Last modified ages ago

The exhaust finally dies and boy is it noisy

I have owned the car since August 98 and the only 'real' mod I have done is to put a Mongoose stainless steel exhaust on with the previous owners K/N filter. The exhaust was bought as a replacement for the standard Toyota system that had eventually cried enough!! and given up the fight to remain intact. The small u-bend pipe that connected the silencer to the main exhaust pipe had fractured then succumbed to gravity and fallen onto the road. Problem was that it was a Bank Holiday Sunday and I was north of Inveraray which is about 70 miles away from home driving an MR2 that in effect had no silencer. Anybody who has driven or been in one of these cars will tell you that the engine sitting about 12 inches behind your napper does make some noise but the rage that happens when you lose the exhaust is just unbelievable. I can only liken it to sitting beside a Spitfire engine while someone revs it!!

Now I like a bit of exhaust note but this thing was actually painful on the ears and I still had to get it home. The road to Glasgow from Inveraray is really good cause there are plenty of places to overtake slower traffic down the Loch sides so some fun was there to be had. I almost didn't have to use indicators because when I put my foot down to overtake someone the noise was just amazing and down the valleys it must have sounded like the fireballs of hell coming up fast from behind. Still after 25 miles or so it was getting really painful and the benefits of getting in front of the queue had to weighed up with the aural assault the ears would take in the process. Right, lets get serious for a moment thought I.

• what speed in 5th is the least painful?
• is the traffic in front at that speed or does matching their speed increase the noise?

After some scientific research on the matter I overtook everyone whose speed made it painful to sit behind on account of engine revs / accoustics. Why does nobody belive me? Ok so it was fun to blast past everyone sounding like a banshee in a hurry and never had I had so much fun running the car from about 4k in third to just past the 7k mark. Glorious noise.

So anyway I get back to Glasgow where I have to drop my now deaf passenger off on the South Side before driving back through the town to get to my flat in the north of the city. This was the most painful part of the journey because every set of traffic lights required me to slow down and then accelerate away to get back up to speed. No matter how gently I pressed the loud pedal it was really loud and a bit embarrassing to be honest. How do people drive cars like that all the time? beats me. On the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday the Mongoose had been ordered and on the Thursday it was fitted to the car. Now this exhaust does sound louder but only when you press the gas pedal otherwise it sounds good - not noisy but it lets you know it's not a standard beer tin exhaust from Mr T. Love it.