Stock exhaust.

[cedryck]

Before the Stainless people pipe in, I have two children in college, mortgage, and tuition to pay, so I am not putting down the credit card for a stainless 500 dollar plus system as nice as it is I am sure.
I will be installing a stock system this week, cannot seem to make one last more than 4-5 years here in New England with salt and snow. Any high temperature paint options out there to prolong the life of a stock system for a bit longer? Cheers and happy holidays.

[fly cubs]

I tried the VHT primer and paint on my stock exhaust when new. It was gone in a few months.

[cedryck]

I tried the VHT primer and paint on my stock exhaust when new. It was gone in a few months.
Gone in a few months, thats discouraging, here in Old New England 4 years and its done!

[michelle]

Steel rusts. Apply heat, moisture (from the engine exhaust, from the external environment so it get hit from both sides!) add some road salt as an accelerant to the oxidization process and your exhaust system is headed for trouble.

Hi-temp paints will slow down the inevitable, but not by much.

Consider the following;

how much is a Stainless steel system over a mild steel one?

how long do you intend to keep the rover?

Over that span of time, how many times will you theoretically have to replace a conventional steel system (say you plan on ideally keeping the car 20 years, the system has a lifespan of 4 years, so you may be on the hook for 5 replacement bills- which will steadily increase over time)?

How soon would a longer-lived system pay for itself in savings by not constantly replacing it?

If the numbers still dont crunch in your favor you STILL have options:

Christmas is coming- I assume you have been good? I just sat in Santa's lap at the mall and he said I am getting ALL the stuff I want!

But, if youve been naughty-

Have you ever heard of "Go Fund Me"????

[cedryck]

Steel rusts. Apply heat, moisture (from the engine exhaust, from the external environment so it get hit from both sides!) add some road salt as an accelerant to the oxidization process and your exhaust system is headed for trouble.

Hi-temp paints will slow down the inevitable, but not by much.

Consider the following;

how much is a Stainless steel system over a mild steel one?

how long do you intend to keep the rover?

Over that span of time, how many times will you theoretically have to replace a conventional steel system (say you plan on ideally keeping the car 20 years, the system has a lifespan of 4 years, so you may be on the hook for 5 replacement bills- which will steadily increase over time)?

How soon would a longer-lived system pay for itself in savings by not constantly replacing it?

If the numbers still dont crunch in your favor you STILL have options:

Christmas is coming- I assume you have been good? I just sat in Santa's lap at the mall and he said I am getting ALL the stuff I want!

But, if youve been naughty-

Have you ever heard of "Go Fund Me"????
Thanks, somebody else with a sense of humor, love it. Happy Holidays.

[mearstrae]

Try a custom exhaust, or muffler, shop and have one made from aluminized steel. It will last longer than plain steel at a reasonable price.

'99 Disco II
'76 Series III hybrid 109

[cedryck]

[QUOTE=cedryck;110081]Gone in a few months, thats discouraging, here in Old New England 4 years and the metal is gone.

[fly cubs]

Thanks, somebody else with a sense of humor, love it. Happy Holidays.

I'd also like to know the techniques folks are using to seal exhaust - or if the stainless exhaust is better. I feel like I smell as if I've been riding a lawn tractor every time I drive the Series truck to work. Most of the holes in my firewall are closed up.

[Basil6]

Before the Stainless people pipe in, I have two children in college, mortgage, and tuition to pay, so I am not putting down the credit card for a stainless 500 dollar plus system as nice as it is I am sure.
I will be installing a stock system this week, cannot seem to make one last more than 4-5 years here in New England with salt and snow. Any high temperature paint options out there to prolong the life of a stock system for a bit longer? Cheers and happy holidays.

I live in New England and use my Series year round too. Exhausts- stainless or mild. I've used both. Stainless will last a long time but what I have found is that its flanges are not stainless at least on the 2 stainless sytems that I had. They are mild and they rot out causing one to need to replace it. But, the stainless will last maybe 8 to 10 years before it's mild flange rotting out. If you buy stainless, MAKE SURE THE FLANGES ARE STAINLESS too.

Here's what I do weather I use mild or stainless- in fact mine is a mongrel now of both; use brass nuts at the manifold and then always use stainless bolts on all flange connections. What does this do?

