Legality of a “straight pipe” exhaust…

Scania

Scania

Scania

Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
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On the road....
The back box on my 2006 Volvo V70 D5 decided it didn’t need to stay attached to my car on the way to work earlier, it fell off at speed on a country road, despite spinning around to have a look, I could find no trace of it.

No big problem, I thought - have a look on Euro Car Parts and get a new back box / rear silencer and with the help of a neighbour with a welder (if required) get it swapped over…

Looking on ECP the cheapest back box is a mere £344(!)

Given the car actually sounds no louder without the back box / silencer than it did with it, I’m wondering about just putting a straight pipe section on it as suggested by one of the technicians at my local truck dealer I was attending earlier today, he said it would cost way less especially considering I’m not planning on keeping the car much longer…

He said so long as it isn’t excessively loud, I’ll have no problem with regards to the MOT (not that hopefully I’ll still have the car 10 months from now)

What’s the legality of doing this? From a relatively brief search it seems noise levels are the only issue and like I say, bizarrely, even with the rear silencer missing, the car is no louder at all…

I’m assuming because it’s a turbo diesel and the turbo itself acts as a pretty good silencer - which certainly seems to be the case!

Thoughts? :)
 
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Gone for it! :D

Just returned from my local tyre / exhaust shop, job done, he didn’t even charge me (although I’m a regular and am returning tomorrow for a couple of tyres for my Fiancée’s Fiesta)

Weirdly it sounds great, a lovely 5 pot warble. :)
 
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Generally you'll be fine unless the car is obnoxiously loud or had its cats removed.
My Mustang has no centre silencer any more. I guess it must have fallen off and a piece of straight pipe welded itself in to the exact spot where it was while I was driving along.
 
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If it sounds similar there's a chance there was already a hole blown and the silencer was effectively bypassed anyway.
 
kaku said:
If it sounds similar there's a chance there was already a hole blown and the silencer was effectively bypassed anyway.
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s last MOT had an advisory for a small hole, but I can’t in all honesty say it sounded any louder than it has since I’ve owned it (3+ years).

It certainly sounds different now though although not in terms of volume as such…
 
Rilot said:
Generally you'll be fine unless the car is obnoxiously loud or had its cats removed.
My Mustang has no centre silencer any more. I guess it must have fallen off and a piece of straight pipe welded itself in to the exact spot where it was while I was driving along.
Click to expand...

Its not straight pipe if it still has cats now is it
 
Rilot said:
Generally you'll be fine unless the car is obnoxiously loud or had its cats removed.
My Mustang has no centre silencer any more. I guess it must have fallen off and a piece of straight pipe welded itself in to the exact spot where it was while I was driving along.
Click to expand...

Has yours got a GPF?
 
I got away with straight tube from the cats back on a Turbo V6 petrol a couple of times as it was quiet and muffled without a load on the engine. Probably helped that everyone called our tester Stevie Wonder.

Woke the bloody dead when actually in gear and pulling :D
 
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