Hi wonderfull peeps,

Got a little problem I wouldn't mind some helpfull advice....

My exhaust fell off, and I've got the chance of a fitting this Friday in Croydon.

I've lost everything backwards from the flexi - i.e. no boxes/pipe.

Thing is, can I drive my Sei sporting there???

It's about an hour and 15 mins from my house.

So....

1) No way - get a tow - You'll kill the ECM/engine!

2) Would it be better on the motorway - cool airflow, etc. - but stay at 50-60mph?

or

3) safer to go non-motorway and stop to let it cool down every 15 mins?


Any help would be appriecated!

Andrew

Doubt it will overheat but would be bloody noisey and I say you have little chance of not getting pulled by the police....

Personally I wouldn't run it without an exhaust - the engine'll do weird things for a start, and as Jamie said, you may find that you'll be stopped by the police and told that the exhaust exceeds the noise limit (96 dB IIRC).

when i swapped exhausts on my sei, i had to move the car without backbox and centre section, it sounded like a monster truck , it even made the windows rattle

i dont think driving it that far is even worth considering as you most probably be pulled for noise pollution and not having a roadworthy car , although if you are pulled whilst on way to fitting centre then they may let you off

i choose option 1

Your all wimps.

The same thing happened to me so I drove it with just the manifold about 40-50miles to a custom place to make me another one.

It was very loud (windows being open was not an option) and if lifting off at high revs it was spitting flames.

Keep the revs low, dont go more than 60 and it will be fine, have your broken exhaust in the car with you though so that if you get pulled explain where your going and say it just fell off on the way to somewhere else, so you phoned with your mobile and getting it sorted at this place...

if you see the old bill dont have it in gear, just coast and it will make as little as noise as possible.

Dont drive with it hanging off though as this is super dangerous as if you hit a speed bump you could pole volt the car!!!

Catseyes said:

Your all wimps.

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Nope. Just being sensible. No backbox/pipework = weird air dynamics, as the exhaust has gone from being approx 11-12 feet long (taking into account manifold piping) to 2 feet long - not good. It would do more harm than good IMO.

chaos said:

Nope. Just being sensible. No backbox/pipework = weird air dynamics, as the exhaust has gone from being approx 11-12 feet long (taking into account manifold piping) to 2 feet long - not good. It would do more harm than good IMO.

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bad fuel economy....

its only to take it to the place to get it fixed.

ya wimp

Wimp? Have you seen how close the exhaust runs to the fuel and brake lines?

There's a difference between wimp and The Human Torch.

don be a puff i'd say take manifold off thou 2 avoid meltin petrol lines when i had my exhaust off 2 change engine i loved the sound sounds like the drag cars up at pod lol

Please don't argue!! lol

I was aware about the noise/police, but I intended to put the exhaust in the car and plead 'I am going to a garage officer......'. Using innocence and the old 'can drive a car without an MOT if you are driving to a pre-booked mot garage' rule.

I just don't see how I can get a tow there and had an idea about leaving early (pushing my car out of my road ) and driving there on the M3/M25 and then it's only 10 miles on 'suburban' roads.

I knew the sensible option is a tow (thanks Gaz), but I'm thinking even if I drove to 'Fiat' or ATS they are 1/2 hour away through suburban roads. This is going to be a custom Longlife exhaust at £10 more than a 'rust in 2 years one'. It's a good oppertunity to have one - and that's why I'm torn.

The chance of being stopped can be reduced ala 'motorways'?? (and lets face it - whose got to do more than 40-50 mph on the M25 recently???), lol, but it's 'Any damage'/'driving in a manner to prevent damage' that I'm really interested in!

fixitagaintomorrow said:

Wimp? Have you seen how close the exhaust runs to the fuel and brake lines?

There's a difference between wimp and The Human Torch.

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I nearly did that trick in the Y10 fuel line split and sprayed fuel in direction of manifold/ turbo oh what fun!

fixitagaintomorrow said:

Wimp? Have you seen how close the exhaust runs to the fuel and brake lines?

There's a difference between wimp and The Human Torch.

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So (Pete) the sensible 'life prolonging' option is - forget the longlife custom exhaust (cos' it will out live me on the shelf waiting from me to turn up) ....

...and get a tow to Fiat?

matt~black said:

don be a puff i'd say take manifold off thou 2 avoid meltin petrol lines when i had my exhaust off 2 change engine i loved the sound sounds like the drag cars up at pod lol

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What so there's no exhaust at all? Doubt you'd keep it running for over an hour; that's if you get it started. There'd be a good chance of overheating I'd have thought due to the exhaust gases are coming out of the engine and into the bay, and not out from under the car.

I remember something being said on www.calverscorner.com about running with no exhaust - can't remember the exact details, but I remember getting the impression that he didn't recommend it. Maybe it'll be OK - then again it may not be.

when my zorst fell off i didnt move an inch! Just called out the breakdown recovery. Imo i would tow it to the garage-you aint got nothing to lose

chaos said:

What so there's no exhaust at all? Doubt you'd keep it running for over an hour; that's if you get it started. There'd be a good chance of overheating I'd have thought due to the exhaust gases are coming out of the engine and into the bay, and not out from under the car.

I remember something being said on www.calverscorner.com about running with no exhaust - can't remember the exact details, but I remember getting the impression that he didn't recommend it. Maybe it'll be OK - then again it may not be.

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No, the manifold, cat and flexi are all still attached. The middle and rear box bit has fallen off.

...but from what you lot are saying, driving to Croydon and that Longlife exhaust is not on. Looks like a standard one locally. Shame really.

Taffygit said:

No, the manifold, cat and flexi are all still attached. The middle and rear box bit has fallen off.

...but from what you lot are saying, driving to Croydon and that Longlife exhaust is not on. Looks like a standard one locally. Shame really.

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use your own judgement.

i did it just fine.

Taffygit said:

No, the manifold, cat and flexi are all still attached. The middle and rear box bit has fallen off.

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I was replying to matt black's post.

I have an idea - couldn't you get a 2nd hand one from say a scrappy? Shouldn't be expensive - you could then get the car down to the exhaust fitting place, get the exhaust the want and then sell the standard exhaust on.

matt~black said:

don be a puff i'd say take manifold off thou 2 avoid meltin petrol lines when i had my exhaust off 2 change engine i loved the sound sounds like the drag cars up at pod lol

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Hmm, I wouldn't really do this either. If you could get it to run, your hot exhaust would be pointing at some rubber water piping, a plastic capped radiator, various wiring, the bonnet release cable, windscreen washer pipes and the bonnet to name a few.

If it did run, you would also end up with exhaust fume coming from the bonnet and engine bay - if this were to find its way into the heater then the car would ming, quite possibly making you feel less than splendid. I'm not sure it'd even run though, the ecu wouldn't be happy either as you'd have no lambda sensor in the gas flow.

If you were going say half a mile without most of the exhaust then maybe you'd be ok.

go for it!
aslong its away from the car floor, fuel + brake lines and wires eg pointing at ground you will be ok and it will not damage anything

got sick of repairing mine at bout half 9 one night and drove it all night and next day with lots of noise and slight overheating but it was fine, bit hard to start thou i wouldnt worry bout a jouney at all, specially on long stretches with air runnin underneath at speed to cool, it all bull i no it can damage car but you can always be careful ya kno wha itll be the biggest laugh you had in sei in a while