I posted recently regarding the rattle coming from the centre underneath of my TT recently - I just wanted all you great guys who replied/helped to know - that it turned out to be the middle exhaust section/balance box!

 

I have sourced a Stainless Steel unit from SE Engineering - Malvern @ £260.00. Anyone know of similar for less money? 90 JAP TT 2+2?? Cheers again!

MJP can provide stainless exhausts and as far as I can tell they look very similar to the SE ones (and many others), at least on the outside. Mike tells me that they are competitively priced (he would - he sells them!).

IMHO there isn't much technology that goes into the front or centre sections of the exhaust, they're pretty much just bits of pipe. The centre section either seems to have an "X" or an "H" join and that is it - they all seem to copy each other. Only 'real' difference from the standard pipe is that I am told by someone who 'really' knows, that the Nissan pipes have a restrictor in the centre section to increase back pressure.

Believe Luke at the Z centre sells X pipes for £200, but it is quite an old catalogue.

The x pipe or h pipe config is supposed to affect the sound from the exhaust also. Apparently a V6 sound split across 2 completely seperate exhausts sounds a bit crappy compared to a V8 or 12. Something to do with the ignition sequence being a certain way. The X or H allows the sound pulses to blend and so better sound. That's the story. Could well be a load of b0£%cks of course.

Hi,

Watch out for the extra noise & resonance you will get with an X pipe.

JEZ

I've got an almost brand new standard Nissan centre part. Cost over £300. I'll sell for £130 if you're interested.

 

AndyZ

Jez,

I expect the noise & resonance is more likely to be down to the qualities of the stainless steel than the design of the centre section.

Hi,

I had the centre and rear 'Scarab' pipes from Luke Borg and he forewarned me that you will get a resonance between 2500-3500 revs...this tends to be the engine speed at which you cruise around town and in traffic on A roads.You soon learn to drive around this problem to a certain extent, by changing up and down the gears on a manual box.

It was obviously accentuated on my NA, because the cats had also been removed and replaced with s/s pipes.plus I didn't have turbos to quiten it down!The sound under acceleration was glorious, though!

JEZ

Most stainless systems 'sound' different. Typically they are lighter (usually single skinned) and the stainless is sometimes a different thickness to that of the mild steel systems, hence the resonance at different frequencies. OEM's spend a fortune on eliminating this sort of annoyance whereas sports exhaust fabricators are more interested in power.