exhaust tail pipe

[camperadi]

I have recently become the proud owner of a 2004 Chausson Welcome 27 on a mk6 twin wheel LWB Transit. I am wanting to replace the exhaust tail pipe. This is a non standard part that is 'S' shaped coming from the standard ford silencer to the offside of the van. I live on the Isle of Wight and have not been able source one . Can anyone help with a supplier or part number or any info that might help. :-D

[Robinhood]

If it is just the tailpipe, I'd recommend you look for a local exhaust specialist who can make mild steel part-exhausts.

 

My last van had a completely non-standard exhaust (a Rapido with Al-Ko chassis, where the exhaust was manufactured from the original bits on a "cut and shut" basis.)

 

The tailpipe was in a bad way, and a local specialist made me one up using the original as a pattern for just over £20. (I removed it and refitted it myself, but many specialists will do it on the spot - you just need to find someone with the pipe-bending capability and a supply of pipe).

 

You could find a local exhaust specialist (independent is probably best) and ask them for a lead.

[747]

These first 2 posts have highlighted a potential problem when buying a European van. I had a similar problem with my Burstner on an Al-Ko chassis.

 

In my case (and probably yours too) is that the vans are constructed to be LH drive. Now and again they make a RH drive vehicle but it still has the exhaust for a LHD. This may well be to do with having a tailpipe on the opposite side to the hab door (and possibly an awning).

 

I found that an original shape exhaust was very difficult to come by in the UK and a second mortgage would be required to buy one from a Fiat dealership (not to mention the time taken for it to arrive).

 

My solution to this problem was to buy a RHD exhaust (not from Fiat), take it to my local friendly garage and have the hangers modified to suit. The tail pipe is now on the UK kerb side and far enough away from my hab door to be safe. For added peace of mind, I added an angled tail pipe (chrome) extension to divert the exhaust gases downwards. On my first trip, I had my carbon monoxide detector in the footwell next to the door in case of problems. It was fine.

 

To both of you gentlemen I would suggest that you do a bit more investigation as mine is a Fiat exhaust but not the UK one. When I was having the problem with mine, it looked like a stainless steel exhaust would be cheaper than a new one from Fiat, until I got to the bottom of things. By my caculations, I paid out £65 to the garage for the mods and got a full exhaust for less than one third of the price that Fiat wanted for a direct replacement. I can roughly have 3 exhausts now for the price of one. :D

[FRANKP60]

Do you have a Mr Exhaust on Island ,we had to travel 40 miles ,made appointment,arrived nothing was to much trouble all sorted in an hour £40.00. They operate a nothing is impossible policy , web site best place to look for local Mr Exhaust.

[Robinhood]

747 - 2010-12-14 11:14 PM

 

 

To both of you gentlemen I would suggest that you do a bit more investigation as mine is a Fiat exhaust but not the UK one. :D

 

The issue that started me off was the tail pipe, which was almost rusted through, the rest of the system had a bit more life in it, and since it has been sold, is now SEP.

 

Given that it was obvious to me that it was not a standard exhaust, I did quite a bit of research, including talking to AL-Ko and getting a machine drawing from one of the standard manufacturers, and decided it was as standard RHD exhaust, but with the mid section replaced with an extended and different section. It looked like I could get one made up from the standard via the same people that made me the tail-pipe, as a cut and shut job, but it wouldn't have been easy, since the existing silencer boxes had the pipe exiting directly into a curve, with no straight section to cut and bolt over.

 

I found various people quite happy to do a stainless steel job, and two local firms offered to do a mild-steel replacement from scratch.

[747]

The problem with Fiat exhausts (and possibly Ford ones) is that the LHD exhaust system looks vastly different to the RHD one. It was actually my local garage who reckoned that the exhausts fitted to foreign motorhomes (including Al-Ko) are mostly standard exhausts. When I went to my local Fiat agent, there was a schematic of my original one. If I had recently had a Lottery win, I would have ordered one.

 

In my earlier post I said that my modified exhaust tail pipe is on the kerb side. That is a mistake, it had been on the kerb side but is now on the road side.

