EDIT: audio & video now available here (you obviously need a decent speaker setup to appreciate the 'real' sound, listening on an iPhone is missing the point )

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First off, apologies because there ain't any pictures of it on my car, but here's the exhaust I bought on UK eBay:



...from this guy.

He sells various combinations of pipes in mild or stainless steel and with or without tailpipes. I went for the stainless steel model with no tailpipes, as retaining my existing quad tips for the full OE look was vital (no potato canons on my car, thank you).

The only hitch was the fact that the new pipes were of exactly the same diameter as my quad tail pipes (which I wanted to keep). We therefore cut off the 10cm end section that the tips were fastened to on the original pipes (just after the silencers) and used that as a home-made adapter ring which we welded inside the end of the new pipes to give us the right diameter to slide on the quad tips. I also decided to shorten the new pipes slightly to avoid the tips sticking out any more than was originally intended.

The sound is now awesome and has doubled the pleasure I get from driving the car. It is now as it should have sounded out of the factory, IMHO. On the motorway, the difference is barely audible (no droning), but on start up in the garage it's wonderful and driving around towns and villages is great fun.

It is probably the best tweak I have made to the car yet and it only cost about $200, incl. shipping.

Here's a picture I posted a few weeks ago before the exhaust mod, but it still looks exactly the same today. Like to within 1mm in all directions. I even took a couple of photos before we touched anything to make sure we could realign the new setup precisely (yes, I am that obsessed about retaining the OE look )

 

Smart move keeping the stock appearance. I thought those were resonators, not silencers/mufflers, nearest the back? You don't experience any droning noise?

I'd like to do something with mine however I'm a little apprehensive about going too far and turning it into something unpleasant.

 

That's what I was worried about, too. I was slightly anxious about going ahead with the mod, but I thought that for $200 I would chance it and then if it sounded awful I could always swap the old ones back. As it turns out, it is perfect, at least for me: I didn't want to sound like street racer, but I had to get closer to my uncle's AM DB7 with its $4000 (!) factory sports exhaust option.

It's very difficult to be objective and describe the sound, but I would say that it gives you exactly the same sound as with the OE pipes, only there's approximately three times more of it. No droning.

 

so, to summarize, you don't have any mufflers, silencers, nor the center box anymore? Basically, a true dual exhaust?

 

I just unbolted and removed the last section, i.e. the 3-foot long (approx.) section at the rear of the car, and replaced it with the straight-through pipes in the first photo. I didn't modify anything further back towards the engine, the centre sections are as they were.

 

ahhh, that makes more sense. Need a video w/ sound you realize.

 

I did attempt a video with my iPhone, but it sounded really weedy, even on my desktop PC which has a subwoofer, so I didn't post it.

 

Does this fit under the axle? On what site did you find it?

 

Frog: Does the car run better?

 

see below

 

In reply to govatos,
This supplier does not currently have a site due to it being hacked.
I have recently purchased some other items from him, and can highly recommend his products and service.
His contacts...email chris@cbrueton.fsnet.co.uk Ph 441494875157
He has a full colour catalogue he can send with all parts available
(interior and exterior trim, repeaters,engine parts,tail pipes, and more.)
Well worth the extra effort...
Phil

 

Hmmm... I'm glad you posted this. I already removed my center muffler and replaced it with an X pipe, so if I was to remove the rearmost mufflers I'm worried it would be too loud. I'm not too happy with the sound of the X pipe. It's not noticeably louder than the muffler. So I think my next move will be to replace the mufflers in front of the axle with straight pipe. I'll probably have the guy mandrel bend some new pieces to go over the axles at the same time.

 

Yes, thats the guy. Chris Brueton. I didn't know about his site being hacked, but certainly his eBay store is still up & running. Click on the link in my first post above.

Sam, I have no experience of modifying other sections of the exhaust, but as I said, the results of removing the final section are more than satisfying. The sound I now have isn't 'nasty/loud' or metallic, rather more meaty with more bass. If you can imagine the original stock exhaust plugged into some better speakers with a subwoofer added, you're about there.

 

That sounds a kinky set up
Have fun with your XK

 

Audio & video here