how to; FRP exhausts. info, specs, how to fit etc

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jacko

New member
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Nov 24, 2007
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mostly info as exhausts are fairly easy to change but will try to cover the main problem areas.

FRP exhaust

original; made by Janspeed for ford. the prototype was stainless including a stainless Janspeed back box. the OEM fitted exhaust is mild steel with a standard 1.7 back box (supplied by ford) and stainless covers over the mild steel cat. it is a sport janspeed cat and will struggle to pass an MoT unless its red hot.
the manifold is a 4 branch into 2 into 1 mild steel item. so other than the back box it is a performance exhaust out of the box.
the tail pipe is an acoustically tuned janspeed item (it sounds nice)
the cat is under the floor; basically its under the stereo, whereas on a std puma its behind the stereo / behind the engine.

to upgrade a std puma to a 4,2,1 performance manifold you will need to relocate the cat under the car.....basically you need a full frp system

how to improve; the original will cost you well over £1000 every 5 years as it WILL rust. buying a stainless steel version with a performance back box and a sport cat should last the life of the car. certainly a sport cat will deal better with the MoT however the frp still over fuels, esp on over run (the popping & banging) & this is slowly killing yout cat and O2 (lambda) sensor. so consider a cat converter to be a consumable.

stainless exhausts are thinner; steel ones are thick as they do rust & need to be solid for a few years. so stainless ones can be made much thinner so there much lighter and a fair bit raspier too

budget around £1000 for a stainless system

options;

MILTEK; PUMASPEED. i have one fitted, seems to do the job well. not happy the backbox isnt a 'straight through' item like exhasuts iv had on other cars altho as its a different system and not a copy the bends on the piping are much smoother; technically giving a little more power. iv been told the miltek manifold sits lower underneath the car than std tho and its heatshield mounts arent brilliant. apparently there is a tweeked mk2 which sits a bit better
sports cat is good so far, bigger than oem & bangs on the original rubber mount post (which cannot be used) so you need to chop it off / bend it out of the way!

PIPER; PUMABUILD. i have the piper manifold. it doesnt fit well onto the lower supports but the piper system is supposed to be an exact copy of the oem frp system. (except for the ford backbox) but comes with the original tailpipe i believe

JANSPEED; RACING PUMA OWNERS CLUB. you have to be a member to buy these but they are not asking for membership numbers to prove this. they have used the original jigs to make these and also using a janspeed stainless backbox. added bonus is that it comes with the original tailpipe.

removing manifold & refitting;
undo head bolts, undo bolts to cat under car
undo rear engine torque mount; pivot engine forward & wiggle it out. its not an easy job really & you need to jack the car up high
refit with new gaskets

removing main system;
cut rubber mounts with sharp knife, undo bolts etc (if possible! if not get the hacksaw out)
rear box comes out from the back of car, mid section comes out from under the car
refitting needs to be done slowly, with new rubbers; use the ones with a fabric outer as its an extra safety, dont use the poly ones as there too harsh & hard speedbumps will mean you trash the exhasut as they dont have enough flex (the supports can literally rip bits off the exhaust). use a little exhaust sealant on the joins & keep adjusting everything until the tailpipe sits neatly and the system is well within the tunnel for safety.

gaskets; any good motor factors will get you the manifold to head gasket but you cannot buy the cat to manifold gasket from a supplier by quoting 'frp'; it isnt listed. however if you take the old one with you any good exhaust garage will have one & it will cost you a couple of quid max or £15 from pumabuild etc; it is a standard automotive part so dont let anyone rip you off.

alternatively i am sourcing a few through retail which should be under a fiver posted; pm me. i can also get the bolts (steel or stainless) for a few quid

UPDATE; got a gasket back from supplier; its a BOSAL part no SIL 256304

any q's feel free or if you have one of the exhaust & want me to add up any comments let me know
 
Great write up Jacko as usual.

I believe that there were 2 versions of the Milltek 421.. the original sits much lower than the mk2 version I think.
 
spike; yep, thought id said that!

dal; didnt know that
 
There weren't many mk1 421's by Milltek though so most sit properly.
 
cheers.

yep, will add any new or good info to the main post to keep it all neat, same with all my posts so feel free to add anything
 
Jacko can you give me some tips/advice/walkthrough/pics etc on fitting this 4-2-1 & frp cat please? Anything you can tell me would be great. It will be me and my dad doing it, we've got a ramp, and typical array of tools but nothing fancy.
 
undo exh from top and bottom and lambda sensor
undo rear engine 'torque link'
rock bottom of engine forwards
extract manifold

space / heatshield / wiggling the dam thing out are the issues but its fairly easy. iv done it at home on axle stands
 
Is it all fairly obvious? I cant find a good pic of the underside of the car so you could circle the relevant bits. Must take a pic or two of it when its up in the air for future reference, quite handy for these guides in future.
 

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