Drilling the mufflers -- but which ones?

Hi everybody!

The high humidty this autumn lead me to drilling small holes in my mufflers right at the end of the car to get rid of excessive white smoke as long as the engine is cold. This helped a lot, the smoke is now reduced to an acceptable minimum, so, I could just leave it that way.

However, I am asking myself if it was healthy for the (bigger) mufflers in the middle of the car to drill them as well. Obviously, they hold much less condensed water (if any?) than the end mufflers, as can be seen from the massive reduction of white smoke. But, would it hurt? What would you do, what did you do? What is your experience?

Regards,
Florian

(XJ12 HE '83 Emissions B)

I can’t see where it would do any harm.

Cheers
DD

If we drove the car a bit more, it will go away…:slight_smile:
gtjoey1314
yes you can but the risk or rusting and opening up wider from heat to cold will eventually make the car sound like a 1952 chevy pick up.

I suspect the hoe in the muffler will retard not promote rust. The rust usually comes from within.

52 Chevy’s sound neat…

Carl

Indeed.
20 caracters

Hi! Thanks for the quick replies! Yes, I’m pretty sure that the rust comes from the inside, it’s the same with the water supply in older buildings, where galvanized iron was used: looks fine from the outside for a loooong time, and suddenly – surprise, surprise. I’m just not sure whether it’s worth the effort, and I definitely don’t want a Jag to sound like the fast and the furious. :slight_smile: So, did anybody try it, or do you just drill holes into the rear mufflers?

Regards,
Florian

PS: Yep, driving the car a bit more would have helped a lot against the smoke – and especially avoiding short distance rides! But, alas, life isn’t always a bowl of cherries.

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Liquid water is more likely in the rear mufflers, Florian; they are cold - and actually you can see water dripping or on the ground in some circumstances.

Only one small hole is required for each muffler; carefully drilled at the lowest(!) point. The small hole won’t affect the sound…

The forward mufflers run much warmer and usually stays dry - a small hole won’t hurt, but I don’t think it will do much good either…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
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Hi Frank!

Thank you, that’s good news. If the forward mufflers tend to stay dry, I’ll just leave them as they are. The holes I put in the rear mufflers are 2.5 mm in diameter, set at the lowest point – water came instantly dripping out after drilling.

Regards,
Florian

That figurs, Florian…

The first time I noticed wet spots on the ground I thought; ‘oh-oh - a petrol leak’…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)

The exact opposite happened to me in London - it was the tank after all.

I have a completely rusted exhaust where the end tips were held together by the chrome and the forward mufflers are rusted too, but not where I’d expect it but at the top of the oval pieces. The rears were of course gone completely and I can tear them open by hand, so I’d only drill the rears. Maybe I’ve done that already.

Being an exhaust system is not an easy billet, David…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
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1 Like

I got rid of the middle mufflers altogether. . Put in a crossover pipe to equalize pressures and works perfectly… Rear mufflers dry out much faster…

When they do finally go fit stainless. Ours have been there since before my wife bought the car in 1987. Pipes are mild steel, also yot to change. Paul.