re exhaust storys

[joejag308]

Anyone got any storys or experiences re their exhaust dealings ?
Please send them to me at joejag40@ntlworld.com
We need to get some copy in the mag............Joe

[BrianG]

Joe,

In running an XJ8, or buying a prospective used one, owners may not think about the cost of a complete exhaust system - i.e. everything after the "cats" back to the tail pipes. The original equipment fitting is good quality and does last a very long time, but it will wear out eventually and most XJ8s are now somewhere between 5 and 11 years old, so if you are buying one it's another problem to look out for.

At the last service my '99 model car looked like it was going to fail the MOT this year on the centre boxes and my main dealer, Guy Salmon, warned that just these could cost upwards of £500 for a pair (ouch!). I felt that as the rest of the system was generally not much better, and could well become unusable when trying to fit new centre boxes to rusty older pipes. I looked for some alternatives but did not fancy any of the sport or performance alternatives.

I tried contacting some well known after market exhaust companies, knowing the responses I would probably get. Not surprisingly most said that "sorry, we don't do them for Jags", however Kwik-Fit said they would make some enquiries of their suppliers and call me back. Two days later they did, stating that no-one made replacements, only Jaguar, BUT they quoted for supply and fit genuine Jaguar parts at a considerably lower labour rate than a Jaguar main dealer. This still worked out at between £930 and £980, depending if flange or sleeve type fitting was required but it's an alternative rather than reluctantly choose a go-louder "sports" systems alternative which does not cost that much less than the original.

(I did not have to put this to the test as luckily the exhaust scraped through the MOT after all!)

[joejag308]

I had a system (no cats) on my 1990 XJ40 Sov......
The system that was fitted and needed replacing was the original one
I enquired at the main dealership for a system as you could only buy 4 litre units from main dealers,no spurious companies were allowed for some reason to produce these exhaust systems, i thought it would have been stainless steel one being the reason but it proved to be a mild steel system originally fitted.
I was quoted for my model a 4 LTR Sovereign 1999 without catalytic converters £998 + vat......without fitting, and that was a mild steel system
So feelers were put out and a company who did stainless steel guaranteed for life systems, had put an advert in our regional magazine.
the company is a franchise so i imagine it is countrywide called LONGLIFE exhausts.
The quote given after going down and having a looksee came to £500 That was from the downpipe (they had their own connectors for cast downpipes to stainless steel ) right the way through,a twin pipe system i did pay extra for wider end pipes (my preference) but they did as standard the roll end Jaguar pipe all in stainless steel fitted and guaranteed for life.
I have since been a regular visitor to the LONGLIFE garage as new owners took over two years ago and its fascinating the types of exhaust systems people have fitted, all guaranteed for life, all bespoke
When i traded my XJ40 in for the Daimler the guarantee went with it and it is still in force. So that's an actual experience if you need any exhaust problems sorting they also do the bespoke sounds too......Joe

[chewy]

You can buy replacement pipes for an XJ8 but the only place I found was Boro Tyres in Whitby and they wanted about £600.
Blueflame in Skelmersdale do a cat back stainless one for £580!