So how did it go with the exhaust adventure? In September 2016 I (owner of #83) reported for the last time about that on this website and I still owe you the rest of the story.
The trip to England
In September 2016 my wife and I drove our M35 No. 83 from Amsterdam to the Quicksilver factory in Cullompton (UK). You can still find the travelogue on Twitter if you follow this link.
It was a really nice adventure to travel all the way from Amsterdam to SW England and back. We first took the ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich. Once in the UK I immediately mounted the external right hand side rearview mirror that I had bought specifically for this trip. After that we had to get a bit used to “driving on the wrong side of the road”. We bypassed London (M35 on the M25 ☺), made some stopovers at tourist attractions (Bath, Clevedon) and made it to Cullompton where we reported at the Quicksilver workshop on the date and time we had agreed.
Before we travelled to the UK, Sander Aalderink had already shipped the so-called “patterns” (old exhaust systems). Based on those patterns Quicksilver had manufactured a stainless-steel exhaust system. They had decided to try and avoid manual manufacturing, so this system was largely machine made. This resulted in cylinder shaped front and rear mufflers (“Quicksilver exhaust version 1”). More about that later.
In Cullompton the Quicksilver mechanics removed the old original exhaust from my M35 and mounted the newly manufactured exhaust system. At that time, we mainly checked the correct fit of the system. The exhaust pipe between front and rear muffler twists around the rear suspension arm and must stay clear in any position of the hydropneumatic suspension.
With the new exhaust mounted on the car we drove back to the Netherlands. I could not transport the original exhaust system back home in my M35, so this got sent to me later by Quicksilver.
Below some pictures from the trip and of the exhaust systems.
A right hand side rearview mirror is a must in the UK
In front of the church from the TV-series Broadchurch (Clevedon in the real world)
In front of the pub in Colchester
The old original exhaust system
Quicksilver exhaust system version 1
Quicksilver exhaust system version 2
Once back in the Netherlands I drove to Sander’s and we then further assessed the new exhaust system. We concluded there were two major shortcomings:
• The noise reduction was insufficient
• We had agreed with Quicksilver the new exhaust system would resemble the original one as much as possible. Shape and construction would be identical to the exhaust system produced by Quicksilver back in 2011 for M35 No. 122. However, this was not the case.
After some discussion, Quicksilver agreed to our comments and they decided to modify the design and manufacture the exhaust systems by hand after all (“Quicksilver exhaust version 2”). This modified version was no longer cylindrical, but more oval shaped and also equipped with an additional heat-shield.
Quicksilver shipped one specimen of this version 2 exhaust that got mounted on my car by Sander. This modified version was much better. The sound level was OK and the shape and form met our expectations (although by no means can it pass as a full replica of the original).
Approximately 15 of these exhaust systems have eventually been manufactured by Quicksilver for various M35 owners.
In the end there are different opinions on the quality of the Quicksilver M35 exhaust systems. For those that only want only the original thing, this exhaust system is obviously not suited. Others think the system is still quite loud. On the other hand, it is an affordable and acceptable solution for owners whose original exhaust was not functioning anymore because it was falling apart (like my exhaust system).
Some pictures of Quicksilver exhaust version 2
Quicksilver exhaust version 2
Mounted front muffler
Mounted rear muffler
