Plod and loud old cars?

I spent my Mini years from 19 to 22, with daft centre exit exhausts. Then graduated to an RS2000 which I immediately stuck a 4 branch and Ashley on. All crazy loud, but driven more or less sensibly (when it mattered) and never had any trouble. The odd run in I had, coppers were sound and clocked me for a petrol head and not a fast and furious "street racer".
I think passing the "attitude test" helps.

Edited to add, I had some beer last night and read "Corvette" as "Chevette"
You might have some issues rumbling around in a Chevy with loud pipes. Are you sure there is no baffling at all in the pipes? It must be deafening.

I think if they were being picky they could test you against the original type approval db reading

But as its not a UK car i doubt there will be a measurement for it.

And also how many cop cars have sound metering equipment onboard? I mind getting pulled for illegal tints back in the day and it was a chap from VOSA that emerged from the the back of the traffic cop car with the light meter lol

www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fcb/cars-and-noise.asp

But i can only begin to imagine how loud your car will be lol

There is an offence of excessive noise, but would likely only be used if you were drawing attention to yourself with traffic light burn outs and the like.

Essex police do it like this apparently
 essex.police.uk/getmedia/5a4aaf2f-105f-419d-9ea4-2dd658945d07/H0504-Procedure-Loud-Exhaust-Offences.pdf

Its often about where you make the noise. On my bikes I always took a higher gear lower revs approach to going through built up areas even if my after market can/s were noise legal as bikes do make a more intrusive sound but usually down to revs or non-approved open cans.
The last exhaust I had on my Boxster was loud at revs especially as it came on vario-cam but passed MOT's. Took it off as it was very 'boomy' at exactly 70mph but I loved the sound, not sure my neighbours thought the same when I revved it when working on it though.

I recently changed my exhausts and inadvertently ended up with *stupidly loud*

I have to drive through a lot of built up residential and retail areas before I hit the open road, so I'm just trundling in high gears and low revs before I get heavy footed in the wide open.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised at how much difference a pair of £8 decibel reducers made. Got mine from Merlin Motorsports but you'd need to find some for your pipe diameter. Mine are 2" only.

These DemonTweaks ones go up to 4" but they are more expensive...

www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/decibel-slayer-bolt-on-exhaust-noise-decibel-reducer-insert-birdbs1/

I have these...

www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/jetex-universal-decibel-insert-2-inch-u935130

It's hard to imagine that a simple bit of coned pipe will knock the worst out of the exhaust sound. In my case though they made enough difference that I'm almost back to where I as before the exhaust swap.

I got pulled whilst driving my old Escort 1300E,which I initially thought was due to the 2" single box Janspeed exhaust I was running. Turned out that the Officer was actually concerned about how low it was,but after having a look around the car and a rather pleasant chat about it,sent me on my merry way unhindered. I did however pull away as slowly as possible,changing up into second as soon as I got moving 🤫

I got pulled daily with my AX, straight through with a cherry bomb, 10 years ago. But I drove that like an 18 year old, same setup on my Astra has never gotten me pulled, because I learnt to drive like a human. All about attitude, if you drive like a twonk you'll get noticed, so don't drive like a twonk and you'll be a fine. Plus a v8 Corvette is not going to be like sitting in a library anyway really is it

I had a Skoda 136 rapid with a full works rally exhaust. 4-2-1 (made by ashley I believe) and a small thing that looked like a silencer but clearly wasn't. I was so proud the day I got stopped and told it was the noisiest car in Nottinghamshire...
It sounded stupidly fast, it wasn't. Pretty sure I would get tugged these days with a car that loud though, let alone the driving like I stole it all the time.
James

It's a funny thing how noise really does affect the sense or expectation of speed. I watched a (fairly delapidated) GT6 shoot out from a roundabout a few months ago and it clearly had a loud exhaust system because it roared off like god almighty. But then I realised a few moments later, it was still there and I was still looking at it, roaring off like god almighty. It hadn't actually made much progress. At that point it became hilarious watching it roaring off like god almighty, really slowly, around the roundabout to the next exit..

Since I accidentally fitted my much noisier exhausts I've been thinking my car feels slower. It isn't slower, it's just that it now sounds faster than it actually is.