The stainless steel exhaust system for the MGB GT V8 is manufactured by Double S Exhausts in 309 and 401 grade stainless steel with mirror finish silencers, produced to accurate tolerances for straightforward DIY fitment. The system carries the Double S lifetime guarantee, offering a long-life alternative to the mild steel OE-pattern system.
For cars being restored once and used for many years afterwards, a stainless system effectively removes exhaust replacement from the long-term maintenance schedule.
System Geometry
The stainless system reproduces the factory-pattern geometry of the GT V8 exhaust at original dimensions, front Y-piece joining the twin downpipes from the V8's separate exhaust manifolds, leading rearwards into the centre silencer, and continuing through to the rear silencer and tail pipe. This retains the characteristic V8 exhaust note when fitted to a standard engine, and ensures the system fits without modification of the chassis, body or mounting points. The GT V8 system uses crimped silencers in keeping with the original specification.
Sound Character
On a standard engine, the stainless system gives essentially the same sound as the original mild steel exhaust, since the silencer internal geometry is preserved. Higher-output engines with camshaft, cylinder head and inlet upgrades will produce a different exhaust note, which the system carries through unchanged, silencer geometry is what shapes the sound, not the construction material itself.
Tail Trims
Tail trims are available in chrome-plated steel or polished stainless steel finishes. Chrome trims match the period appearance of original GT V8 cars, while stainless trims complement the full stainless system underneath for a consistent finish that will not lift or pit over time.
Compatibility and Fitting
The stainless system fits using the original mounting points, hanging brackets and clamping arrangements. Original-pattern fitting kits work with the stainless system without modification. Owners replacing only a section of an existing system can also source individual stainless V8 components, short and long Y-pieces and stainless V8 exhaust reinforcement plates are available separately, allowing targeted renewal of a specific failed section while retaining a serviceable system elsewhere.
Long-Term Ownership
The economic case for stainless on the GT V8 is particularly strong given the value and rarity of the model. A mild steel system carries a lower initial outlay but requires repeated renewal over the life of the car as corrosion progresses from the rear silencer forwards. A stainless system avoids that cycle entirely. For a GT V8 being prepared for long-term use, touring, club events, occasional fast road work, the stainless system pays back over time and presents a finish under the car commensurate with the standard of the rest of the restoration.
The Double S Lifetime Guarantee, Backed by Four Decades of Partnership
MGOC Spares has worked in partnership with Double S Exhausts for over forty years. In that time, thousands upon thousands of Double S systems have been supplied to MG owners across the UK and around the world, every one of them backed by the Double S Lifetime Guarantee. It is, in honest truth, something of a novelty when called upon to honour it, the combination of premium British stainless steel, expert hand fabrication, and decades of refinement means Double S systems are built to outlast the cars they are fitted to. On the rare occasions when an issue does arise, it is treated with exactly the same care and seriousness as the day the exhaust was first supplied.
Most telling of all are the receipts that occasionally accompany those claims; rear silencers have been replaced on the strength of paperwork dating back decades, the most memorable recent example being one first supplied in 1991, honoured from a handwritten receipt kept in a glovebox for over thirty-five years. That says something important about both the product and the relationship behind it. Double S systems are built to last, and MGOC Spares stands behind every one supplied, not just on the day of purchase or the twelve months that follow, but for as long as that exhaust is on the car. Decades of service.
A guarantee with no expiry.