As promised, I am reporting back with the reaction of the MOT people to my
gasket-less exhaust. Well, I gave the nuts an extra tighten before I bought
the car round - they seemed to have loosened a little since I did away with
the manifold-to-downpipe gasket. Went along for the MOT, no concern over the
exhaust at all (although I didn't exactly draw their attention to the missing
gasekt...)
Less happily, the sills are too rusty - I only got the b*&^%y things patched up
last year! Maybe I should splash out a few extra pennies this time and
actually replace the sill, rather than keep patching them up year after
year... Still, they say they will do the welding for 270 quid, ignore the VAT
if I pay cash, and I supply the sills (20 quid each plus VAT for pattern parts
from TRGB). Could be worse... no other major items, just a blown brake light
bulb, engine running a little rich so emissions are a few points over, plus
rear tyres balder than Jean-Luc Picard.
So, the message is, if you are fed up with replacing your manifold-to-downpipe
gasket - just get rid of it!
Richard and Daffy
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