Exhaust System Re-Plating

[Dad]

Can anyone please provide some advice as to the best options here? I currently have the IRS and the exhaust system off and am considering taking advantage of the opportunity to get my exhaust system re-plated.

1) What material should be used? Chrome? Nickel? Yellow zinc?
2) What would be closest to original?
3) Any rough idea as to how much it should cost?
4) Should I get the whole thing plated or just the bits that were originally chromed?

Many thanks!

[PeterCrespin]

Back in the day when chrome platers were everywhere, I was unsuccessful getting them to replate used exhausts for old British bikes. The silencers were ver similar to E-type resonators and they weren't interested in soiling their baths with my carbon. I can't imagine it's much different today.

The aluminium hot spray process is better for the pipework and new chrome bits if they are bad enough, otherwise just clean the chrome up.

Pete

[vacbag]

I know platers hate to replate an exhaust system because the carbon in the pipes and silencers contaminates the plating bath.
If you can find a plater that will do it then the cost will be more than a new system.
You do not state which car you have but I suggest that if the system is sound then leave it be. alternatively fit a new stainless or mild steel system or part system
Steve..

[Heuer]

The resonators should be chrome, the pipes and silencers mild steel (painted silver or black) if you want originality and a glorious sound. Chroming the rest of the system would be pointless and the equivalent of 'pimp my ride'. If you are worried about your exhaust rusting through in the next 20 years you can replace it with a shiny stainless steel system but the sound will be harsher and you won't get that true E-Type experience. You could fit stainless pipes/silencers and fit mild steel resonators (chromed) to get you part of the way there. My Lotus ?lan was fitted with a mild steel system in 1993 and it shows no sign of deterioration. Personally I think the 'rush to stainless' is a scam because most classic cars are used relatively sparingly and never on salt dressed roads so a mild steel exhaust will outlive your ownership unless you do really high mileages at which point regard a new set of silencers as maintenance and running costs. I had two new mild steel resonators made and had them chromed - plating was ?180/pair.

Once you have driven an E-Type enthusiastically with a proper and original spec exhaust system you will never, ever, want to go back to stainless steel!

[Dad]

Excellent advice - many thanks. I will look into cleaning the original. I live in Alberta and recently inherited my father-in-law's immaculate 1966 s1 FHC, shipped over from the UK and am anxious to ensure I do him proud by taking care of it as he would.

It's a bit intimidating to have been rapidly immersed into the world of the E-Type and this forum is an enormous help to me. There is obviously a vast amount to learn.

[64etype]

I had everything except the chromed tips coated in ceramic (Jet Hot type). The manifolds are in black, the rest...pipes and mufflers in silver. The coating has the additional benefit of reducing radiant heat into the cabin.

[christopher storey]

I'm not sure I agree with David about longevity of mild steel systems . He may well be right about a car which is used sparingly BUT is always thoroughly warmed up with a minimum run of, say, 10 to 15 miles . If, however, the car is only run in winter for say a few minutes once a month, getting it out of the garage and putting it back again, the condensation will kill a mild system in no time at all . As to sound quality , I have found every system tends to be slightly different, and both my cars I put on stainless as soon as I bought them. Personally, I have no objection to SS systems at all. However, the thing in my experience which changes the sound quality adversely is a SS multi branch manifold which tend to "ring" with the combustion noise and give a very harsh sound to an XK engine

[Heuer]

Christopher

I don't start my cars in winter, never seen the need, as I think it causes more problems than it solves. The cars are left on trickle chargers and I move them backwards/forwards by hand every few weeks to make sure there are no tyre flat spots. As to sound, it is something I am passionate about, witnessed by my love of valve amplification and vinyl records. Let me put it this way, when did you last hear a trumpet or saxophone made from stainless steel or a violin from carbon fibre?

[christopher storey]

David : I didn't know you were so interested in sound qualities. They have always fascinated me for slightly different reasons. If I had ever done a doctorate ( I never did ) the thesis was going to be on what made individual machines have such distinctive sound qualities. The Morris Minor was a classic example ; in a different field, I could always tell a VC10 / Super VC 10 , even through cloud, and yet the RR Conway was fitted to quite a number of airliners eg DC8-42 and 707-436, yet they sounded different . Similarly, have you ever noticed how aircraft noise is noticeably different on a cloudless hot day ? All very interesting