Aftermarket exhausts - legal?

[wendyg]

Talking to hubby last night, I mentioned how excited I was getting about the imminent arrival of the Larini exhaust I had ordered for the Liz (111s 2004) I also said that I was thinking about getting my brother-in-law to fit it, if he has the time, as feedback on PH has said its a pretty basic job. (Still not one for me though, but I would plan to help).

He came up with a list of objections, which I think I defended accurately, but he has planted seeds of doubt, so I want to check this out.

(Just a small point, much of his point of view is based on the rules for bikes, which I think are quite different - correct me if I'm wrong.)

1/ The Larini (and the Janspeed, and Magnex etc. etc.) are all road legal exhaust systems, not illegal race systems.
2/ When it comes to MOT time (in 3 years) these exhaust systems will still comply with UK regs (i.e. no 'whip the exhaust off, stick the original on, put it through the MOT, and pop the sports can back on')
3/ OR 'We fitted that sports exhaust, so we'll ignore it on MOT'

4/Fitting a sports exhaust will invalidate the warranty for the entire car.
5/ Having an exhaust fitted by a non-Lotus engineer will invalidate the entire warranty. (I consider my brother-in-law to be sufficiently competant to do this work. If he can be chief engineer for TVR Racing for three years, I'm fairly sure he can install an exhaust.
6/ Your insurance will refuse to cover you- actually I haven't checked this out yet, but still!

Any advice.....

[B19GRR]

1 - True, all road legal

2 - True, the exhaust back box has nothing to do with emissions control AFAIK. You're hubby is thinking about a CAT replacement pipe.

3 - It's always nice to find a tame MOT station just in case

4 - FALSE it will only invalidate the cover on the exhaust back box, if that's even covered by the warranty.

5 - FALSE, just plain false

6 - TRUE/FALSE - True if you don't notofy them about fitting the exhaust, false if you have done. The usual exhaust is to say you're fitting a stainless steel exhaust as the original one has rusted out. Try and avoid mention of performance gains!!

Enjoy the Larini, they're great exhausts.

Cheers,
Rob

[S Works]

B19GRR said:

4 - FALSE it will only invalidate the cover on the exhaust back box, if that's even covered by the warranty. Really? Companies can be funny like this - I'd check to be 100% sure unless someone on here can verify they've done it already and it's not a problem. Even then I'd be of a mind to get it from the horses mouth anyway for peace of mind. 5 - FALSE, just plain false Comment as above. 6 - TRUE/FALSE - True if you don't notofy them about fitting the exhaust, false if you have done. The usual exhaust is to say you're fitting a stainless steel exhaust as the original one has rusted out. Try and avoid mention of performance gains!! Take care here - definately tell them, depending on who it is they will hopefully only require you to fill out a modification declaration rather than increase your policy as the perfomance gains from a back box are fairly minimal (5-8bhp if what I've read previously is to be believed). Ring and ask a 'speculative' question to the insurer, you don't have to tell them who you are, just make a wolly-worded "if I bought an S2 and then fitted this, what would the increase in the policy be" enquiry and see what they say.

Best of luck! Tim

[marcfair]

yup, i'd agree with the above from s works

Insurance companys are a funny lot, i checked this out with my insurace company and i'd have to inform them of any changes

[DanH]

There is no way lotus can remove your warranty for fitting aftermarket products etc. unless they can prove it has caused the problem you then want to claim for. Can't think of any probs an exhaust would cause unless it was fouling a clam and melted it or something.

Its common sense on this one.

[B19GRR]

DanH said:

There is no way lotus can remove your warranty for fitting aftermarket products etc. unless they can prove it has caused the problem you then want to claim for. Can't think of any probs an exhaust would cause unless it was fouling a clam and melted it or something. Its common sense on this one.

Exactly. I asked my dealer when they fitted a crappy JanSpeed to mine what the deal was and the responce was exactly that - common sense.

Cheers,
Rob

[gadgeroonie]

i've got a stainless steel Bel and Colvill one on my Super 160

its quite raspy - you get lots of looks !!

but its great fun

I'm tempted to go for a decat pipe too

has anyone got one fitted ?

[TVR Slag's Bil]

I hope you dont mind me jumping in, I am from the Cerbera clan of people!

I have a Sports system with twin de-cat and it is loud! Been pulled over twice, never a word said about the volume of the cans, and I have never had trouble getting it through the MOT!

here is a clip:

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/Hartrup/TVR.mpg

right click and 'save as' 3.08MB

no animals were harmed during the making of this movie. All speeds are well within the NSL and if it looks quicker its a camera trick. The volume of the exhaust is well within legal limits and any volume over this limit was acheived with mirrors.