XJ-SC 3.6 stainless steel exhaust

[cabriolet]

Hi,
I am looking to fit a stainless steel exhaust to my 1986 XJ-SC 3.6 in the spring, so I am looking for a reasonable priced quality product from a UK company.
It also needs to fit easily and sound good as it probably will be an after market product.
DMG sell them for £810 so does anyone have experience of these.
Please give website addresses of any you can recommend.
I will be selling my old ones cheaply when the new ones fitted. (One rearbox and over axle pipe only about 1yr old)
Regards
Alan

[davidr]

Hi Alan. I fitted a Bell stainless system from SNG Barratt to my V12 coupe. It fitted well and looked good but I always felt it sounded a bit tinny.
Have you looked at the TT system from AJ6 Engineering? (www.aj6engineering.co.uk). They are slightly more expensive but proven to extract more power and make the noise a big fruitier.

[cabriolet]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. The system from AJ6 looks to be about £999 but it it sounds better it is worth consideration. I will probably ring them to ask a few questions.

[J44EAG]

Longlife Exhausts are a National franchise chain that operate across the UK. The business will build an exhaust to your specification.

I used their Sutton Branch (near Croydon) to do mods to my X350R exhaust. That included sports cats, removal of the mid resonator and H-pipe section and fabrication of a quick flow X-pipe replacement. Work was top quality, quick and reasonably priced.

Mike K

[cabriolet]

Hi,
They have a franchise near me so I will also look at this suggestion.
Alan

[Tintin]

I have had a number of S/S exhausts over the decades (including "Longlife") and have without exception been disappointed at the change of tone, which either sounded "tinny" as David R reports or gave a booming resonance at certain rpm. I had the last one custom built locally by an independent and went to some lengths to stress to the builder that I wanted the same soft tone as the OE system - he assured me he could achieve that - but the result was as disappointing as the others.

I have read that the cause is thinner gauge steel used on the S/S systems.

My Celebration still runs on its original Jaguar system (date stamped for the year of manufacture) - what I shall do when it finally gives up the ghost, heaven only knows!

Do let us know if you find a system that suits you.

Robbie

[cabriolet]

Hi Robbie,
I have contacted Longlife in Hull to get some answers to my concerns.
They say they normally can turn around the manufacturing/fitting process in a day, but with my XJ-SC it would be completed the following day. He did say it would be probably take longer if it was a V12 as apposed to my straight 6 as the bends are more complicated.
I spoke about the final tone of the car and he said that a lot of companies use thinner grade SS and theirs is 304/430 grade. He went onto say that for this reason they can give a guarantee for life for the components.
I feel sure that the car will sound different but I want to avoid a horrible tinny sound.
For my car he quoted about £1k so I am going to do a bit more research on the facts given and decide in the Spring time, as my car is on sorn during the winter.
I would be interested to hear from other people about their exhaust replacement experience, especially if they have the same model as mine.
Thanks
Alan

[cabriolet]

Hi,
Found a website maperformance.com that explains the 304/430 grade steel. Apparently the 304 is the best especially for resisting rust but does tend to discolour. I think you have to take the lifetime guarantee with a pinch of salt because of your own age and will the company be still their in say 5 yrs. I once bought some replacement windows that had a 10yr guarantee only to find the company had gone into liquidation 3yrs later. This company is a franchise so it is only small, so it is all about doing research and being 100% happy with their work. If I go with this company I will inspect their completed job using their ramps before paying for the work. I would also expect the company to state on my receipt the grade of metal used. I may sound a little arrogant but when it is a 1st time process for you it is always good to state in writing what you want and what is fitted.
Life teaches you to do this.
Alan

[J44EAG]

My own experience with Longlife Exhausts has been second to none.The guys who fitted and built my modifications were exceptionally enthusiastic and listened well to my request and specification. They did exactly what I requested and proudly showed me their work before the car was lowered to the floor and started. They told me they would warrant the work for as long as I owned the car. I have no reason to believe that wouldn`t be the case if an issue were to arise in the future. These guys have a good strong business which they clearly wish to continue into the future. Reference to their web site and feed back appears to confirm that. I`ll add that my formal training is as a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer carried out under the ever cautious and pedantic gaze of the Civil Aviation Authority. I was nurtured to use my knowledge, eyes, ears, brain and intuition when inspecting aircraft or individual components for defects. One developed an aptitude for being able to see whether a job was good or bad. I`d describe the work of Longlife Exhausts on my car as very much above being simply good. It is far better than that.

