Cat or no Cat

Hi I have a beautiful 1991 1:6 V Special Eunos in BRG.
I am considering fitting a stainless exaust and because of the cars age I can legally take off the Cat and replace it with a stainless pipe.
I’m worried that it might be too loud ! Has anyone advice in this area ?
Are there any advantages or disadvantages?
I’m a retired bloke in my late sixties that doesn’t want to wake up the neighbors but I do want improve the exaust sound.
John

It will be loud. I have a decatted IL stainless steel exhaust with an SS bypass pipe as part of a recent rebuild and frankly, it’s overbearing and not worth the alleged 2/3bhp “advantage”
Mine is an 1840cc Auto, and on full bore kickdown it’s like all Hell has let loose.
So much so I’m getting a used CAT soon. The OEM one was knacked.
I’d go as far as saying it’s unscociable & chavvy.
My wife’s 2002 Sport is fine with the same system, and of course she has to retain the CAT.
With hers, it’s just a nice background baritone subdued rumble, and goes “ripping cloth” past 4/5k rpm. Sounds like a sports car should.
What you can expect…but I think this guys GoPro makes it louder than it is.

Cobalt.

Thanks for the info and the advise, I’ve sort of heard what exactly said.
As a matter of interest my V Special was an Auto until last year and I had MX5 Heaven do a manual gearbox conversion and that alone has made the car sound more like a sports car.
Incidentally I’ve noticed that MX5 Parts do a silenced decat !
Did the emissions alter much when you took the cat off ?

The so called " silenced" decat is what I have.
About as silent as a Apache chopper letting loose a chain gun.
My local MOT stations computah he say “Pass”. :wink: :wink:
Year after year.
Don’t forget, our Nox tests are based on different ratings.
If your MOT guys don’t know this they ought to bone up on it…

Thanks again for your info and wise words.
I think I will give up on the idea of taking the Cat off, but will fit a new stainless exaust.

Hi
Not sure if this will be of any help, but I think Moss Europe do a Cobalt exhaust back box /system for the MK1 , quite a few members have the Cobalt fitted with good reviews.
They sound pretty damn good, are well made , and cost around £220 ish .
I have one fitted to my MK3 and I am very pleased with it, doesn’t sound too loud, sounds like a sports car should sound, and I found that after a few hundred miles, the sound became slightly more muted and deeper, but in a good way.
Might be worth considering or asking for more member info, they have various sports car sections in the menu including all the Mazda models .( Moss Europe / Cobalt )

Boz

I had the Mk1 version of the Cobalt exhaust for about a year and it lived up to its reputation of being about the most civilised of the off-the-shelf larger exhausts. (2.25", I think?) Fit and finish were excellent. In the end I sold it on and went back to a standard Mazda exhaust. It is of course entirely subjective and I discovered what I really wanted was a quiet exhaust.