2 minute read
OUR GARAGE
How Exhausting part 2
Last month I mentioned that rear section Deux Smurf’s exhaust had pretty much disintegrated, in fact it was in two parts it was that bad.
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Of the three exhaust fabricators I had on my list, which were all within 1/2 hour of Muddy Towers, I chose the gents at SK Garage in Manchester as they had a great reputation, replied to my emails and even answered the phone, which is more that can be said for the others.
They quoted me two prices, one for the whole exhaust, and another for just the rear section.
I decided on the latter for two reasons, one because they were honest and told me that the front section was still in great condition, and secondly we still don’t have enough advertisers to be flamboyantly frivolous with our hard earned pennies!
When the time came to collect her I was really quite impressed, the welds were tidy and they managed to tuck the exhaust well away from the axle to prevent catching during full articulation. They even fitted a removable chrome tip for free as a bonus.
On tick-over she sounds deeper, a little throatier that befits a 3.0ltr diesel. Yet, the following day whilst driving down to Bicester for a BMW press day the rumble was much more muted than I expected. To be fair though, Surfs are quiet 4x4s anyway, but she cruised along nicely.
Due to the amount of press cars I’ve had for that last few months I haven’t driven Deux Smurf that much. This was evident when I started her up to get her exhaust fitted, I could sense a sluggishness, so when I returned to Muddy Towers I drove her ‘round the back where she spent the rest of the day attached to the wonderful CTEK MSX 7.0 charger that I reviewed back in our June 2020 issue.
Next on my list of jobs is to sort out her balancing and tracking, we’ve done a lot of green laning lately and she’s gained a bit of wobble.
Another job before winter sets in is to explore the possibility of changing her washers for the fan spray type. A lot of new cars have them, and I reckon they’ll be a good improvement.