[ken nugent]

747 - 2010-12-15 10:20 AM

 

The problem with Fiat exhausts (and possibly Ford ones) is that the LHD exhaust system looks vastly different to the RHD one. It was actually my local garage who reckoned that the exhausts fitted to foreign motorhomes (including Al-Ko) are mostly standard exhausts. When I went to my local Fiat agent, there was a schematic of my original one. If I had recently had a Lottery win, I would have ordered one.

 

In my earlier post I said that my modified exhaust tail pipe is on the kerb side. That is a mistake, it had been on the kerb side but is now on the road side.

 

Just a point with reference to exhausts systems exiting on the left side of LHD vehicles and to the right of RHD vehicles, the reason for this is that there is a law somewhere that stipulates the exhaust gases can not exit on the pavement side i.e down the throats of pedestrians

[euroserv]

While you are investigating replacement exhausts please bear in mind the little known fact that it is perfectly ok to have the tail pipe in the centre of the vehicle, pointing to the road. MOT testers don't like it because it makes it awkward to insert the gas analysis devices but that is just togh luck because there is no requirement to have it exiting on the offside, just not on the nearside.

 

I got fed up with paying an arm and a leg for tail pipes on Iveco Daily vans, so I just cut them off at a 45 degree angle behind the silencer and have had no problems except for one stroppy MOT tester who was promptly put in his place.

 

As long as it is secure, and all hanging devices fitted to the exhaust (not the vehicle) are used correctly it is fine.

 

Nick

[auntyjanet1]

ken nugent - 2010-12-15 10:32 AM

 

 

Just a point with reference to exhausts systems exiting on the left side of LHD vehicles and to the right of RHD vehicles, the reason for this is that there is a law somewhere that stipulates the exhaust gases can not exit on the pavement side i.e down the throats of pedestrians

 

My van is a Compass Calypso LHD built on a Peugot chassis in UK , my Exhaust exits on the left side below the drivers door (KERB SIDE),does it follow then that this is the manufacturer,s fault (as it was built in UK) and why was it not brought to my attention when it was mot,d in June this year

ANYONE OUT THERE WITH THE SAME VAN?

 

[Overdrive]

My RHD Rapido exits exhaust on Left.

 

Is it the habitation door that dictates the exhaust exit opposite, and not the pavement ?

 

Thinking about it both my RHD Cars have exhausts which exit on the left, albeit at the rear!

 

Has anyone got a habitation door and exhaust exit on same side ?

 

David

[747]

This is the problem with vans.

 

If you buy a RHD European van, the only difference is the position of the steering wheel (and an odometer in mph). Everything else is suitable for driving in Europe, ie the exhaust will be coming out on the left (European road side).

 

As for a British made van (although LHD) having the wrong exhaust, it has been built correctly by Compass as the tail pipe is correct for Continental driving.

 

I may be wrong here but when Fiat (for arguments sake) supply the front bit to a m/home manufacturer, do they also supply one exhaust system for each cab?

This could mean that the manufacturer is to blame for the wrong exhaust being fitted as I would expect the m/home manufacturer to source the correct exhaust.

[Robinhood]

Overdrive - 2010-12-15 1:16 PM

 

My RHD Rapido exits exhaust on Left.

 

Is it the habitation door that dictates the exhaust exit opposite, and not the pavement ?

 

Thinking about it both my RHD Cars have exhausts which exit on the left, albeit at the rear!

 

Has anyone got a habitation door and exhaust exit on same side ?

 

David

 

Yes.

 

My RHD Rapido already referred to had the exhaust exiting just to the rear of the habitation door, and pretty close to the bodywork, as it had an internally dropped step.

 

On an LHD, of course, the exhaust would have exited on the other side, under normal bodywork, and without the restricted clearance.

 

The tailpipe had a flattened upper section to it - I always assumed to fit under a van preudo-chassis rails, as it certainly didn't need it for the Al-Ko chassis, and the one I had made up simply used round-section mild steel pipe, and had plenty of chassis clearance.

[Derek Uzzell]

I’ve yet to see a coachbuilt motorcaravan that uses the base-vehicle manufacturer’s ORIGINAL CHASSIS have a side-exiting exhaust system that exits from the same side of the vehicle as the living-area’s entrance door.

