silencers for sq4 mk2

[johann.patek]

my 57 sq4 still wears the original exhaust system, with the silencers having proudly imprinted ARIEL and Burgess on the underside. but spirited cornering has taken its toll over the times, and i was looking for replacements for the flattened and scratched originals. drag had none in stock as usual, armours had never left any positive memories, so i ordered from feked who was recommended even in the ariel magazine. but the shock was great when i had to realize that feked's brackets were welded on one inch too far inwards and one inch too far back. that brings the mounting position of the silencers too far outwards and too far forwards, resulting in the kickstsrt fouling the right hand silencers and imposing general stress on the pipes and brackets. feked claims he has sold them without complaints over the last ten years. armours would say my frame has sagged or my kickstart is wrong, but feked simply said i could send them back for a refund. at least an easy guy. but where can i buy "fitting" silencers" now? i am surely not the only one who needs silencers for a mk2.
johann from vienna

[paul_turner]

Hello Johann
I read in Cheval that our gearbox man Geoff Brown, had a pair of 36 cammy silencers made to original drawings by Fecked and was very pleased with them. That being the case, would it not be feasible to send him the dimensions you require or better still and I know its a ballache but send one of your old ones as a pattern and he could weld brackets on before chroming or even sell you some unchromed ones to pre fit and have chromed. I did this with some mk2 pipes from Armours as I wasn't happy with the welds on the joints. There is also some one in Redditch advertising some on Ebay
but I see they don't have the fluted ends and you may have the same fitting trouble! There may be some one out there that has a club pair from the old days sitting on a shelf unused, try a wanted advert.
Regards Paul T

[johann.patek]

dear paul
thanks for suggestions. yes, feked already suggested both options. but i am a bit reluctant to let my original silencers out of my posession, so it seems i have to opt for the unchromed and bracketless versions, fit my own homemade brackets and have the whole plot chromed afterwards. quite an afford.
honestly i thought that there must be more mk2 owners needing silencers. where do they shop ? and do those silencers fit ?
johann

[berniejones]

Hi Johann,
I hope you manage to find a positive result here - I must say I'm grateful to read this thread as I will soon be needing pipes and mufflers some for my '56 basket case restoration.

Feked and Armours were both high on my list although I had a bit of an issue with feked when I got an exhaust from them for my M21 and the mounting bracket was not correct. I mentioned this to them and they suggested that bending it to fit was 'part of the charm of British bike restoration'. I didn't agree as this resulted in cracking on some of the chrome.

Regards,
Bernie

[johann.patek]

yes, bernie, exactly my thinking. what i can not understand is the fact that producing a correct fitting part cost the same as an incorrect fitting part. one of the two manufactures you mention produces wrong made items since 25 years. they get complaints all the time for certain items and still are so stubborn not to change their patterns, or check if they could make it right.
there was one exhaust manufactur called toga which produced really excellent stuff, but strange enough, went out of business.
and today i dont even know where to get pipes for the mk2 sq4.
maybe the club could have a few sets made. the correct patterns and tool were there a while ago, right ?
johann

[ismohautala]

Hello Johann

I bought my silencer set from Armours (5 years ago).They fit quite nice except the brackets were about 15mm too far back.
This makes kickstart to hit silencer sometimes , just a bit.
These silencers are also little bit shorter.

[ismohautala]

I attached a picture , can you people see it?
It doesn't open in my view.

[berniejones]

Yup, picture ok for me.

[johann.patek]

conclusio of the above is obvious : feked buys from armours.
and it all makes sense as feked is a bit dearer than armours. that the silencers do not fit properly is typical for armours. they make them wrong since decades despite people keep telling them.
what has happened to the stock and the jigs the club had produced years ago ?
i was told both pipes and silencers were excellent till they switched the manufacture.
nothing was heard then anymore.
regards
johann

[johann.patek]

to end a long story : feked took back the misfitting silencers and refunded the purchase price.
and for halve the price he sold me a pair of unchromed bracketless silencers.
fair enough. extra work now and costs but better than crappy fitting silencers which annoy me each time i look at the sq4.
johann