Knackered exhaust power loss

[simonkn8574]

Hi there.
Anyone reading the oom12 thread will know about my rattling 'engine'.
Well after a morning under the truck I can definitely say the rattle is coming from the exhaust cat. Well one of them, think it's the vertical one but might be both!

Good news as it means I only need an oom12 kit to sort the start up rattle and poor idle.

But I was wondering what sort of power loss you get from a blowing exhaust (its doing this too from a couple of areas.) combined with a clanging/rattling cat. And will the loss of back pressure cause the auto box to change up/down early? Because that's what seems to be happening. Not a great deal of actual power loss, just quick to move up a gear and lose out on the power of the previous lower gear.

And the other question is what's the availability of explore exhausts? Can I rock up to any exhaust place and get one? Then there's the cost??

Any advice would be gratefully received..
Regards

Sk

 

[fingers21]

The backbox is £120 to me through the trade and goes the full length of the car, joins straight to the cats. I've never found anywhere that keeps them in stock, but most should be able to get one easy enough, but as most garages do, they'll whack a hefty mark up onto it and charge a packet to fit it.

Cats are readily available new on ebay for between £80 and £120 depending which one you need.

The entire exhaust system is really easy to fit DIY, so I would think twice about having a garage fit it.

As for power loss, it could quite possibly happen with a bad exhaust, if the cat is that shot, it could also be starting to break up inside, causing a blockage. Anything after the cats, I would say not, because when my exhaust fell off, I drove it home without and still had all its power, but was what you might call noisey!

 

[simonkn8574]

As for power loss, it could quite possibly happen with a bad exhaust, if the cat is that shot, it could also be starting to break up inside, causing a blockage.

Now that's what i've ben thinking. It has been making enough of a racket to make me think it was the timing chains so it probably HAS blocked up somewhere!
ok, so up to £250 for a full setup then.... What's it like getting up to the manifold bolts? They look a long way up and difficult to get to.

Cheers

SK

 

[fingers21]

Manifold bolts weren't really a problem, but it depends on the tools you have available to you. I own my own garage, so have all the tools to do the jobs with ease.

 

[simonkn8574]

Ahh, I've got a good set of tools. Just dunno how to use 'em!!

OK, stupid question.

How many parts does the exhaust come in? Ebays got back boxes and cats, but the cat unit looks to only have the vertical cat. Mine has two, both vertical and horizontal. What else am I going to need?

Cheers

Sk

 

[Stenasev]

Ahh, I've got a good set of tools. Just dunno how to use 'em!!

OK, stupid question.

How many parts does the exhaust come in? Ebays got back boxes and cats, but the cat unit looks to only have the vertical cat. Mine has two, both vertical and horizontal. What else am I going to need?

Cheers

Sk

Cats are supplied seperately. The rest all comes in one piece.

The first cat bolts to the second one and the second one bolts to the back box.

SS

 

[simonkn8574]

cool cheers for that!

local exhaust specialist reckons its the horizontal cat that's "rattling like a bugger" so will get that bit first!

Cheers
SK

 

[janolsson]

If you plan on doing this yourself then i would advise getting a new U bracket and spraying all the nuts with a good quality penetrant (not just wd40) for a couple of days. The nuts for the manifold to cat union can be reached from underneath with a couple of extensions and you will need a breaker bar to get the leverage to undo them. If funds are tight you could just gut the cat or once you have taken it off take it to a scrap metal yard and they will give you some folding stuff in return.