Small doesn`t always imply highly satisfactory work cannot be carried out successfully or will be below a decent standard. The restoration business in this country is annually worth over 13 billion pounds with small businesses doing the majority of work. One cannot foresee what might occur financially in the future to any one of those businesses, so in my opinion what becomes more relevant is the quality of the work produced on the day for the customer with concerns about whether the company concerned will still be in business in five or ten years time being an un-quantifiable and therefore a somewhat needless and futile worry. One has to trust any person entrusted with work to on a positive basis. If we don`t, then we go nowhere and no progress gets made.

Right. Here are a few shots of the work carried out to my XJR roughly eighteen months ago. The car was on a ramp last week and the modified sections still look exactly as they do in these images.

Mike K

[cabriolet]

Thanks Mike for your comprehensive reply, as word of mouth is always the best way to go.
Before I retired I was a service manager for James Dyson and we took our customer product repair experience comments as a measure of how well we were doing.
Being involved in this kind of job gives you a gut feeling about people and their knowledge of the work they do.
The person I spoke answered my questions in a confident and professional manner, which is a good start. The next step I will visit their premises to see an example of their work and their working conditions. My car will have to stop with them overnight so I need to know that it is secure well kept care of.
Thanks again
Alan

[Tintin]

Personally I would not be over - exercised about a guarantee; if the job is well done you won't need it, and if its not well done you have a problem anyway.

Interesting comment about "Longlife" being a franchise. IMHO it's not the company name that is important, but the individual doing the work - that is true for all walks of life:- trade, professional, business, whatever. The Longlife outlet that did my work ceased trading several years ago - perhaps that proves the point. When I queried the resonance with them I was assured it would "settle down" in time, but of course it didn't. I would need some convincing before using them again - perhaps I'll speak with you again Mike when the time comes............!!!

Robbie

[cabriolet]

I have just received a quote of £850 for a full exhaust system, so as I have received more positive feedback than negative I will probably accept it. I will give feedback later as this will happen probably in May when my car is back on the road.

[J44EAG]

Matt at the Cheam Longlife franchise told me that failure of any of his work was not an option. He told me that his work was as good as it gets and not even to consider any future problems. If there was a failure, he would fix it and probably shoot himself having done the repair!

I have to say, Matt and Eliss did a lovely job. Thick wall stainless pipery remains un-marked and untarnished about twenty months after manufacture. Welds are deep and obviously penetrate deeply into the metal. The cat cases, despite having being cut open and stuffed with 200 cell cats, defy exactly where Matt performed his surgery. The X-pipe? Well that looks like a work of art. It looks superbly made in indeed it is. I`ve no concerns at all. I have to say I was well chuffed when I collected the car and it was still on the ramp. I must have had a huge grin on my face and passed over my hard earned wad immediately.

The door from the office to the workshop has a hand formed tubular exhaust header on each side in place of door handles. It looks hysterical and is totally bonkers. What a wonderful way to demonstrate ones skills!

Mike

[cabriolet]

Hi,
Just booked mine in at Longlife in Hull to have a full system fitted over a 2 day period in April. My 3.6 cabriolet is currently fitted with 2 front and 2 rear boxes and this is what I am having fitted. He did offer an upgrade where there is only 1 central front box which then splits off to the rear 2, and this did cost more. He classed this as an upgrade to give a slight more power. Has anyone changed to this configuration and if so noticed any difference in power? I do not mind paying a bit extra as long as there is a noticeable difference.
Alan

[cabriolet]

Hi,
Collected my XJS Friday after the installation of the exhaust. It took nearly 2 days to do as the fitter had to rework the pipes over the axle to get them to correct position. I love the throaty sound as it gives the impression that the car is more sporty than a touring model. This may not appeal to everyone but I certainly like it. I have kept most of the old exhaust which includes the front “Y” shaped pipe, the 2 front boxes, offside over the axle pipe and offside rear box. These are in good condition so if anyone with a 3.6 please make me an offer. The rear box and over axle pipe is only about 1 year old.
Regards
Alan