decat pipe; legality and implications?

[humbucker]

just a quick one here, stupid question probably...

i've seen a number of cars fitted with a decat pipe and see them advertised frequently, however, i'm led to believe that removing a cat is an MOT failure, so can someone clarify what's going on here?! i've probably got the wrong end of the stick but i can't see how all these cars with decat pipes are driving around if they have no MOT?!!!

[piercedrab]

personaly im running a decat pipe but will have to put my cat on for the mot any vehicle manufactured after 1992 legaly has to have a cat but it is a chace we take to remove it i am aware of a few cars that have passed the mot without a cat not sure if it was the tester not noticing it or they had a dummy box on as i was planning on doing that by cuting the old cat box up striping it and welding it on to look like there was a cat there but was to much hastle so never bothered regarding implications when i had my escort i had a decat pipe and got stoped by the police and was given 21 days to fit one or the car would be ceased and i would be given points for no mot as the car as it stood would not pass a mot i had to put a cat on the car and get the garage to sign the ticket with details of work done

[Gaz]

if the engine is pre 92 you can run without, but if it passes an emissions test its legal but if it cant its not.

My cav passed the non cat test but wouldn't pass the cat test if it had to.

[piercedrab]

if the engine is pre 92 you can run without, but if it passes an emissions test its legal but if it cant its not.

My cav passed the non cat test but wouldn't pass the cat test if it had to.

so if you put a pre 92 engine in a 93 onwards car you dont need a cat or have i picked that up wront

[Gaz]

thats right.

[sierrapaul]

i took my cat off my k plate sri and smashed the cuts out of it and put it back on empty.and shes passed the cat test on the mot for the past 3 years since i done it

[planetc]

i took my cat off my k plate sri and smashed the cuts out of it and put it back on empty.and shes passed the cat test on the mot for the past 3 years since i done it

Tell us where you get your mot's done, lol

[humbucker]

i read that in germany it is law for ALL cars to have cats irrespective of date of manufacture which is why there are so many bargains to be had in the classic car market; the cost of cat and fitting can be very expensive which makes older cars less desirable when the cost of work could be equal to a huge percentage of the vehicle's value. BUT you can go pick a motor up over there cheap then bring it back here and drive it no bother, providing you dont mind a leftie hehehe!

[Murph]

Any car pre 95 CAN be tested as a non cat vehicle if the tester *ahem* "can't find the engine number for verification" but you need a good tester who's willing to do it.
Most of them are bloody jobsworths, as I'm sure you know.

Any car with a pre 92 engine can also be tested as non-cat as long as you can prove the age of the engine. I take a copy of the logbook from the donor car that my engine came from.

[Murph]

A good friend of mine from Bexhill drives up to a place in SE London to get his MOT's done as a mate of ours is the tester there.
He's also a Vauxhall man - the only one I will let test my Carlton.
One mate of ours comes from Didcot to get his Carltons tested there.

[jacko-lah]

Post 93, you don't have to have a cat, but you do have to pass the emissions test, unless you can prove the engine is from a Pre 93 car.

My experience of this is that my 2nd mk3 astra passed the mot and then the cat failed, so I took it off and removed the ceramic with a pole. I ran it for 11 months with a 'cat free cat box' and then failed the MOT by a smiggin. a Knats bollock. but the tester was adament. I had to buy a new cat. it passed with flying colours. I told a mate and he suggested somewhere it would have passed wink wink nudge nudge. It was too late. I'd forked out £80.

[iangsi]

What's the place in SE London then ? mite need somewhere new to get mine tested soon.

[Murph]

Premier Autos in Blackfen.
They are a Hyundai dealer and not the cheapest for MOT's but as I said - I trust the tester.

[Hayward691]

asked my dad (Vaux MOT tester) and K (93) or before are alowed to be cat free...
although if you get chumy with the tester some of them often stick the probe up a different exhaust
im running a straight through manifold back and have had Zero problems!!!!
Mine passes the Cat emissions test without one