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Can anyone share their Bell Stainless Exhaust experience?


Mark G

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Hi, I am almost in the position of buying a new exhaust for my 1600 Vitesse and was considering the Bell exhaust available in the TSSC Club Shop.

Has any other Vitesse, or any Triumph, owner bought one and how is it?

Does it fit well and sit at the same clearance from the road?

Does it match up to the down pipe ok?

Is the fitting kit comprehensive?

How is the sound, louder/quieter/same as standard?

Price wise it looks ok but is there a discount with standard membership (need to join this week)?

 

Sorry lots of questions but it'll be the most money I've spent on parts for Spike!

Thanks,

Mark.

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1600 and mk1 are the same fitting 

not bell but phoenix and the slip jointed 321 was a repeated noisy leaker which we copied nicks clamp solution 

i dont like ay twin tail pipes  , ground  clearance and sounds more like a hairdrier 

a large bore single is far more pleasant and sings well when on song 

just remeber the 6-3-1 manifold wont make any resounding increase in power until its being hammered 

and tubular pipes ring with the pings where as a cast is silent 

Pete

vit6_631.jpg

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Mark,

I fitted a new exhaust 3 years ago bought from Bell through the club shop. GT6 exhaust has 3 parts and the club only had 2 so I had to wait for the missing part, took 6 weeks. I think standard delivery is 3 weeks so what went wrong I don't know. 

Stainless Steel exhaust do wear out, the baffles and the welds fail, certainly did on my old one, only lasted 30 years! However I'm very pleased with the Bell system, my MOT man put it on for £20 after the MOT and it needed no more parts than were in the fitting kit. There were no problems fitting to the manifold or body work. I later had to have it adjusted as the centre box started slapping on the centre chassis rails, it's a tight fit and I suspect the centre section was a little larger diameter than the old one. However this is not an issue on a Vitesse. 

I had a standard system previously and the new one turned the volume back down to what it had been. Bell also do Semi Sport and Full Sport systems I would go and listen to them before ordering one, they are LOUD. In fact I would say the Semi is louder than the full! My brother has a Semi on his Spitfire and it's on the limit of what's allowed by the MOT.

GT6 has 4 & 1/2" ground clearance so that has to be got right! I had no problems.

Yes! join I think it's 15% discount for a member. 

Doug

 

 

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I believe the system on my Vitesse may be a TSSC / Bell one but it was fitted by the previous owner some 30 years ago, so even if it is it may not be a useful datum point. I know my previous Vitesse had a TSSC / Bell standard pattern one, which fitted very nicely, but that was even longer ago. Both examples were/are very nice in terms of sound - properly quiet and refined like a Mk1 Vitesse should be.

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Wow, thank you so much for the quick and incredibly helpful replies.

 

I do want to keep it as standard as possible so single tail pipe will be the way forward. The car has survived since 1966 without too much messing so I better be a good owner.

 

Many moons ago I had a GT6 with twin tail pipes but they seemed to have better clearance than when fitted to the Vitesse. Maybe because they were a bit further back and more upswept (if that's the right term).

I like the look but have been scared by following a Mk2 Vitesse last year over some speed bumps and the sparks were not pretty.

 

I want to keep the manifold so I think it'll be the 3 piece system - front pipe, middle pipe and rear silencer will do me. I'm not one for making a lot noise anymore, did that with many hot hatches and Beetles in my youth, and I'm trying to be more grown up now.

 

Thanks again, I'll be buying and fitting soon.

 

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2 hours ago, Mark G said:

Many moons ago I had a GT6 with twin tail pipes but they seemed to have better clearance than when fitted to the Vitesse. Maybe because they were a bit further back and more upswept (if that's the right term).

The lowest point on the GT6 is not the rear box or tail pipes it's the mid section where it bends downward to clear the chassis just before it joins the rear box. Don't k.now about the Vitesse

Doug

 

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32 minutes ago, dougbgt6 said:

The lowest point on the GT6 is not the rear box or tail pipes it's the mid section where it bends downward to clear the chassis

That depends on your system. My GT6 has a (non-Bell) stainless "standard" system which isn't quite the right shape. When combined with the Herald diff that it used to have, which is missing the notch for the exhaust to pass under the front plate on the left side, this put the lowest point just below the drive shaft then very nearly level until behind the chassis member. They should go very nearly level from the diff front member to behind the chassis, and that should be high enough not to ground out too often.

