Bums. Catalytic Convertor Just Collapsed

[Mr_Belowski]

Bugger. Just as I was singing the praises of my little toy it's gone and died on me. Driving down into Glossop there was an almighty hissing noise and no power. Switched it off straight away and coasted to the pub thinking about some catastrophic head gasket failure.

 

But no. The hissing was from the exhaust, with smoke coming out of one pipe but not the other. The AA man said not to worry, it was just an exhaust leak, but luckily my smart girlfriend insisted I take him for a ride to show him how it sounded. "Woah" he said, "that's serious. Turn it off". It sounded like it had some massive turbo charger. Bloody good job I showed him, cos I was all set to drive on to Manchester assuming it wasn't serious. Ended up getting relayed home.

 

So I took it to Kwik Fit this morning (yeah, I know, but all I needed was a ramp and a friendly fitter who wanted to poke around a lotus). We had a poke around underneath and it don't look good. Kwik fit were actually very good indeed. They were careful and helpful, sympathetic ( ) and refused to let me pay a penny for the hour the car was in there.

 

The cat's a rattley box of crap and you can see bits of silencer baffles floating around when you shine a torch into the exhaust pipes - I pulled one out (never seen one before - it was a 2 inch wide band of braided metallic stuff). The braided pipe joining the down pipe to the cat pipe is in a right state and probably leaking. I described what I saw and heard to Chris Foulds and he wasn't hopeful. He said it's going to need a new cat and back box (obviously), probably a down pipe and what ever else has been screwed by the pressure build up.

 

Trouble is, it was a bit hissy all the way over the Snake and didn't seem quite as fast. Like an idiot I didn't think much of it so I hope I've not done some terrible damage. The car was getting more rattley too - my girlfriend said she could hear a new noise and it's been growling at 2000 revs for ages. Probably loose bits of crap rattling around in the exhaust.

 

Anyways, the whole job is going to cost the best part of a grand for an after market cat, full janspeed exhaust, down pipe, getting the car to Huddersfield, and all the other bits of crap that'll need doing. Today I am mostly p!ssed off. But not entirely so, because I need to leave room for being poor and late for work

[darren5591]

if you dont have a decent exhaust sound its a good reason to get one, hope you get it fixed

[Paul_C]

when I read the topic I thought you meant that your furry thing with four legs was poorly!!!

 

still, youve now got an excuse for a full Larini including a 4 branch!!!

[Mr_Belowski]

Nah mate, just spent nearly £800 on c service and various other bits. It's the cheap option, I'm afraid. If it were up to me I'd take the whole thing to bits, pull out the loose stuff, patch it up with gum-gum, gaffer tape and zip ties and screw it back together . Thankfully it's not up to me - I don't have tools and a ramp and fortunately neither Kwik Fit nor Chris F are willing to bodge it. Which is probably for the best

[Steve J]

What exhaust have you got. If it's a ss sports one (Janspeed etc) they have a lifetime warantee on them !!

 

Flexi section does split but can replace with an Elise parts one.

 

Why do you need a Cat? Get a Cat replacement pipe off ebay for £20. At MOT time take it to Horizon as they have a permanent Cat available for MOTs.

 

You don't need to spend a fortune to get the car back on the road.

 

[Mr_Belowski]

Though the VVC engines ran like dogs with no cat?

 

Dunno what's on it at the mo and I don't have a recipt for it either but the box has probably been shagged by the contents of the cat smashing into it. The quote was £280 for a janspeed, just over 200 for the cat (which seemed v cheap to me), the down pipe and flexi section was about 100 then 3 hours labour and other bits n pieces as required. For an extra £200 I'd rather have a permenant cat

[GYG]

Mourning.

 

Would a std S1 cat be usable on your 111s?

[Mr_Belowski]

A standard cat would be fine, but I think the cat is part of the fix that I've made my mind up on. The seloc peeps are suggesting either go the whole hog and get a 4-2-1 manifold and full ss system, or do it on the cheap with a second hand bog standard exhaust and CRP. I'm somewhere in the middle at the moment with a new everything except the manifold

[Martin R]

Ive got a standard S1 111s exhaust blocking my garage if it will get you out the poo

[Mr_Belowski]

I've been looking at my finances, and I reckon, as I've just been paid, I'll get a fancy one fitted. I'll only end up doing it later. Thanks for the offer tho

[Mark H]

111s runs fine without a cat, didnt have one on my old car.

[dobbo]

I've got an Eliseparts flexicat for sale if you're interested as part of your new system - it's only done 500 miles before I took it off and put a CRP on again !

 

Chris

[Paul_C]

now you've change the thread title my 1st post don't make sense

[Mr_Belowski]

heh, sorry paul

 

Ta for the offer Chris but one's already been ordered

[Mr_Belowski]

Well, a sh!t load of money later, I got a new Janspeed stainless steel exhaust (the new version), new cat and new (stainless) downpipe. And it's flippin great. Virtually all my rattles have vanished, the car is tons smoother to drive, and sounds brill. So I'm a happy bunny. Maybe a little skint, but happy

 

The new Janspeed is a lot more civilised than I was expecting. It's only when you floor it that it makes a racket. I'll have to wait till it beds in (how long does it take to bed in a new exhaust?) to make final judgement on the noise, but it's nice to have the noise when you want it, but not have it pound your ears all the time