Paul B 22 Posted July 7, 2020 Evening all. I'm looking for a bit of honest advice, opinions, thoughts or whatever regarding a replacement exhaust. The car is a facelift 2000GT. It has all its standard bits still.... The square, cast manifold and a mild steel system. That system cost me £40 back in the day and I fitted it myself laying on the garage floor! Anyway, the system has a few holes at the back end which I've pugged up a few times and where it joins the manifold is leaking too (once again). I always fancied one of the tubular manifolds as it would, at the very least, look a bit more GTish. But I've never come across a good one for sale. And one of these days there's going to be one too many holes to fill. It's all OK for now. I can dickie it up a bit more but I'm starting to think of the replacement. All I see everywhere is Ashley. They've got the twisty tubes going on and a matching system. I've read good things and bad about them but never experienced them myself. Are they any good? What do they sound like compared to standard? Will they last long? Any improvement in performance? Now, another option MIGHT be a stainless system one day. But then what manifold? Stick with the cast iron box, go for Ashley or is it possible to do stainless manifold too? Sorry to go on so much and sorry if I don't make much sense. Thanks in advance though Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted July 7, 2020 You won't really not any performance difference on a STD 2.0 engine. If you're keeping the car then I'd go for a stainless system. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 8, 2020 9 hours ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said: You won't really not any performance difference on a STD 2.0 engine. If you're keeping the car then I'd go for a stainless system. Thanks Craig. Yes, definitely keeping the car and I'd like a stainless system. Any thoughts about the manifold? Is there good reason why they're not normally done stainless? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted July 8, 2020 The cost can be circa£400 I believe. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 8, 2020 54 minutes ago, sheffieldcortinacentre said: The cost can be circa£400 I believe. Jeez! Anyone got an original they want to part with? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dgo 66 Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) Stainless manifolds seem to suffer with cracking more than mild ones I had a stainless system made to fit mine for around £150 though that was 4 years ago and in Hertfordshire (EMP) which I suspect doesn't help re location Edited July 9, 2020 by dgo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 9, 2020 2 hours ago, dgo said: Stainless manifolds seem to suffer with cracking more than mild ones I had a stainless system made to fit mine for around £150 though that was 4 years ago and in Hertfordshire (EMP) which I suspect doesn't help re location Yeah, location could be a bit tricky but I'm from Kent originally and I do get back over every now and then. Never driven the Cortina back over yet though. I'd be delighted if I could get it done for 150 over here. I'm going to try and get a couple of quotes, see what happens. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 9, 2020 A question about the Ford manifolds.... What's the differences between the Escort, Cortina and Capri ones? Is it the length of the downpipe or is there any other difference? Are there part numbers clearly stamped into them or is it a lot of guess work? There seems to be a fella down the road from me who has one for sale but he deals with Escort and Capri parts so I think it's going to be one of those and not Cortina. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted July 9, 2020 It's mainly length/angle of downpipes,escort has smallest eng bay ( original ford ones a mega money & are two piece a special cast manifold then twin down pipes). Capri & Cortina are similar but Capri won't fit Cortina as it's down pipes hit the floor/bulkhead as they are at a shallower angle (makes them longer). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dgo 66 Posted July 10, 2020 I had a mild steel 4 branch manifold on mine for a number of years from Peter Lloyd rallying. Unfortunately Peter got ill and the business now seems to be closed. I believe their systems/manifolds came from Sportex who list 4 branch Pinto manifolds for Capri and Escort but not Cortina. Might be worth calling them to see if those will in fact fit Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GhiaMk4/5 206 Posted July 10, 2020 Also watch out for RH and LH manifolds, l believe they are slightly different for clearance, but nothing a set of bottles and a adjusting tool couldn't sort out. I had a four branch on my 2000E, sounded really crisp, stainless steel manifolds are not recommended because of problems with cracking, heat dissipation etc, etc, and as much as we are led to believe, stainless steel does corrode and deteriorate, and in my opinion, yes I'll hide behind the sofa now, stainless steel exhausts do not sound right, and before I get abuse, I have a stainless steel system on my Savage and on my 3.0 Capri. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sheffieldcortinacentre 529 Posted July 10, 2020 An aftermarket escort one will work but not a Capri one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beeper 60 Posted July 11, 2020 If it's leaking at the manifold joint, most probably the sealing ring is cracked. Take it out and drop it on the floor (flagged or concrete) from about 12" and if it sounds like a little bell, ie "Ting" it's OK, if it goes "tink", kind of a dull noise it's most probably cracked. (For anyone who doesn't know and I'm sure that's not many, no sealing putty is used on the manifold/downpipe joint.) That's how we tested them when I was a Kack Fit fitter. (YTS when I left school back in the early 80's). The cast manifold is a pretty good design as manifolds go and a 4-2-1 header system isn't going to give you much more performance or economy as SheffCortCent has mentioned. Icidentally, "back in the day". When was this? KF were selling an FR32 (complete part number for a Mk3/4/5 three piece system and the only one I can remember) for £32.50 fitted. Also, how did you fit the back box with the car on the floor? We used to have the rear of the car with the back end hanging off the end of the ramp ( it worried many a customer) in order to 'turn or screw' it into place over the axle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 11, 2020 On 7/10/2020 at 9:06 AM, dgo said: I had a mild steel 4 branch manifold on mine for a number of years from Peter Lloyd rallying. Unfortunately Peter got ill and the business now seems to be closed. I believe their systems/manifolds came from Sportex who list 4 branch Pinto manifolds for Capri and Escort but not Cortina. Might be worth calling them to see if those will in fact fit Thanks for that. I'd used Peter Lloyd many moons ago for something and found them very good. Sad that they've gone. I e-mailed the Sportex crowd yesterday but no reply yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul B 22 Posted July 11, 2020 10 hours ago, Beeper said: If it's leaking at the manifold joint, most probably the sealing ring is cracked. Take it out and drop it on the floor (flagged or concrete) from about 12" and if it sounds like a little bell, ie "Ting" it's OK, if it goes "tink", kind of a dull noise it's most probably cracked. (For anyone who doesn't know and I'm sure that's not many, no sealing putty is used on the manifold/downpipe joint.) That's how we tested them when I was a Kack Fit fitter. (YTS when I left school back in the early 80's). The cast manifold is a pretty good design as manifolds go and a 4-2-1 header system isn't going to give you much more performance or economy as SheffCortCent has mentioned. Icidentally, "back in the day". When was this? KF were selling an FR32 (complete part number for a Mk3/4/5 three piece system and the only one I can remember) for £32.50 fitted. Also, how did you fit the back box with the car on the floor? We used to have the rear of the car with the back end hanging off the end of the ramp ( it worried many a customer) in order to 'turn or screw' it into place over the axle. Hmm... "Back in the day"... Well I bought this Cortina (back in the day) for 250 quid from a banger racer. That was November 1991 and I was a fit 22 year old, not afraid to take on anything. Fast-forward to now and I'm an ever so less fit 51 year old who is left thinking "how the f@#k did I ever do that "back in the day?" When the car landed back from the paint shop I fitted the engine myself and everything around it. Also the gearbox, made all brake pipes and refitted the whole car, including screens, etc., all in a small garage or rolled out into the yard. I've never had anything other than a trolley jack and axle stands. Regarding the exhaust, I would never have gone to my local KwikFit as they were a complete shower of c#nts (no offence). We had an ATS centre but I couldn't really get it there without an exhaust so I bought a system from the motor factors and had a go myself. From memory, I rolled it half out of the garage like it was in the photo and jacked up the back end. And I completely remember that corkscrew manoeuvre to get the back bit over the axle! 😀 So there you go. That's what happened. I'm growing older, I've got more afraid of having a go and I've forgotten a lot too. All the best! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
