Silencer alignment

[JonnyCJ]

Pretty pleased with the centralisation of my silencer pipes following the complete refurb of my rear end, however, one thing which I haven't yet sorted is the central positioning in the exhaust tips.

As you can see from the pic the silencer pipes sit low in the tips.



What's the best way to sort this ? I know the pipes on the other end have a rounded finish, which to my mind allows orientation upward or downwards of the whole silencer. Is it just a case of loosening off the spring bolts at the rounded end, rotating the silencer upwards and then tightening ?

New silencer mounts have been fitted

[Jon39]

I do admire your thoroughness and attention to detail, Jonny.
I think you would only notice that discrepancy, by first lying on the ground and then looking directly into the exhaust outlet.
Keep up your good work. It is wonderful.

Sorry, I don't know the solution to your question.

I must take a look at my own car, because I do occasionally hear a clonk, which sounds as if it might be the exhaust touching another piece of metal.

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 5th August 08:35

[JonnyCJ]

Thanks Jon - only issue with leaving them as is, aside from my slight OCD on things like this, is that the exhaust tips are in a fixed position, whilst the silencer can "float" as the car goes over bumps etc. This means that the silencer pipes would bang on the tips and potentially damage them - worst case scenario snapping one of the tip mounting brackets. They could do with being dead centre ideally.

[LTP]

JonnyCJ,

if you look at the exhaust system where the exhaust goes into the solidly-fixed exhaust trims I think you should see a ball joint that can be slackened to align the tips with the trims. Misaligned exhaust tips can be a cause of the exhaust knocking.

I've highlighted the ball-joint clamp on a 4.7 system picture I found on the interwebs - hopefully yours is the same.



Hope this helps.

[JonnyCJ]

Aha ! - that's perfect.

Many thanks LTP

[bullet7]

Just had a look at mine Jonny and the pipes are dead centre of the trim, so you are right to adjust them.
Jeff

[paulrog1]

Hi Jonny, I've just checked my DB9 and they are in the center too.

Glad you got yor answer.

[JonnyCJ]

just popped out to the garage to have a fiddle and have ended up with this. Might be 0.2mm out on one side, but I can just about live with that.


By some stroke of luck/genius I'd replaced the existing rusty mild steel bolts with stainless so they came off and went back on a treat.



And the other side - I keep expecting Roger Moore to walk across the pic



Reinforces the old adage - if you don't know, ask and again thanks to the forum for having the solution.

Edited by JonnyCJ on Wednesday 5th August 15:47

[LTP]

JonnyCJ said:

just popped out to the garage to have a fiddle and have ended up with this. Might be 0.2mm out on one side, but I can just about live with that.

0.2mm? You really do have OCD. To feed it further, remember that metal expands as it gets hot, so if you get the exhaust system up to temperature after a fast run the tips may have moved slightly. So, what do you do? Do you set it cold or hot?

Glad to have been of help and I'm sure replacing the rusty bolts will prove to be an investment as you perpetually tweak the concentricity in line with the ambient temperatures

As a matter of interest I knew about this but haven't adjusted mine - are they easy to get to? Your reply will save me having to lie on my garage floor to check

[JonnyCJ]

Very easy to get to, but you need to undo the rear of the wheel arch liner. To be honest, it’s probably worth removing the whole liner, especially if you need to replace the nuts and bolts.

I used a piece of cardboard underneath the silencer tip to support it inside the polished tip.

That’s probably where I’m getting my fitting error which I will correct this evening !

[LTP]

JonnyCJ said:

Very easy to get to, but you need to undo the rear of the wheel arch liner. To be honest, it’s probably worth removing the whole liner, especially if you need to replace the nuts and bolts.

I used a piece of cardboard underneath the silencer tip to support it inside the polished tip.

Thanks for that. If I decide to tweak mine I was thinking of slackening the clamp slightly so it still lightly grips the stub tip then adjust by shoving something like a piece of broom handle down inside the tip through the tailpipe trim and pushing it in the direction I want the tip to move. Once it's set, tighten the clamp back up fully and recheck. Rinse and repeat.

Edited by LTP on Wednesday 5th August 19:23

[JonnyCJ]

I thought the same, however the silencer tip was firmly attached to the silencer and it needed a tap with a hammer and cold chisel. Didn’t damage anything and popped right off.

Aligning with a piece of card is the way forward and once it’s lightly tightened a pair of long nosed pliers sorted alignment.