Hi,
A few issues back I asked about Falcon S/S exhausts. Well, mine has
since been installed & since some folks asked, here are my comments.
First, I've only been in CA for ~1 year. I was *amazed* when I was
able to remove the old (17yrs) exhaust without needing to 'burn off' a single
nut and without breaking a sigle bolt! I guess this is why people
by CA cars, huh? (forgive me, I was raised in MA where this just
_NEVER_ happens)
For the car I was working on ('77 Spitfire) the exhaust came in three
parts. The first two formed what is the single factory pipe from the
catalytic to the muffler. The third was the muffler itself. I
imagine this slight deviation from stock form is to allow easier shipping.
The components themselves where very well formed and fitted perfectly.
The installation went quickly & without a problem. I, unlike a
previous poster, did order all new hardware successfully (-: so the
job was done fairly quickly.
Just because I'm a fanatic I passivated the stainless before installation.
This removes all the oxidation/rust/grunge/whatever from around the welds
and allows the stainless to reoxidize. Its this oxidation layer that
protects the stainless from rust (I'm told). Anyway, for those fellow
compulsives, passivation involves bathing the parts in 15% nitric acid
for a time (15 min or more). No, I didn't drop the pieces in a big
tank, I just keep applying the nitric while scouring the welds with a brush.
The result is a nice clean stainless system w/o all the rusty looking seams.
(ok, so shoot me for being anal retentive)
ALSO---
this past weekend the interior was refitted with a _moulded_ carpet kit,
new black houndstooth upholstry, and a new rubber seal kit. I was actually
planning to have this done last week, but I originally believed the advertising
literature that said the 'deluxe carpet kit' was 'designed to orginal factory
specs, this kit is edges, stitched and seamed like the original capet.'
Well, it wasn't even close to factory specs.
Should anyone want info on any of these kits, please feel free to e-mail me.
I've got a stack of notes on what was 'correct' and what deviated from
'original'. (not much thankfully & you'd have to really look _HARD_ to find
them).
Hope to see some of you this wekend in Palo Alto. For those who would like
to chat, the Spit is Red and has CA plates over UK tags. I doubt there
will be many of these combinations, but you never know I doubt there
will be many of these comp.
--Mike
p.s. std. disclaimer -- no, I don't work for Falcon, the commute from CA to
the UK would be h*ll.
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