Martin wrote in
news

I remember my dad buying a ss exhaust for his Triumph Dolmite in the
80's. What a mistake. It cracked every time after numerous
replacements. In the end he reverted back to the origional mild steel
type.

I bought one from Kwikfit in Ramsgate in 1983 after a holiday of
having a normal exhaust welded and repeatedly breaking on a near new
Ford Escort. It all started with a Hovercraft crossing on a nice
sunny day. The first guy who welded it, in Dover, told me that he had
lots of broken exhausts on cars that had been on the Hovercraft. We
had it welded again at a motorway service place near Malmsbury on the
M4 and then again in Padstow. In Ramsgate we decided to buy a new
exhaust and the guy sold us a stainless steel exhaust for the price of
a normal steel exhaust. It was still OK when we traded the car in two
years later.

Two very different experiences. Possibly differences with engine mounts and
gearbox? Ford used to use a differential(rear drive) and Triumph used front
wheel drive on later models. A bit like Morris, Austin and later, British
Leyland did back then, engine and gearbox as one unit and all of them now
do that.This doesn't explain why a rear drive SS would be working and not
cracking. But I would bet that all the research would have been front wheel
drive later on.

Baz