If you are a member of the TR8 Car Club of America you probably noticed Peter Rudge’s editorials about folks modifying their TR8’s and how that was ruining their value. You probably noticed that others don’t share Peter’s thoughts. This author is one of them. Since TRF Summer Party is coming, it’s the 25^th anniversary of the introduction of the TR8, and it’s my job to be an individual, I decided to put side exhausts in The Grey Ghost.

Well, I actually wanted side pipes, but putting a "65 Vette - like" set of pipes is pretty much impossible on the TR8 since that unibody is just in all the wrong places. I’d have to do radical hole cutting and welding. That I don’t want to do, in fact, I want to be able to put a stainless system on it when the 4.2 litre engine arrives from Steve E. So, I had to settle for the next best thing – side exit exhaust pipes.

I figured I could fit a 3 inch diameter, 18 inch long (do your own metric conversions) glass-pack muffler diagonally between the foot and seat depressions in the floor pan. This would bring it out ahead of the rear jacking point, another bonus.

The first thing to do is get off the old system. Since I had just removed it to replace the clutch, it should came off easy, and it did! Almost fell off. Hmm, what to do with this mix of original and aftermarket parts? Right. Ebay. Somebody will buy this! Trust me.

Now with that potpourri of bent tubes off it’s time to collect parts. I went all over for then:

Yep, a virtual shopping gypsy – actually, I did buy the glass packs off the Web site.

Now to put it all together. I had mocked it up with wire and duct tape, finding out the bend angle for the adaptor pipe that fit it correctly – about 50 degrees. I noted where the exhaust went close to the fuel line, and covered the line to keep the fuel cool. I also glued some heat shield to a unibody piece the muffler came real close to. I bought the resonators to muffle the sound a bit more, and since they looked obnoxious! The muffler and adaptor pipe was painted to match the resonator tip. Here’s what they looked like:

Attaching to the header end was simple- 2.125" clamp and red silicone sealant (the high temp stuff – works great for sealing exhaust tubes). The tip end was more problematic. Normally this is soft suspended on rubber donuts. No room for this. Went for a hard mount. Will this transfer too much noise to the floor? We’ll see. Will this cause other problems? Don’t think so since the motor mounts are pretty stiff so the pipes wouldn’t move much anyway, and the amount of heat transferred to that location (where a seat support attaches to the floor pan) won’t hurt anything - doesn’t’ have anything but metal attached to it.

For once, everything fit, okay, so I had to move the headers about a bit with a crow bar – but not much! Initial fit checks showed no interference, but the heat shield was a good idea since the right side was within a hair of the unibody. I still have some ground clearance, but if we come to a big coon in the road I’m going to have to go around! And no West Virginia speed bumps either! If you don’t know what these are, go to North Bend State Park in WV and look in the gift shop at post cards…

Time to lower the car, what does this look like? Here:

I figure I have the ground clearance at least of a typical Austin-Healey, maybe more! Okay, but how does it sound. Well, as of writing I’ve got 10 minutes on it, but already I notice that the high "bark" of the previous system is gone. This one rumbles, much more energy in the low region. Sounds like something bigger is parked under the hood! It will either be fun, or hell, to drive due to the noise – we shall see. Anyway, I think I like the looks better!

From: "Major Tom" <majortom@epub.com>

The steps:

Now the fun part:

MT

Tom is right. WD-40 is a water displacer, not a lubricant or penetrating lube.

In addition to his suggestions, I really like Kano products - Kroil, sili-Kroil, etc. as penetrating lubes. They dissolve rust and work great.

BTW - oil in cylinders, plugs out crank away until you see pressure. I know you have a 7, but on an 8, if you don't get oil pressure, you might need to pack the pump with Vaseline to prime it.

Jack

Ira Emus wrote:

Ira,

You are kidding right?

Installing the new crane can put spark off as much as 90 degrees, but usually around 60 or so. Simple process, put engine at TDC. The rotor will likely be pointing at 1 or 5, unless you've changed the distributor position. Doesn't matter, so long as it's pointing to one or the other. Take the wire from the coil out of the top of the cap. Hold it near ground, not by the end! with your other hand rotate the distributor with the ignition on - until you get spark.. Then re assemble everything you should be within 20 degrees and likely will start though somewhat rough.

Major "Sparky" Tom