Upon fitting my newly purchased TSL Group N Exhaust, I realised that my Prodrive Backbox had at some point in its life been ripped apart and gutted. Naturally, I decided to take a closer look and try a DIY repair.
In my previous blog post you may have seen the state of my Prodrive Exhaust once I had removed it from my car.
Interesting to say the least!
I was originally intending to sell this Prodrive backbox to recuperate some funds spent on the TSL Group N. But with little chance of that happening with the exhaust in such a state, I just decided to take a closer look and see if something could be done to tidy it all up a little.
But first, let’s take a look at what was actually done to this Frankenstein exhaust.
A solid hour was spent trying to get over 20 nasty, corroded screws out of this piece of sheet metal that was half-arsed in place. Upon prising it away, darkness awaited. A gaping hole into the can of the exhaust revealing nothing but a straight, perforated baffle pipe.
Pretty much exactly what I thought – somebody had binned the fibreglass packing and wadding that normally sits in here.
I always really liked the sound of my Prodrive exhaust. It confused me as to why so many people would complain that their own on their cars is too quiet.
Well, this is exactly why this exhaust sounded so good to me – it was basically just a straight through pipe! All sound deadening material had been trashed which left the sound through the baffled pipe resonate through the can.
Admittedly the workmanship was something to be desired, but the outcome in terms of sound is rather impressive. A deep, guttural growl that pairs beautifully with the flat-four burble.
So let the repairs begin!
I can’t weld. I wish I could – I wish I had the gear to do so. But I don’t. So in this case I’m left with good ol’ JB Weld.
I cleaned up the contact areas of both the exhaust and the scrap sheet metal as best I could, and applied a generous amount of mixed JB Weld.
Unfortunately, I don’t currently have an image of the finished product. It’s still not exactly a work of art.
But as of November 2018 the Prodrive Backbox still remains on my car – just as loud as ever!
[Originally written Summer 2016]
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