Exhausted

In my last update I mentioned the noise of the exhaust but neglected to tell the reason why. Here it is. A couple of weeks after refitting the cylinder head the engine developed an oil leak from the passenger side of the engine. On investigation I discovered oil coming out of the breather cover under the carbs and exhaust. I tried to reseal it without removing the carbs and exhaust but had no luck. I decided that as I have had lots of practice at removing the carbs and manifold it would not take long and I had a couple of hours of daylight left. Off came the manifolds and I sorted out the breather cover with the same gasket (it was onlt a couple of weeks old and was in good condition. I used a little sealant and ensured it stayed in position while I tightened up the bolt. The reason for the leak was that the gasket had moved while tightening and with the vibration etc it then developed the leak.
As a distraction I decided that while the carbs and exhaust were out of the way I would trial fit my large bore tubular manifold and have a look under the car to see what needs doing when I come to fabricate my new exhaust. At the time I only had a middle box. This is a 2" bore straight through unit, it is as long as I could get it to fit between where the chassis crossmember goes and the middle exhaust mount. As I did not have my tail pipe (2" cherry bomb straight through silencer) I only wanted to test fit and see what I was up against when I finally bit the bullet.
The tubular manifold was very difficult to fit. Due to all the bends and pipes there was not enough room between the block and chassis rail to get it in. Mainly due to angle you have to wriggle it in at. It was close though. With a bit of levering and a gentle tap or two with a rubber mallet it jolted into position. This turned out to be a big mistake. After I had had a good look under the car and offered up the middle box I tried to remove the manifold. You guessed it. I could not get it out. I struggled for about 20 minutes before I lost my rag.
I now had no choice but to fabricate the exhaust now. Luckily I had some 2" stainless steel pipe I had aquired from work (scrap pipe from redundent plant before you ask). All I could do was fit the middle box, cobble together a couple of bends back to back to create a set in the pipe as it shifts from running near the middle of the car to nearer the passenger side. I then used one straight piece of pipe from the silencer to the back of the car. I then had to cut and shut the mounts to allow it to hang in the right place. It actually came out alright. Especially as it will only be a temperary thing anyway. Or at least I thought.
I refitted the carbs. It was now getting dark and I needed to drive the car for work the next day. I fired it up. Wow. Thats loud. At idle it was not too bad but when the throttle opens and the engine revs it was rather antisocial to say the least. I had no alternative so thats how it is.

So thats the reason for the loud exhaust I mentioned earlier. I ordered a cherybomb straight away and was assured a 2" unit would be winging it's way to me by return of post. The delivery was fairly quick but they had sent me one with a 1.5" bore. After a lot of phoning back and forth I was then told they do not make a cherry bomb with a 2" bore. I demanded a refund as I knew this was a lie because I fitted one to my Vitara offroader (another project come toy car that has now been sold). After finally finding the unit I wanted (about 3 weeks had passed) I awaited delivery. This was when the car would not run properly and after reving it and generally faffing about before deciding to get the wife out of bed to drive me to work. After getting home that day I had a parcel to collect from the post office. This turned out to be the tail pipe I had been waiting for. WHen the wife got home from work she told me I had upset our next door neighbour because I had woken her up with all the noise. OOPs. I set to with the welder and hack saw to fit the new tail pipe and make the exhaust note quieter again. It only took about an hour to sort it out. The noise level was reduced but it is still loud when you put your toe down.



I have not had any further complaints about the noise. I don't really know what the problem is. There are lots of people that go to work at 6am. He He. Lets just hope my neighbour does not stumble across this web page.