S J Sportscars Ltd

[Crowman30]

Hi,
I bought a new stainless steel exhaust front pipe for my Lotus Excel SE (1987) from S J Sportscars Ltd as the old one had a blow at the flexible joint.
I initially rung them up and asked if they had one in stock. I was told I need to establish if the next piece of the exhaust had three nuts and bolts on the flanges to confirm I had the right exhaust fitted.
I dually looked underneath and confirmed this and rung them back and ordered the front pipe. I hastened to add that I asked it "Will fit the car?", they replied yes of course it will.
They sent me the front pipe and I booked my car into Just Historic Cars to have the pipe fitted as I also wanted them to tighten the front spoiler as it was loose.
I received a call from the garage Just Historic Cars that the pipe was a inch too small. They suggested welding an extension of stainless steel pipe of the correct diameter to extend at a cost of £150.
I said I would contact SJS first. I was told by James that there was a Y piece at the back that was adjustable, try that. Just Historic Cars replied no there is not an adjustable Y piece but a fixed one.
Called SJS again and they now suggested turning the centre muffler 180 degrees and said the garage I was using is RUBBISH we have loads of Excel come in and we make them fit.
I called Just Historic Cars again and gave them SJS's suggestion, they tried it, it did not work. I called S J Sportscars again and told them the situation, they re-iterated that the garage I was using was rubbish and why did I not bring it to them? (I live in East Sussex and they are based in Devon).
I came to a decision, that if I ordered the rest of the Stainless Steel system would it fit OK? SJS replied yes it is made for the Excel and would fit no problem, so I ordered it.
Just Historic Cars tried to fit it and guess what! The front pipe was still 1 inch short and they where sent two right hand rear pipes and in case you were wondering the Y pipe was not the adjustable type.
I did go down to the garage on a couple of occasions to confirm the above.
The next time I spoke to SJS I was greeted with Mr Angry who was in the middle of a mental episode and said what do you want me to do about it! I asked if he could send me the Left Hand rear pipe. He replied how am I supposed to know which is the left or the right pipe, they have probably been put in the wrong rack. I suggested to avoid confusion send me a right and left handed pipe as they are obviously different even if you do not know which is which and then have the incorrect one collected later. He said he would do that and email me he had done that.
I received an email confirming he had sent them complaining he had 11 right hand pipes and no left and had to make a 125 mile trip to get one.
So in conclusion, I now have a complete Stainless Steel exhaust system with a 1 inch Stainless Steel extension welded on by Just Historic Cars of St Leonards East Sussex (Who I would highly recommend).
I have paid an extra £1000+ for a noisier exhaust system than when the original blown front pipe was fitted and the rest of my old system in the shed.
PLEASE do not use S J Sportscars unless you cannot find an alternative supplier and you like being verbally abused.
Just a footnote: If your original exhaust is blue it is a Grundy System and I think the Peco System is Black, the Peco has the adjustable Y piece.

[Pete Boole]

Personally I'm not surprised to hear your story. Whenever I have to send anything back to SJ's because it doesn't fit I'm always informed that I'm the ONLY one to have had problems with that part!!

Pete

[Johnwindwood]

I'm going to leap in here and say that although SJ have not been perfect in their parts supply to me, they are CONSIDERABLY better than a certain .....bits whom I have also used.

[richardw]

A quick word about noise - this isn’t SJ’s fault, all stainless systems tend to be noisier than their mild steel equivalents.

Cheers, Richard

[TAR]

Steve is a character who polarises opinion. I have to say that I've never had a problem with returning stuff and in one instance a replacement arrived before I had even returned an item.

I've also had good free advice from him in the past.

I guess there will always be things that don't go well and it sounds like you hit a bad day!

[Hawaiis0]

Dont forget to post when a deal goes sweet

[Woogiebloke]

Really interested to read this - as I also found my “original” front pipe to be longer than the stainless replacement, also buying the complete system didn’t help! (Probably 17 years ago) Reversed centre box and lightly modified the rear for clearance back then. (Convinced that Lotus welded in the flex joint last)
Just replaced same with a new unit from SJ’s - exactly as the previous one. (Pretty consistent over nearly 2 decades)
I have learned that many original parts were “fettled” to fit, so trying to sell aftermarket spares isn’t always straightforward and not the experience many expect. (Right or wrong)
On balance, I couldn’t have kept my Excel for 20 years without SJ sportscars or guys on this forum willing to source spares for very little profit, once originals become unavailable. You live & learn that it can be frustrating - but a lot better than the alternative.
P.S If anyone wants a late front pipe with a clamp on flex joint & U/S hotbox for nothing - just shout.

[igg-hiss]

Motorsport dealers sell stainless extension pieces, a quick search showed up one for £6 it takes me 10 mins to set up the welder for stainless (wire change etc), and 10 mins tops to seam up the extension piece and 10 mins to set the welder back up for mild steel. Gosh I wish I could bash that work out for £150.

I know I work on every day cars but the exhausts that fit are the exception and not the rule. I neither get chargeable time nor a rebate for the additional work to get them fit. Every day exhaust components are admittedly cheaper than SJs but they are mild steel not stainless and SJs prices seem fair, truth be told many of the good exhaust builders have stopped producing as the consumer is only focused on price and then those that still produce rely on the garage to fettle the fit. Maybe Mr John Windwood would relate how much he paid to have a whole stainless exhaust system made for his excel recently and then we can compare that to £150 per inch?

[bash]

There were many slight variations of the exhaust over the years so Im not surprised that some fettling is required. It could be worse, we had a renault megane for a while, even the dealers struggled to match parts, they appeared to switch suppliers many times thro a production run. My favourite was the 4th attempt was right for a driveshaft for a 1.9 d 6 speed, bloody useless.
Bash

[Crowman30]

Hi again,
I am just posting this reply to clarify: Things in life are rarely straight forward, so I do not get frustrated when they do not.
What I objected to was the bad attitude and rudeness that I received from S J Sportscars. I had just spent £1000+ with them for a complete exhaust system and dealt with two clones of Basil Fawlty, with one of them having a nervous break down. The reviews do not lie. I chose not to give them a bad review as I felt he was having a bad enough time already.
I did expect the exhaust to be noisier as having owned a Mk1 MR2 which I had a stainless exhaust fitted to it, I am aware of the difference.
The new exhaust on the Excel is considerably louder, however I will learn to live with it and turn the stereo up a bit.
I am not saying that I will not use S J Sportscars again, but they will not be my first choice and I will happily pay a few quid more if I can get the same part elsewhere.
Don.

[DavidOliver]

Over the last eight years I have bought most of my Excel parts from SJS and have always had good service, and have never needed to return parts.
I consider we are very lucky to have SJS as a single supplier of most Excel parts, and at prices that are reasonable bearing in mind the stock required to be carried to offer such a comprehensive supply. The only alternative is Paul Matty whose prices I believe are quite different.

Dave the cog.

[KevW]

I'm one of those who has had nothing but good service over the years from SJ and especially Lotusbits. Having said that I can see where Don is coming from re his recent unfortunate experience