Janspeed Intermediate (Mid) Pipe upgrade

After quite some time of wanting one, I've finally took the plunge and bought a Janspeed Intermediate (Mid) Pipe. For those not in the know, the exhaust system is made of 4 sections in the following order; Manifold, Catalytic Converter (cat), Intermediate Pipe, Backbox.

Got it for £70 posted, was in fair condition, apparently having covered around 8k miles. It's also the stainless steel version so should last quite a while. Bit of a good deal considering they are £130ish new.

Unwrapped it and immediately set about it with the cleaning equipment, got it shining up fairly well, although not as well as I did with my Longlife backbox. You can see in the images below the before (left) and after (right) shots of the clean-up.

After a good scrub it was time to fit the thing. First was the job of getting the car high enough to actually get at the fixings. This took three planks of wood and a helpful gradient. Not even on Rover springs was the car ever this high up. Took the opportunity to have a butchers at the underneath of the car too, doesn't look too bad for a 9 year old.

With a little penetrating oil the bolts came off and with them the existing mid pipe. Took another opportunity, this time to compare old with new. Pretty much identical length and pipe shaping, but a considerably smaller box and a noticeable weight difference (the new Janspeed being lighter).

Next job was to make up some gaskets. Pretty much just traced the outline and cut a 2" hole in the middle.

Offered up the midpipe and tried to fit it, but realised the holes in the flange on the backbox were about 6mm out from the new pipe. So back to the lab to file the holes in a bit so they were slots.

After the slight modification it fitted a treat. Upon first firing up the car it wasn't really that clear that it had made any difference at all really. But after driving it a few times you can hear it bedding in, there are a few more pops and a slightly different exhaust note. Sounds a bit more race like too, which was exactly what I was after.

After it's bedded in for a good while I will take a video for you all to compare. As for performance, the car seems to rev much more freely, and possibly pick up better. This could be a combination of the K and N panel filter, and the Longlife backbox coming into effect.