Comfort and Noise

[John Naylor]

Bertie was the Wedding Car for some friends this weekend, travelling up to Staffordshire from Kent, over 550 mile round trip with the reception a stone's throw form Catton Hall. I treated the front seats to ESM's improved foam with new rubber diaphragms and can thoroughly recommend them as we were quite comfortable in spite of spending over 5 hours in them yesterday. For the Wedding, I removed the passenger seat which gave the Bride much better access and allowed the photographers better shots in the car. Travellers are quite small but Bertie has proved to be quite adequate to take Bride and Groom in all their gear. In the longer term, I may fit more modern seats with headrests.
Another job before departure was to replace the exhaust which looked rather tired so I removed the old Unipart system and fitted the basic steel exhaust from ESM. Bertie has never had the 'Minor f*rt' which I put down to him being too refined and spending 20 years as a Vicar's transport but he now emits the characteristic bark on the overrun. What I didn't bargain for was quite an increase in volume at 50mph+ and my wife had to resort to ear plugs when on Motorways. I intend to fully soundproof the Traveller and replace the diff, which whines at speed, but need to reduce the exhaust noise and wonder if anybody can recommend a quieter system? I believe the Marina had a 2 box system and wonder if it would be worthwhile fitting that for quietness (obviously increasing diameter and necessitating manifold change). Alternatively, does anybody know of any quieter stainless systems? Bertie is our everyday car and we do resort to a modern for longer Motorway journeys but I'd like to reduce the need for the modern by making the Traveller more comfortable at Motorway speeds.

[RobThomas]

I've just added a Mini silencer plus a short steel 90 degree bend, a rubber strap and a few bolts. Much quieter and no f4rt. Cost about £35.[frame][/frame]

PM me if you want any more details.

Rob

[greendefender123]

Hi you can get decibel reducers which bolt into the system. Normally reduce it by quite abit.

So you reccomend rebuilding the seats then for comfort then?

[ManyMinors]

I've found that replacing the worn foams and webbing in the front seats makes a huge difference to comfort
I am amazed at what some owners will put up with in terms of seats which are completely worn/broken/sagged
I also drove a friend's Minor recently with very expensive replacement seats and found that (for me anyway)they had no
support in the lower back area and were rather bulky - making access to the rear more difficult.
I am very happy with my original repaired seats although I appreciate that some will value a head restraint as a safety feature.

[greendefender123]

Thanks. More bits to order. Think its worth refurbishing them then replacing then.

[stag36587]

I agree that ESM upgraded foam is a good buy - my original seats so much better now

[amgrave]

I rebuilt my fronts using the diaphragms and stronger foam for the bases supplied by ESM and they were much improved, the poster sat in one when we met and I think that convinced him. My wife says she finds her seat a bit too firm though although being a trim 8 stone might have something to do with it. I have heard before that fitting the seats with headrests although a good safety feature reduces the room in the rear so I won't be doing that. Happy as they are

[Chipper]

I've just added a Mini silencer plus a short steel 90 degree bend, a rubber strap and a few bolts. Much quieter and no f4rt. Cost about £35.[frame][/frame]

PM me if you want any more details.

Rob

Could you show a photo from underneath, please?

I fitted a cheap (around £50, IIRC) standard bore stainless system bought from a trader at the Bromley Pageant of Motoring years ago to my 1970 Traveller, and it's reasonably quiet, still retains the overrun fart, and has lasted around 20 years now!

[RobThomas]

Did you need a shot of the whole lot or just the new add-on bits?

[John Naylor]

The mini silencer sounds (?) great. Will PM.
Thanks,
John

[Chipper]

Did you need a shot of the whole lot or just the new add-on bits?

Just the back end section would be fine, to see how it all attaches to the existing exhaust system and body.

[amgrave]

Although I would not mind a quieter ride I'm not sure I would want to lose the f*rt, every time I hear it it brings a smile

[RobThomas]

[frame][/frame]

I've used the original hole for the bracket near the left spring and at the far end of the silencer is a hole drilled in the floor that has a normal strap on it and a piece of bent steel that permits me to adjust the height of the silencer end by just bending the steel. Quick solution to a noisy exhaust.

[simmitc]

How on earth do you keep the underneath so clean?

[RobThomas]

Carnauba wax, twice a week.

[IaininTenbury]

All new Minor exhausts seem to be too noisy on the overrun. I have a couple of old Unipart ones on my cars (the sort with the crimped ends of the silencers) and they are much quieter and obviously how Minors should be - no major motor manuafacturer would have produced a car with the horrendous overrun noise you get on some systems these days. It'll be a sad day when the crimped end silencers I have finally fall apart... I replaced the one on the van with a modern one and its so bad it'll set car alarms off when you slow down for a junction - old silencer shortly to be welded into the new system I think...
On my convertible, a previous owner has fitted another (Mini?) rear silencer just in front of the back axle so leaves the tail pipe looking standard and is nice and quite. Obviously you need to cut and join to fit it like that, rather than just attach it to the tailpipe but its well out of sight.

[Chipper]

Rob, thanks for sharing your rather neat looking solution to the problem. And yes, a lovely clean underside!