Having more or less come to a full stop in my search for a replacement exhaust system for my 2000 XKR, Macleod MK11 no longer available through Mina, I was considering having an active exhaust system custom made. There are off the shelf exhausts made in Germany www.kks-performance.com, very expensive, but these are only suitable for the latter XK range.
Having listened to the orgasmic sounds these exhausts make I am looking to find out if any early XK owner has one of these fitted to their car, or if it is a practical proposition to do. Cheers all. Dave.

2000 XKR coupe
1990 XJ40

 

I have done something similar.......ish......

But it is a bit drastic......


I did this first on my race XK, but I did do it once for a customer (he was a lunatic like me ) and removed the trunk floor, now the exhaust world is your oyster.

I actually fitted a Aston DB9 rear box (I happened to have one laying around )with the vacuum controlled baffles, worked a treat.
Putting a sheet of metal back into the floor was simple, literally a flat sheet with a few strenghtening lines in , welded, I even cut the battery tray out and welded that into the new floor, a few things had to be repositioned, the large fuse/relay box for starters and the main power lead fuse box, some wiring loom.
Of course no more spare wheel, but life is full of tragedies and that is not one of them, he just kept a can of tire weld in the car and for anythng more drastic he was in a motoring organisation. I do beleive he had run flat tires on for a while but he said the road noise drove him nuts and swapped back. Like he could hear them over the exhaust!

 

I know someone who has installed this:
http://www.dmhperformance.com/ecutout.htm

He may respond here, but reading his last mail, he seemed very pleased, especialy as this device also let him adjust the opening form the inside of the car to suit his mood

 

A XK owner shouldn't have to pay 3400 euros or do major surgery to their floorplan to get good sounds. Any good independant muffler shop can use a generic X pipe to replace the main muffler, bypass the intermediate mufflers, and do away with the highly restrictive elbows (over the axles)--to greatly improve exhaust flow. If just using the rear mufflers is then too loud, have the shop put new, less restrictive intermediate mufflers from Flowmaster or Magnaflow. That's your best bang for the buck.

 

....also...Don't forget high flow cats from Nameless Performance

 

No offence.....but thats boring and been done thousands of times, quite a few by me ....... I have probably done every conceivable orientation possible, apart from under axel, have not done one of those yet.

For the serious 'modder' you need to be unique, having a modification that has been done to death is no longer viable, individuality is the key..... am i ranting????? I dont mean to be

Only problem is it comes at a price, normally a very expensive price

 

I just got my exhaust done by the Fella's over at Nameless Performance and they have a three stage exhaust system available, and Im sure you could mix and match it to your liking as they were all designed to plug and play with the factory exhaust.

First section is the highflow cats, second the intermediate pipes, and third the under axle exhaust to the back. Talk to him more he is very knowledgeable, and now that he has a full mock up of the 2003-2006 exhaust, im sure he could modify it to suit your needs (he's more then accommodating.

His work is gorgeous too, im going to try and upload some more pics to my gallery so feel free to take a look

As for the sound.. as soon as I get a solid clip/video Ill post a link..

 

Sorry I missed the 2000 model year part... His first prototype car was a local 200 xkr that he has fitted the cats too, and im sure he could get an exhaust mocked up for you as well

 

Well I'm new to this forum and Avos is referring to me.

I have put e-cutouts in front of both the last silencers. I can open them seperatly from the driver seat. Two switches wich can be flipped to control the opening. Every position is possible for it take 3 seconds to fully open the valve completely.

Anyway the result is much to my liking! I have been using it for over a year now. I am a big Hifi fan but I drive a lot with the stereo switched of now!

Valves closed: Sounds like 100% stock

1 Valve opened (my favourite): Sound like SL500AMG lovely dark rumble, not to loud. Half trottle is an awesome sound.

2 valves opened: Sounds like an American V8 pickup truck with a straight pipe. Much more noise then with one valve opened (strange put true).

But he, don't take my word for it. Just take of the one rear silencer (10 minutes work) and drive around for a while (I tried it a couple of months). Then take of the other one as well.

Total cost of my project EUR 400,-. They are not available in Europe so I bought them from the guys at DMH. I now have to find a way to show you some pictures

 

5 photo's here in this hotmail album:

http://cid-9511aed0019e92c6.skydrive...D0019E92C6!105

 

Hi Guys , Food for thought indeed. I like the sound of XK Racer's mod. My son in law has an Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Wonder if he'd notice! I agree with you about pushing the envelope on projects.
Octaaf, as I am replacing the entire system including cats I may consider your option. It might be nice on a track day to have the option of de-resticting the system.
Off to the exhaust shop, "let loose the dogs of war".
Cheers everyone,
2000 XKR
1990 XJ40

 

I like the idea of the electronically controlled baffles, not sure on the positioning of Octaafs....

I often drive XKs without rear boxes and don't find the sound all that different, when you fit the Adamesh straight replacement pipe, the pipe acts like a trumpet to amplify the sound, the rear box is already straight through as it is a resonator box and is not really a muffler in the true sense of the word.

Now if you fitted a X pipe and connected the baffles to that coming out the side just in front of the rear wheels, and then keep the boxes in front of the cage to act as silencers and 2 resonator baoxes still at the back, now we are talking!!!

Might be a few grounding issues, but an interesting idea, the XK engine likes free flow over 3000 rpm, I would be tempted to connect them up to a rev controlled switch so they open whenever I go over that rev range, something similar to the Ferrari 2 stage system......

Now thats food for thought!!