Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

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Anton001
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Location: Netherlands

Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by Anton001 »

Hi all,

What preference do you have for the exhaust for your Jensen:
Mild or stainless steel?? And why??

Cheers
Anton
Jensen Healey Mk1 1123 / 11016
Jensen C-V8 MK3 112 / 2419
Jensen 541S / S1079


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zacmarshall
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Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:22 pm
Location: Bristol, UK

Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by zacmarshall »

I'm assuming you mean the pipes rather than manifold (which I guess would be cast rather than mild steel)

Stainless, hopefully I will have the car for many years and don't want to replace the exhaust many times.

I'm not sure if you could get mild steel exhausts

Some people may be able to tell the difference with sound but I can't...
C-V8 II 104/2146 CHJ 948B
ex FF II, Interceptor I, II and III, SP, GTs and Healeys. You might say I got the bug....
JOC Member No. 5061
mojo
Posts: 732
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:41 pm

Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by mojo »

I've convinced myself that a stainless exhaust typically has a slightly harsher, more "metallic" sound to it, having bought a couple of cars (not Jensens) which originally had mild steel, changed to stainless by me. However, I accept that this could also be due to slight differences in the internal design of the box in each case.

Of course, the durability of stainless means that I wouldn't consider mild steel unless it was for a car that I didn't expect to keep for long...
kenny38
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Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by kenny38 »

I bought my SP 34 years ago in a very sad state. The exhaust fell off within 6 months or so. I went to bloke who made the exhausts himself and he advised me to have stainless "as will last longer if you plan on keeping car but looking at it i would get shot of it as soon as you can so put on ordinary stuff at half the price". Something told me tp persevere and i ordered stainless. I still have them. I do say though that we don't have snow, ice and salt in winter so there is a difference in use Am certainly not suggesting you will get 33 years out of stainless in UK but I would bet if you pay the extra you will be able to forget changing for many,many years. Whereas with mild (?) steel which am not sure I have heard of used in exhaust systems you can only get a very few years, if in fact that, so the future saving will more than prove that stainless is the way to go always of course if you can afford probably twice the price. Kenny38
Richie
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Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by Richie »

The previous owner of my car had stainless fitted. I've no idea when. But when I sold the car last year having owned it for 20 years they were still there and flowing nicely.
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slotcarone
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Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by slotcarone »

My Interceptor mainly is parked in the garage. The muffler and pipes I put on in 2003 still looks like it was just put on. Just typical mild steel and universal muffler. :)
1972 Interceptor III
133-5612
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nrb993
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Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by nrb993 »

Mild steel sounds better and stainless lasts longer. I would and have preferred mild steel every time as I am yet to owner a car that I have brought a new exhaust for.

Plus it is cheaper and so having a new exhaust every 10 years which sounds good if better for me. Stainless can sound a bit tinny...
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kees
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Re: Mild or Stainless steel exhaust

Post by kees »

The sound of mild and stainless steel silencers depends on the internal design of the silencers and thickness of the material. Mild or stainless steel has little if any effect.
J-H MkII, 1974
owner of a J-H since 1977
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