 

Consequently, all RHD UK-built motorhomes (with their entrance doors on the left) have side-exiting exhausts that exit to the right. LHD Continental-European-built motorhomes (with their entrance doors on the right ) have side-exiting exhausts that exit to the left). When a LHD Continental European-built motorhome model is offered in RHD (assuming the vehicle’s internal layout and entrance-door position remain unaltered) the exhaust will continue to exit to left.

 

As far as I’m aware, the side of the vehicle that a side-exiting exhaust system exits from isn’t a factor as far as UK vehicle registration or the UK MOT test are concerned. (If it were, none of us would own UK-registered Continental-European-built motorhomes.)

 

The odd thing about camperadi’s Chausson is that the exhaust system apparently exits to the UK offside (ie. to the right). I would have expected it to exit to the UK nearside (ie. to the left) as – once again, as far as I’m aware - Chaussons have always had their living-area entrance doors on the right.

 

I’ve also looked at photos of Continental-European-built motorhomes from various manufacturers (including Chausson) that were marketing models in 2003-2005 on the same Transit chassis as camperadi’s Welcome 27. All the photos show a side-exiting exhaust that exits to the left.

 

If cameradi’s Chausson had an exhaust system with the silencer on the right side of the chassis, with a ‘tail pipe’ that crossed over beneath the chassis to exit to the left, then I wouldn’t have been surprised. This is the arrangement on my LHD Hobby (the RHD version exhaust system is just the same) and all the pipework is standard for a LHD Ford.

[Stuart]

Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-15 6:57 PM

 

I’ve yet to see a coachbuilt motorcaravan that uses the base-vehicle manufacturer’s ORIGINAL CHASSIS have a side-exiting exhaust system that exits from the same side of the vehicle as the living-area’s entrance door.

My Merc based CI is RHD with hab door and exhaust both on UK offside.

 

Stuart

[peter lambert]

Wow!! Now i'm confused as to what is sitting on my drive 10 feet away from me as I write this post.

We have a Rapido 7086 on a Fiat Ducato 2.8 with AL-KO chassis. It is RHD, and our exhaust exits on the RHS under the Habitation door (also on RHS). The tail pipe on ours is falling to bits after nearly 6 years, and I am now wondering if any of the exhaust systems I have seen online would fit our van. I already know that there is a flattened area on one of the pipes where it passes over the Chassis. Perhaps it will have to be a made to fit exhaust when we need to change it. Wonder how much that will cost!!

[camperadi]

Thanks for all the replies. It looks very much like i will be going down the route of getting a custom made exhaust tail pipe. I had been looking at this as a possibility although i am having problems finding someone who will do this locally. The original FORD exhaust consisting of 2 silencer boxes and the cat is all as new. The badly corroded tail pipe is the non standard part which has rotted away for the last foot and is depositing soot and hot gasses onto the plastic base skirt. The whole thing is no more than a meter long and passed its last MOT in this condition in July for the last owner. Euroserves observation is interesting because one of the Transit standard tail pipes comes straight off the last silencer and curves through 90 degrees to point down to the road. This would finish in the middle of the motorhome and I didnt feel that this is safe on a motorhome in case fumes came in through any of the underfloor vents. What do others think please? This would be a very simple answer because that pipe is readily available. Finally my van is rhd with the habitation door on the RHS (offside) and the exhaust also exits on the RHS (offside) close to the habitation door. If I have to cross the pond to england any other recommendations such as Mr Exhaust will be greatfully received especially if in portsmouth southampton areas. Thanks again Stuart

[Robinhood]

peter lambert - 2010-12-15 8:43 PM

 

We have a Rapido 7086 on a Fiat Ducato 2.8 with AL-KO chassis. It is RHD, and our exhaust exits on the RHS under the Habitation door (also on RHS). The tail pipe on ours is falling to bits after nearly 6 years, and I am now wondering if any of the exhaust systems I have seen online would fit our van. I already know that there is a flattened area on one of the pipes where it passes over the Chassis. Perhaps it will have to be a made to fit exhaust when we need to change it. Wonder how much that will cost!!

 

Much like my (ex) Rapido 983, as posted above, then.

 

Al-Ko confirmed to me that it was a modified original exhaust. (Mine had a longer mid-pipe, and a modified tailpipe). It will certainly have to be made to fit - but if you can find someone who will attempt it, you may be able to cobble together the bits of a standard exhaust, with custom made modifications. I looked quite deeply into this, but didn't think it would be easy.

