Yes its true...

or was years ago..

because the rear engined car doesn't have much room for an exhaust and muffler compared to front engined cars

they were allowed to be louder than their front engined counterparts..

it probably still is true, thats why rear engined Volkswagens
can get away with the noise... ??

or
everybody likes VWs.... lol

Lee

iv had a policeman who obviously did not like VW's tell me that he will take my name address and registration, and that if i did not re-route my exhaust under the car to the sides/front in 2 months, he would come back and fine me.

still havent heard from him 6 months later !

is it even legal to have a front exiting/middle exiting exhaust ?


anyway, thats the exact excuse iv used every time iv been pulled up for the noise, "those extractors and hotdog officer ?, oh they make it much quieter, you see, there is only really 2 feet of exhaust pipe all things combined under there, and if i were to have anything else you'd be deafened! i couldnt possibly do that to my elderly neighbour you see"

honesht occifer

the VW standard muffler isn't really noise reducing

the twin pea shooter exhausts really make all the difference.

I have twin straight thru pipes out the back of the VW muffler
much larger than the pea shooters too

I doubt if side exhausts - in front of the rear wheels
wouldn't be legal ?? on a beetle..??
although most ?? police don't worry about VWs...
which is great...

in the late 60s and 70s , nearly every beetle and type 3 etc had a SONIC extractor exhaust system with the muffler exiting under the RHS rear guard..
they had a nice sound too...

Lee

As I understand it the exhaust must not exit in front of an opening window, the thinking here is to stop exhaust gasses entering the car through an open window, sounds odd though if your parked behind someone.

Hi

Is this rule in writing, ive heard that VWs get let off with bit more noise because they are air cooled and rear engined.

I just put a new 2 inch stainless system on my daily 1303 with some help from Westi, it has very long pipes and is extremely quiet, much quieter than the stock muffler with the peashooters hollowed out.

Steve

my thunderbird quiet pack is heaps quiet than my german ernst muffler and german pea shooters and flows 10x better just a bummer bout the ground clearance

most cops just dont have a clue about old school vws
i had one trying to get me for decklid standoffs
he wouldnt believe me that 1000s of VWs have had the same mod for 30+ years

Pretty sure it's in writing in the RTA regulations or QLD transport rules and regs.

first ive heard of it as i still had to comply with the normal standard when i registered chaos. id think the old man would know as he is one of the auvis stations for the rta.

I remember being told this many years ago

maybe in the 1960s

it was for all rear engined cars...

but it seems only air cooled ones were very noisy...

Lee

Ok found the info on the net as far as noise levels are concerned. Here is how the rules are stated in QLd government legislation and also from an attachment on the Qld transport Website.

A.Permitted noise levels from a car or car derivative built after 1982 is 90db or

B. or another car or derivative is 96db

So what this is saying after reading some 5 pages of info is that all cars built after 1982 are compliant with the rule ADR83/00 and have been built to conform to noise levels stipulated of 90db. Any vehicle built previous to that date when ADR83/00 was introduced must conform to 96db.

Now there is a complex way in which the noise levels must be tested as far the distance from the exhaust outlet, particular angle at which the noise must be measured in an appropriate environment.(eg not in an alleyway) there is an additional rule regarding what would include VW's.

This rule basically says the following;- " when measuring the noise on a pre ADR83/00 vehicle if the microphone is less than 1 metre from the engine compartment of the vehicle being tested(using the measurements for the standarised test) the calculated noise level shalll be reduced by 2db."

So this basically says that if you are testing the noise levels of your VW using the parameters set and I would also assume that this is the same for the other states as well as it is a standarised testing procedure that because the engine is at the rear of the car and the car is built before 1982 then the legal decibal requirement is 96db plus the 2db for it being rear engined.

My Kombi with the custom system that CES did for me only reads 90db due to the fact that the pipes are long and it comes out in front of the back wheel. Also have a turbo muffler and resonator on it to keep it nice and quiet without affecting performance greatly.

hope this info is of benefit to all.

Hi

Good condensing of the legalese on that website, I'm pretty sure that the same rules would apply to NSW and to the rest of Australia.

Its much nicer to drive a car with a nice sound that's not too loud, or maybe I'm getting old.

I think pipe length is the secret, just as an exercise have you ever stuck a long piece of exhaust pipe on your tailpipe, the difference in sound is amazing

Steve

i had a coppa once years ago trying to book me for excesive noise(it was loud), i had to argue with him that rear engined cars are always louder, got away with it in the end

When I put my buggy across the pits a couple of years ago, it was all standard in the engine and exhaust, new factory exhaust and all. Result - too noisy, even being factory (car was classed as a 61 model). They wanted me to get a quieter exhaust than 'factory original'.

Then again I was also done for wipers that go the wrong way, no mudflaps fitted, and reflectors not being fitted close enough to the taillights. Gotta love rego checks....

the joys of living in QLd........