The Puma breathes again
Could it be time to replace – or upgrade the exhaust?
My Puma has been rumbling like a Massey Ferguson tractor for a few weeks, now, so I knew the exhaust had given way somewhere. There had been a rattling link since I adopted the car from the CCW £500 Challenge just under a year ago and it wasn’t about to fix itself.
I started to consider modifiying the Puma, not cosmetically, but an improved exhaust that would provide a healthier and perfomance improved Puma, but I also didn’t want to sound like a modded XR3i at the traffic lights.
A recent Mods & Consequences feature in CCW encouraged me to look into fitting a Milltek four-branch manifold; it would cost me £350, plus fitting, but a Racing Puma manifold and exhaust system would be around £700 – more than I paid for the car! I was about to go for the Milltek when the heater decided to give up the ghost. Now, I might not need heat in summer, but the air conditioning joined the heater in Puma heaven, or hell in my case! The blower is still working, so it looks like the heater matrix will need replacing – plus an air-con re-gas just to keep me cool with all this money I’m spending.
So in the end, and purely on the basis of costs, I opted for a standard exhast, but it’s yet another fix on the long list of Puma work to be done.
Next up is getting that heater working, and maybe fixing those door cards properly in place after installing the new door mirror.