PCS De-Cat Pipe For C43

[bo_duke]

Just heard Olly is out of stock

 

[R120]

I am having one done at Longlife in Carshalton on Wednesday - will report back once done

 

[bo_duke]

Please!

 

[Justin1600]

Any good exhaust fabricator can do one mate, had mine done by a Powerflow dealer and was spot on

 

[bo_duke]

Was a bit worried that a one off unit would be an unknown quantity noise-wise (worried about motorway drone), but have heard only good things about the PCS pipe. Recommendations much appreciated though - in case no one comes through with a used PCS pipe. Have you been happy with yours? Which agent did you use?

 

[R120]

I too was after one of the PCS pipes, but as you know they are out of them - I know a few people who have had good work done by Longlife at Carshalton, hence why I am going there, and I think they use a higher grade of steel than Powerflow.

However with the bigger brands the quality of work varies massively between branches.

Will do a review once I get it done

 

[Sp!ke]

Also interested here. Specifically whether it can be put back to standard again without too much trouble should MOT's become an issue.

 

[BaldGuy]

Is it just CAT removal or centre box removal as well on the MOT as my X5 just went through the MOT with the centre box removed.... CATS untouched...

 

[Sp!ke]

Actually Cat removal is now an MOT failure for sure.

People may have got lucky this MOT time but next year and thereafter, they may not be so lucky.

See relevent page of MOT testers manual below.

 

[BTB 500]

The decat pipe replaces both the secondary cats and centre muffler.

There's no problem whatsoever with removal of the centre muffler (I had mine taken out by Longlife just over 5 years ago). This only made a small difference in noise on my R129 - I'm waiting to see what the situation is re. secondary cats once the new MOT regs. have 'bedded in'.

 

[C240Sport97]

I removed the center silencer from my CLS55 .. makes a noticeable difference.

a fellow CLS55 owner (donshl) on the forum came to listen to it in motion, and agrees it's worth the bother ...

 

[BTB 500]

Actually Cat removal is now an MOT failure for sure.

People may have got lucky this MOT time but next year and thereafter, they may not be so lucky.

Obviously a complete decat would be a fail. But I suspect that so long as there are still *some* cats there and the emissions test is passed then it will be OK. Otherwise they'd need a detailed exhaust system diagram for every variant of every car since the 90s to check exactly what should be there ... and I don't see that happening? With some cars like Evos and Imprezas there must have been all sorts of permutations depending on the precise version and options (factory/importer/dealer).

But ... I'm still waiting to see how it pans out in practice before having my SL done.

 

[Sp!ke]

It does clearly say "a catalytic converter missing" so removal of just one would be a fail. In that it is crystal.

They will likely have a table which tells them how many the car should have according to model and year.

 

[BTB 500]

I removed the center silencer from my CLS55 .. makes a noticeable difference.

a fellow CLS55 owner (donshl) on the forum came to listen to it in motion, and agrees it's worth the bother ...

It was worthwhile on my SL too, but although you can hear the difference it's not that great. FWIW Longlife told me that M-B back boxes are more effective than the ones fitted to many other makes.

 

[jaymanek]

There is no such table that im aware of... I wouldnt worry too much about the MOT, as long as there is a cat or something resembling a cat, it will pass.

 

[lxi]

Actually Cat removal is now an MOT failure for sure.

People may have got lucky this MOT time but next year and thereafter, they may not be so lucky.

See relevent page of MOT testers manual below.

It states to check for presence of "the catalytic converter" - singular. It would then be a logical fail if there was no catalytic converter where one was fitted.

If the car originally had two cats but one removed, then visual inspection will reveal the catalytic converter is present so no fail.

It would be too ridiculous even for the bureaucrats to fail based on an emissions pass and a catalytic converter present just because a superfluous unit had been removed

 

[Sp!ke]

Whilst I agree that this may be a stupid bit of legislation, but it does clearly say the following;

Reason for rejection - a catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard.

You can dance around the wording as much as you like but the way I see it is that you would have no right to appeal should it be failed due to having had a decat. Yes, many MOT inspectors may pass it this year... but what about next year and the year after when VOSA start driving the point home?

 

[BTB 500]

I still don't think it can work that way as they will have no way of knowing exactly how the exhaust system was originally configured on every car sold (or imported ...) in the last 20 years.

 

[Sp!ke]

I still don't think it can work that way as they will have no way of knowing exactly how the exhaust system was originally configured on every car sold in the last 20 years.

Autodata will tell you.

 

[BTB 500]

Autodata surely has no legal standing though.