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I fitted a stainless system to my Vitesse many years ago (sorry cant remember the make) and its been good except for the weld of the rear silencer hanger. This wasnt stainless and so within two or three years rusted through allowing the system to drop free.

Stainless welding is a bit specialised so I would imagine this could be an issue on many systems...

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2 hours ago, johny said:

Stainless welding is a bit specialised so I would imagine this could be an issue on many systems

Yup, that's what happened to my first SS, baffles and welds shot.

Regarding availability, when I had delivery delays with the club I contacted Bell directly and made a nuisance of myself. Don't know if it helped, but they were amenable to dealing directly. 

Doug 

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3 hours ago, mpbarrett said:

you might want to check availability...
I have just fitted a MK1 Vitesse exhaust to my Herald. TSSC club were quoting 8 to 12 weeks delivery. Only place that had SS one in stock was Rimmers, all the usual suppliers didnt have any in stock..

mike

Thanks for the information. That's a bit of a wait. Looks like a Christmas present is coming my way....

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  • 1 year later...

Can't remember when I fitted my GT6 style twin pipe Bell exhaust system to my 1147 1970 saloon . . . I know! The irony, right?? Love all the 'tings' it puts out on cooling down. I have no idea how it sounds outside - I'm always driving! But inside, it gets noisy up at 50mph+.

You can forget listening to any stereo output at that point! Add to that, that in Summer you have only the open windows with all the rushing wind sounds on top and it's almost a candidate for ear muffs!! 

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I've just fitted a part Bell system, purchased through the club shop, to my Mk 3 GT6 - front downpipe and centre pipe / silencer, and I ripped out the mild steel tubular manifold that a previous owner had fitted and went back to original cast iron manifold. The rear silencer is a standard pattern stainless item from Rimmers that I already had.

Everything lined up nicely, perfectly in fact, and it was relatively easy to fit. The only real issue was that someone has replaced the boot floor and clearly welded the rear box hangers on in the wrong place, so I did have a bit of fabrication to do to make sure the exhaust hung correctly, but that wasn't a fault with the parts.

Delivery for the Bell parts was about three weeks, apparently made to order as I wanted a standard bore system.

Very pleased with the results - quiet and refined when pottering along but livens up a little with more revs (although I'm strictly sticking to around 3000 rpm max while I run the newly rebuilt gearbox / diff in)

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On 08/09/2021 at 15:49, dougbgt6 said:

The lowest point on the GT6 is not the rear box or tail pipes it's the mid section where it bends downward to clear the chassis just before it joins the rear box. Don't k.now about the Vitesse

Doug

 

Mine fitted nicely between the main rails, never had a problem with ground clearance except when I fitted the bracket at the back box with the threads pointing downwards so that the ends of the U-bolt would strike ramps and other raised things. Once I rotated the clamp so that the threads pointed sideways, there was no problem.

DSCF5390.thumb.jpeg.edd3812de666befec017f90d86103c68.jpeg

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Colin, 

Each of the GT6s has a different exhaust, the mk1 and mk3 have 3 piece systems and an additional box in the centre pipe. The mk2 is 2 piece and no centre box. The difference between mk1 and 3 is the way the centre pipe bends under the rear cross member. This is the lowest point, 4.5 inches.

It caused me considerable trouble at my daughter's wedding where the reception car park had massive speed bumps, discovered on a dry run. Venue was persuaded to allow the GT6 in through the staff entrance. A great relief as I had foolishly agreed to allow son-in-law and new wife to drive GT6 from the church. He later described it as the highlight of the day! :o

Daughter not impressed. :lol:

 

dipstick.PNG.bc1915a880a0e81d92041b311781f182.PNG

 

Doug

 

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