It allows one to change out a section of exhaust in about 30 minutes; an absolute joy compaired to a rusted bolt scenario. Know that the mid pipe will go fist. so I just pay maybe 30 to 60 dollars for a mid pipe when it goes and replace it. I go through maybe 1 midpipe every 4 years? The down pipe can last through 2 or more midpipes. Maybe 3 - I forget. The mild mufflers can last maybe 5 years? though I had one go in 3

Basically you can spend little money and not have to always replace the whole system if you use stainless bolts. just replace what fails. Maybe you just want to buy a only a stainless muffler and make the rest mild? I have a stainless mufler that had a new flange welded onto it after it's mile flange fell off.. Now my mufler will troup on for maybe another 8 years. My down pipe is mild and the mid pipe is mild.

The whole sytem is not forever, so I treat it that way. I replace only whats needed and use stainless bolts make it a non misserable experience. I may need a mid pipe maybe next Feb? Not sure but it will be short money and maybe a 30 min job. I'm done with the days of strugling with rusted exhaust bolts only to find that the midpipe is junk but down pipe is good not to mention, I dont like messing with the 3 manifold nuts as the studs get rather nasty over time too! Less is more as they say.

I can now safely change out just what I need without fear of ruining a downpipe flange at midpipe or ruining a manifold stud or even cracking a manifolfd causing a simple job to be more of a PITA and more expense not to mention the joy of having to get a rotted manifold stud out of the head on a 17 degree day! Ah yes. the joys of a Rover in New England!!!!!!!

Happy exhausting!

Basil

[blueseriesii]

I've used Rustoleum Hi Heat paint successfully for many years here in Maine. I now buy quarts as it is thicker and apply at least 3 coats after careful prep work sometimes even grinding weld beads smooth, once even sandblasting a new pipe to get rid of the factory lacquer. I find it lasts quite a long time and I will touch it up occasionally while still on the vehicle with a light sanding and applying it like finger painting using just latex gloves and no brush. I've sometimes used a small piece of scotchbrite as an application pad, messy but it does the job well. I've never used stainless fastening but it sounds like a great idea. My technique has been to slather all joints and fastenings with silver anti-seize compound both before and after assembly, in this way I have been able to unfasten even 3-4 year old exhaust fastenings.
After smashing too many exhaust systems in the woods I fitted my 1960 series II with a 1 1/2" custom (torch) bent iron pipe and random hangars. I used whatever used muffler seemed to fit and ran about 24" of hi heat painted flex pipe off a short down pipe spigot from the manifold. That was in 1974 and it's still there. Replace the short section of flex pipe as necessary, again always using lots of anti-seize and Hi Temp paint.

Another tip I discovered useful on modern vehicles with those forever rattling heat shields. Hi-Temp SILICONE, lots of it, you can even apply it directly on to the exhaust pipe, Magic.

[Myron]

I put the expensive Rovers North system on my car this past summer. It's beautifully made and goes on very easily. I live in Michigan and was sick and tired of replacing rusty mild steel exhaust systems every 4-5 years, like you. The problem I had was that the flange on the mid-pipe didn't line up with the bracket on my frame, and the frame bracket for the muffler piece was on the outside of the chassis rail as opposed to the inside, which I guess is the standard location. So I had to kludge some things together to make the Rovers North system work. My Rover sits on a rebuilt and hot-dipped frame from my 72 donor car, so I'm thinking it might be an irregular transitional model.

The ultimate irony is that the Magna Flow muffler that your stainless kit comes with makes your Rover sound like it has no exhaust whatsoever. Extremely raspy and loud, like some teenager twerp's POS tuner WRX or GTI. When spring comes I'm going to take it to an exhaust shop and have some reasonable replacement put on it.

Good luck,

Myron

[cedryck]

Yeah, thanks,. Talked to my friend who had the same issue with the flange on the stainless. And his truck is loud too, thanks for the response.

[Myron]

Yeah, thanks,. Talked to my friend who had the same issue with the flange on the stainless. And his truck is loud too, thanks for the response.

Well that's funny. Rovers North told me that my Land Rover was the first time they'd seen this problem....