after it get hit or something breaks again...It'ss kind of funny looking under there with the rear of the system S/S and the front part not so pretty...…...…..
I'm looking forward to your reports on the S/S Cats.....How do they sound, how does the Shine look after a while!?
Billy Clyde
,
Originally Posted by frankc
David & GGG,
As you can see from the photo below the CAT was replaced by a stainless one. Only time will tell if its better than the original structure wise.
David an interesting thread. My problem was not getting another exhaust but the noise factor. The actual exhaust on there is solid but I do not like rust and there is plenty of rust on my exhaust, and yes its the original SS one. Ok no one will ever see it, apart from the garage and myself, but I do like to do things to the best of my limited abilities.
The photo below is obviously before the new CATs were fitted.
I am just awaiting my friends 4 poster lift to become available. Not in a rush just yet though as I have ordered myself a new toy. A mini ductor bolt heater. Basically a hand held device for heating up rusted in bolts and we all know how rusted up the bolts can get on our exhausts.
Here is the one that I have ordered. It should make removing the rusty nuts/bolts much easier.
As for progress reports I am always happy to oblige. I have had plenty of help from you guys on different forums and I am always happy to reciprocate that favour. However its remembering what I have posted and where! Especially at my age! So it might be better to keep an eye out on the forum where I put almost everything I do to my little car on there. Warning though there are a lot of posts! Some 4800, though not all mine! Here is a link Click Me . If you do go on there don't forget to say hi after the last post. Its always good to know who is popping in to look, even better if its helped in some way.
Exhaust removal.
Especially at my age! So it might be better to keep an eye out on the forum where I put almost everything I do to my little car on there. Warning though there are a lot of posts! Some 4800, though not all mine! Here is a link Click Me . If you do go on there don't forget to say hi after the last post. Its always good to know who is popping in to look, even better if its helped in some way.
