Exhaust rusted - choices?
Discussion
Hi, brought my standard exhaust out of storage ready for fitting now the body is back on. As with everything else on project chimaera it's rusty! It's broken off both pipes forward of the silencers.its a shame as the remainder isn't in bad nick.
Has anyone chopped out the centre boxes and replaced with generic silencer boxes? I should add that I have removed the precats and wasn't planning on sleeving the boxes as judging by reports on here they are overly loud with both?
Failing repairing the existing box, what's the thoughts on the ACT options? standard or cherry bomb? Would cherry bomb be as loud as a sleeved standard system or more refined?
Has anyone chopped out the centre boxes and replaced with generic silencer boxes? I should add that I have removed the precats and wasn't planning on sleeving the boxes as judging by reports on here they are overly loud with both?
Failing repairing the existing box, what's the thoughts on the ACT options? standard or cherry bomb? Would cherry bomb be as loud as a sleeved standard system or more refined?
bobfather said:
ACT don't make exhaust components anymore, they farm the work out and as my manifolds demonstrate, the stainless steel grade is very poor, full of impurities, covered in rust after 14 months
My ACT ones have been on for just over a year now and no rusting issues. As with the Cerb 4.2 I had, fitment is the biggest problem. They take a bit of fettling.N7GTX said:
bobfather said:
ACT don't make exhaust components anymore, they farm the work out and as my manifolds demonstrate, the stainless steel grade is very poor, full of impurities, covered in rust after 14 months
My ACT ones have been on for just over a year now and no rusting issues. As with the Cerb 4.2 I had, fitment is the biggest problem. They take a bit of fettling.bobfather said:
N7GTX said:
bobfather said:
ACT don't make exhaust components anymore, they farm the work out and as my manifolds demonstrate, the stainless steel grade is very poor, full of impurities, covered in rust after 14 months
My ACT ones have been on for just over a year now and no rusting issues. As with the Cerb 4.2 I had, fitment is the biggest problem. They take a bit of fettling.
(the ACT ad says they are 304 grade)N7GTX said:
You may well be right but at the price they should be perfect
(the ACT ad says they are 304 grade)
I've tied them to a CliveF Y piece which has heat-tinted beautifully. The ACT manifolds have nasty large patches of dark brown interspersed with normal gold/blue heat-tint. It was after 12 months when I spotted the first signs of red rust dust on them, too late to complain and I wouldn't want to hassle of removing and refitting.
(the ACT ad says they are 304 grade)I have found a brilliant product for bringing them back to silver with just a simple wipe over. Autosol Bluing Remover, very quick and non-abrasive. Not easy to source in the UK, it's popular in America. I found an ebay supplier who imports it from time to time.
bobfather said:
ACT don't make exhaust components anymore, they farm the work out and as my manifolds demonstrate, the stainless steel grade is very poor, full of impurities, covered in rust after 14 months
ACT use JP exhausts, always have done, for nearly 20 years, all exhaust parts are made from 304 stainless , which is high quality.Stainless manifolds can tarnish and go brown, not to be confused with rust, you can re-polish them if required.
ACT said:
bobfather said:
ACT don't make exhaust components anymore, they farm the work out and as my manifolds demonstrate, the stainless steel grade is very poor, full of impurities, covered in rust after 14 months
ACT use JP exhausts, always have done, for nearly 20 years, all exhaust parts are made from 304 stainless , which is high quality.Stainless manifolds can tarnish and go brown, not to be confused with rust, you can re-polish them if required.
After using them in the past, I decided to give them a V8 M series for manifolds and a full system. It was with them for a week before they declared it would be impossible to get an exhaust to fit.
Once removed from their premises, it took 3 days to have a work of art fabricated and installed by a good old fashioned fabricator that does not compromise service or maintenance.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 4th November 11:15
ACT said:
ACT use JP exhausts, always have done, for nearly 20 years, all exhaust parts are made from 304 stainless , which is high quality.
Stainless manifolds can tarnish and go brown, not to be confused with rust, you can re-polish them if required.
Perhaps you could enlighten me or perhaps share these images with JP. I'm now wondering if they subcontract work from time to time. These ACT manifolds were fitted at the same time as the CliveF Y piece. I initially thought that they had a surface contamination so I de-blued and polished them but they tinted up the same again. You can see the difference between Clive's stainless steel and JP'sStainless manifolds can tarnish and go brown, not to be confused with rust, you can re-polish them if required.
You may recall, I had to return one because they had failed to complete the welding, see here
Edited by bobfather on Friday 4th November 13:56
bobfather said:
Perhaps you could enlighten me or perhaps share these images with JP. I'm now wondering if they subcontract work from time to time. These ACT manifolds were fitted at the same time as the CliveF Y piece. I initially thought that they had a surface contamination so I de-blued and polished them but they tinted up the same again. You can see the difference between Clive's stainless steel and JP's


You may recall, I had to return one because they had failed to complete the welding, see here

I did forward your images to JP, they confirm that the marks are contamination / or something spilled on the manifolds, causing the tarnish, of course this can be polished out, but quite a lot of work and these marks won't effect the longevity .You may recall, I had to return one because they had failed to complete the welding, see here
Edited by bobfather on Friday 4th November 13:56
Also it is normal for manifolds to be darker than the Y piece, they get hotter. If you look at the image in the previous post it also shows this, in that case the Y piece was an ACT version.
JP never subcontract our exhaust or manifold parts out, they are also made from 304 stainless.
I hope this helps, don't forget they come with a lifetime warranty .
Edited by ACT on Wednesday 9th November 20:50
I purchased my ACT Y piece used about 5 years ago, assuming the flanges aren't warped and it hasn't been driven over it's one of those products that's as good used as it is new.
In theory it should last forever, mine is as good as the day I bought it and almost certainly as good as the day it was made.
TBH I can't fault it for material quality, workmanship and longevity... then there's the engine noise improvement and what felt like a 10hp increase immediately after installation.
As far as I'm concerned it's a no-brainer!
In theory it should last forever, mine is as good as the day I bought it and almost certainly as good as the day it was made.
TBH I can't fault it for material quality, workmanship and longevity... then there's the engine noise improvement and what felt like a 10hp increase immediately after installation.
As far as I'm concerned it's a no-brainer!
Unfortunately I see it far too often, there is a lot of poor quality systems about these days, claiming they are stainless where they are like a 409 grade (still magnetic) and simply don't last. It is the materials and details that make systems last longer, like back purging welds, welding flanges both sides and having pipes positioned through the flanges, not just stuck on the surface etc...proper merge collectors (not the press formed collectors) and correct runner lengths is where you gain the power.
I have remade several stainless systems now, less then 12 months old as they a corroding and falling apart.
I have remade several stainless systems now, less then 12 months old as they a corroding and falling apart.
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