 

Al-Ko, to be honest, weren't a lot of use in a protracted exchange of emails, but certainly implied that if they were to try to source one for me, it would be very expensive (they tend to recommend people to have a stainless steel replacement fabricated).

 

It was the tailpipe on mine that had the flattened section, but it didn't need it for clearance. As it was a separate, clamp-on section, a local (Mansfield) exhaust centre fabricated me a replacement (complete with hanger bracket), using the old one as a pattern. I took it off, delivered it to them, they took it off to their factory (they just happen to have the UK's biggest aftermarket catalyser factory), and I picked the new on up from them later in the afternoon. Absolutely fine fit.

 

Frankly, if you don't need the 'flat' section for clearance, then any fabrication place should be able to make the tailpipe up very easily.

 

Full Stainless Steel replacement looked like being around £350 min.

[Stuart]

camperadi - 2010-12-15 8:58 PM

 

If I have to cross the pond to england any other recommendations such as Mr Exhaust will be greatfully received especially if in portsmouth southampton areas. Thanks again Stuart

 

I know its not on your doorstep but there is (was) a firm in Salisbury I used when living down there, can't remember the name but maybe somebody local can help?

 

Stuart

[747]

This post is for Peter Lambert in particular.

 

I have a 2.8 jtd and an Al-Ko chassis. My local garage used the original exhaust hangers and moved them to suit a standard RHD exhaust. It did not cost much and my future savings are enormous.

 

Given that we have the same engine and chassis (I am assuming yours is also a tag axle but it should not really matter) then there is no reason why you cannot do the same.

 

If you have a good local commercial garage, why not let them have a look and see what they say? It certainly paid off for me.

[Mel B]

Just to add to the confusion about the location of the exhaust on European RHD motorhomes .... my Chausson Flash 04 (new April 2010), has the habitation door on the RHS and the exhaust also on the RHS - you can just see it in the picture below sticking out under the front of the habitation bodywork - it is shaped to follow the curve of the moulding behind the drivers's door.

[FRANKP60]

Sorry ,quoted wrong supplier ,it was Mr Clutch I used ,depot in Portsmouth and Southampton.

[pepe63xnotuse]

Similar to yours' Mel,the exhaust on our Chausson Allegro also exits to the UK offside.. ;-)

However on ours' it's just to the rear of the hab' door,which means that it sits really low... :-(

 

I have thought of replacing the offending section with a pipe which comes straight from the silencer,however this would bring it out directly under the O/S front lounge window..and as this is sliding,this *could* be left open whilst travelling(..although we never do),which would mean that fumes *could* get drawn back into the van(..or so the bloke at the MOT station said..!? )

Having said all of that,we've had it a year now and it hasn't grounded out on anything yet,so I'll leave well alone 'til it does! :-D

[euroserv]

747 - 2010-12-15 10:07 PM

 

This post is for Peter Lambert in particular.

 

I have a 2.8 jtd and an Al-Ko chassis. My local garage used the original exhaust hangers and moved them to suit a standard RHD exhaust. It did not cost much and my future savings are enormous.

 

 

You would have saved even more if you had gotten a stainless one made. If you expect to have the vehicle for many years, it makes a lot of sense. In the same way you should buy a K&N air filter. Costs very little more than a standard one from manufacturer but lasts a lifetime!

 

Nick

[ips]

My Chausson on a ford trannie also exits on the RH side as does the hab door.

 

Agree with previous poster may as well get a s/s one made it will last a life time. I got my fabricator to knock me one up when the original chrome jobbie rusted after a few months total cost was £10 beer money :-D

(but it obviously helps to have a friendly fabricator on hand) looks the business :-D

[747]

Thanks for the info about the air filter Nick.

 

I have a Tunit box fitted and I vaguely remember that it can be beneficial to fit this type of filter when you have the Tunit. I forget the reason why but hey that's old age for you. :$

 

As for the stainless steel exhaust, I rang around a few northern fabricators but did not get much joy and I did not fancy travelling hundreds of miles. It is a pity really because I am hoping to keep the van until my 70th birthday and then see how many bits of my body still work. If I can bribe the doctor for my C1 retention, I will keep it a bit longer.