There is usually a bracket welded onto the downpipe Tom that bolts to the bellhousing - worth checking that is intact as well. If it's broken off the downpipes, it usually leaves a hole which although small knocks a big hole in your fuel economy, smoothness and power.

If you can't shift the front box and the downpipes bracket has broken, you may be better off fitting the back half as far as you can then taking it to a a place where they offer a quick repair to get a new set of downpipes and the front box fitted and connected to the back end.

Just seen your edit - well done on shifting that lot! Looking at how the middle pipe attaches to the front box, you can buy lengths of straight pipe relatively cheaply - if it's simply a straight piece of pipe that's longer than standard, measure the outside of the new pipe, get a length of straight pipe with an inside diameter the same as the outside diameter of the middle section, cut the pipe on the middle section and fit the new bit of extra pipe over it, clamp the ends with exhaust clamps (make sure you slit the ends of the extension piece with a hacksaw or similar) and job done.

An alternative would be to fit the extension piece straight onto the outlet of the new front box then cut the middle section so the extension can slide over it then be clamped - a bit neater and stronger as there is only one eextra joint rather than two.

Looking at what you've taken off, it looks like your middle box will be a VO115K which appears to be 54mm or 2 1/8" along its main length of pipe. That means if you get a piece of 2 1/4" pipe you can cut it to length and fit it using one of those methods. Looking at the diagram i have here, it appears there is a set in the pipe at the end that goes onto the front box so you may have to fit the extension piece behind this. ;) :D

Thanks for all the info Dave! I haven't really looked at the downpipe apart from a cursory glance, so will have a closer look over the next couple of days, from what i've seen so far it looks pretty good, and is firmly fixed (as in not wobbly).

You're welcome Tom - done a bit of digging and found these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exhaust-P...r/221384284843

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MCUAA...jj/s-l1600.jpg

You'll need two of them, one for each end of the join but saves a lot of faffing about with U clamps and slitting the ends of the pipe. Also depending how much you need to extend the pipe by, you might be able to find a pre-cut length of 54mm O/D pipe :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Exhaust-R...s/311788207906

Use the drop-down to find the length you need after measuring the shortfall. Using the sleeves and a straight bit of the right size pipe (54mm) means you can just cut the new bit of pipe on the front of the new middle box, de-burr, slide the sleeves onto the new bit of 54mm pipe, put the pipe in place and slide the sleeves into place, tightening the clamp bolts (one each end) EVENLY (if you don't do it evenly, the sleeve buckles resulting in a leak) and job done except re-tighten the clamp bolts once you've got the exhaust hot. ;) :D

Dave, you sir are a genius, this is exactly what im going to do!

The Morbidmobile is already the talk of Yeovil, Tom-I stopped into National Tyres today to have them pop a new valve into one of my wheels (I somehow put a hole in it when refitting a wheel trim!!) and the Tech who did the work, who has put a tyres on my various Volvos in the past said “you’ll never guess what’s parked up near my place...a 740 hearse! If that’s not the coolest thing on the road in Yeovil I don’t know what is!”

I told him the story of your mission to Penrith to collect it, and he responded with the usual comments about a 740 getting you anywhere on the planet providing there’s fuel in the tank!

Ha! You'd be surprised by the amount of people that come up and talk to you about it, especially when putting fuel in (a frequent occurence atm...), or parking somewhere (which can be a challenge at times!).

New exhaust arrived today, at last! Even better, it doesn't seem to be a cheap knock off quality, it appears to be quite solid and decent - but then what do I know about exhaust quality (not very much)! However, they missed off the delivery half the rubber hangers and the bolts and nuts for the front silencer-downpipe union. I'll ahve to get some bolts and luckily a couple of the old rubber mounts looked OK, so re-used them for now.

https://i.imgur.com/pDSHwrEh.jpg

So in the quickly fading light, I've loosely fitted the tailpipe, rear silencer, over-axle link pipe and centre silencer. I offered up the front silencer, but no bolts/nuts were supplied so guesstimated as best I could that I need a 700mm extension pipe in between the front and middle silencers. Parts ordered just now, and I splashed out on quick postage in the hope that it'll all be finished Friday evening! I don't really like leaving the car on the ramps for so long, especially as the fat tyres overhang them on both sides! But imagine the horrendous noise a redblock would make with NO silencers on...

By the time i'd done, it was too dark to take nay decent photo's so you'll all just have to wait!

https://i.imgur.com/F2Xa9L6h.jpg

That looks suspiciously like a Euroflo exhaust Tom?

They're not bad but they are cheap and often cheaply made - not so much with the materials, more the workmanship at the factory sadly. Just means sometimes they need a bit of fettling to fit properly.

In a way you're lucky as whatever exhaust you got would need fettling because your car is a bit longer than the exhaust was designed for. As such you probably won't notice much difference!

Nice to see you've got the downpipes as well - hope you've made some WMP? You'll probably need it for the flange nuts where the downpipe bolts onto the manifold. ;) :D

WMP = weapon of mass penetration? :shocked: What is this mystical thing?

In seriousness i dont plan on doing the downpipe until it needs doing, i didnt get the chance this evening to look at the existing one, so still need to inspect that. Im hoping it'll keep trucking for a while though!

It's a 50/50 mix of acetone and synthetic ATF and yes, Weapon of Mass Penetration.

Mix it together, give it a really good shake before each use then squirt/spray or even dribble it on to the fasteners, go and have a cup of tea/coffee or whatever, come back and undo said fastener.

If it could cope with the turbo flange bolts on a 20 year old, generally rusty 820 Vitesse and make them come off as if only just put on there and countless other similar fasteners with the same results including the cat bolts on the same car as the turbo for another example, it should shift the downpipe nuts.

I understand you are getting sick of the sight of the underside of your car but if you can do the downpipes now, rather than later you will reap the benefits in the long run. ;) :D

Sounds like wonder fluid! I'll have a go then. Where does one get acetone?