I've just (two weeks ago) had a complete new exhaust system from PD Gough (hand made in stainless steel, with a lifetime warranty). New manifolds, centre sections, balance pipes, rear boxes, the full nine yards. I'll need to check the paperwork but the figure of £6000 inc Vat springs to mind. For originality I've had it painted black, and had the red stripes fitted to the tips, along with ANSA stickers. So it looks stock, but is way better quality.
I've looked at my invoices from PD Gough, and including some discount, I paid £1600 for the manifolds, £940 for the centre sections plus balance pipe, and £1200 for the rear sections. You need to add VAT at 20% to these prices, and delivery. But even so, for the quality (and given the costs of other options) it appears to be good value at £4600 all in. I then spent about £240 on a full new set of gaskets, hangers, washers, nuts etc. to actually fit it all.
I bought a complete exhaust including manifolds for my 400 carb from Stainless Steel Exhausts | Custom Made Stainless Exhaust Specialist a long time ago (15 years) and it is still like new today and fitted great. At the time the manifolds were around £1,000 but will obviously be more now.
Update on the car. Since I took delivery 10 days ago no progress has been made. I can only spend time on Saturdays due to work and family commitments so it limits my time. In addition Ive been busy working on getting my 456M back on the road ready for a 2k road trip to Italy. Saying that, it doesnt mean I havent been thinking and researching! My biggest sticking point at the moment is deciding on if I want to finish with a good driving car or a concours finish. I have not attempted anything like that before and do not underestimate the time and cost involved. Deciding on which way to go will for example determine if I go for a respray, or a full metal respray. Prices vary from £4k to £9k. Also do I remove the loose undercoat and respray, or grit blast, treat, and respray? I can then move on to other things like engine detailing, interior etc etc. Im hoping to continue my research over the next few weeks and will share my thoughts and findings.
Still no news I'm afraid. Mile has been too busy and although I have been speaking to a number of companies about the body restoration I have not moved forward with any company yet. I'll hopefully have further info soon.
Just bumping this. After pushing this to the back burner for so long I've decided to go ahead with the restoration. Going to be making a "list" with my mechanic on Saturday. We will remove the mechanicals while the body will be sent away to be restored. Watch this space!
I had PD Gough make new exhaust headers for my '79 400i and they fit beautifully and were very professional to work with. I had already had Timevalve do the rear section and everything matched up nicely and the car sounds much better!
Hi all, a friend of mine has restored his 400 and documented this at Vom Schrauben und Fahren ? GARAGISTA Its worth a look to get an idea of the work involved Jens
