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MG MGA - Front exhaust pipe

Prompted by the floor board thread does anyone know what the distance of the exhaust pipe to the front floor board was on original cars? On trying a new s/s exhaust system I found that it was very close to the board and was worried that heat from the pipe might char the wood. It is too close even to interpose a radiation shield. Mike
m.j. moore

Mike,
I found the same thing and used a torch to bend the front piece to give enough clearance for a heat shield. Have a good day!

John
John Progess

I can't quote a distance, but my original A that I had back in the mid-60's was very close to touching (or maybe it was touching) the floorboard. I was driving one day and I noticed smoke coming out the rear of the car. It scared me and I thought the whole car was going up in flames. I stopped and discovered it was the floorboard smoking but wasn't yet in flames. I managed to beg a glass of water to pour on the floor from on top. That stopped the smoking and I found a tin can to flatten and stuff in between the exhaust pipe and the floor. That did the trick although I didn't have the car much longer after that happened.

That car is long gone, but when I restored my "new" one, that was a vivid memory and I made sure to put a shield on the bottom of the floorboard. I spent the money and bouught the insulated shield that Moss sells. I think many install a shield of their own making.

I'm sure that there was enough variation in these cars that the distance between the floor and the exhaust pipe also varied a lot. Hopefully you'll find a way to squeeze in a shield of some kind if you're that close.

Larry
LP Pittman

I had to bend the front pipe away from the floorboad on my SS exaust system also. I added a heat shield too.
Ed Bell

Thanks guys. I was thinking of bending my front tube but I was wary of kinking or cracking it. John -was yours a stainless system and did you use an acetylene torch? Ed - how was yours bent? Larry - I guess that in the mid 60s your system was a replacement? I can imagine that the tolerances on replacements are not as good as on the original systems. Thanks again mike
m.j. moore

Mike,
Torch until red and bend a little. Try for fit, torch and bend a little more. Try again. Repeat as needed.
Ed Bell

Mike,
I'm suspect you're right about my exhaust system being a replacement. I had the car a very short period of time (only about a year - it's a long story) so I don't know for sure. I know that I didn't have it replaced while I had it. Assuming it was a replacement, it wouldn't have qualified as an original fit like your question originally asked.

Larry
LP Pittman

In high school in 1970 my MGA MkII had a rattling exhaust. My friend Butch worked at the gas station and we put it up on the lift. To fix the problem we installed two u-bolts and cinched the ezhaust pipe to the floor board. On my drive into to school one morning flames erupted between my legs. I stopped and grabbed a garden hose from the nearest house and dowsed the flames. I then bought a box of baking powder and when flames started I threw a handful of baking powder on the floor. By the time I fixed the problem properly there was a two by four inch hole in the floorboard. Ahhhh teenage problem solving.
David Holmes

I did not have any of the problems outlined above with my Falcon SS system from 12 years ago. So the question is has the manufacture changed the dimensions/bend angles, or could it be the geometry of the engine and geabox mounting is the cause? For example, if the engine is sitting lower at the front end it could I suppose tilt the front pipe slightly upwards towards the floorboards. Therefore, are the engine mountings in good condition? If you have the five speed box conversion, have you got it mounted correctly and not sitting too high, causing a tilt?

just a thought

Steve
Steve Gyles

I have had a succession of Falcon SS exhausts over the last 20 years, all exchanged under guarantee as they gave out. I have never noticed any difference between the various iterations, except that the current one has a ID plate tacked to it.

The current one is starting to go the way of the others, so I guess it's another call to B&G sometime next summer.....
dominic clancy

M.J.
My exhaust is a stainless Falcon unit. Do as Ed Bell suggests. Have a good day!

John
John Progess

Mine also is a Falcon s/s and I get the impression that they are not dimensioned perfectly. I've already had to move the welded central bracket on it to line up with the support hanger. Steve - everything is fairly standard on my car and the engine/gearbox mounts are new.

Just thought after reading some of the comments that a right hand drive MGA could make a good James Bond car designed to incinerate a passenger you weren't fond of!! mike
m.j. moore

Reminds me of my TC. The exhaust pipe under the floor was the only source of heating!

Mike

In that case it could be a quality control issue at Falcon. How often does the customer end up dealing with the symptons instead of going back to the supplier to remedy the cause.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I suspect QC issues. My Falcon (ID plated) exhaust suffered from pipe diameter differences; i had 51mm OD on the intermediate pipe and 54mm ID on the tailpipe - far too much that could be clamped down to make a gas tight seal. Having contacted Falcon, I ended up getting the 51mm pipe "stretched" by a local company, because Falcon wanted me to trudge 36 miles to take the exhaust back to the retail supplier for them to collect, rework and return to me, taking about 3 weeks.

Colin
C Manley

By the time I was fitting my exaust system I had returned, reworked, and discarded so many "new" parts that I just expected that every "new" part would need some attention in order to make it workable. The quality of many parts that I purchased was way below my expectations. However, I was just glad that I was able to find the parts that I needed to rebuild my car, even if they did required some rework.
Ed Bell

This thread was discussed between 04/11/2008 and 06/11/2008

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