Hi All: There have been a couple of exhaust threads within the last several months, but I have a couple of very specific questions:

1) Has anyone here tried one of the Starla factory replacement exhaust systems available for the '74 142? I have seen them online at seemingly very reasonable prices (see below).

http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1974/volvo/142/exhaust/exhaust_system_kit.html

What concerns me is that the part numbers appear to reference the 240, rather than the 140. Also, there are two part numbers, but it's not clear what's different between them. On some level the 240 reference makes sense, as I know 240s and late 140s shared a great many parts. There are, however, some notes associated with the kit that have me concerned (see below).

"Some individual pieces in the kit may look or install differently than what was initially on the car, but when the complete kit has been installed, the exhaust system will perform as intended. THE AXLE PIPE INCLUDED IN THIS KIT IS A CROSS-OVER 1976 TYPE."

2) Has anyone tried fitting a pre-1974 performance exhaust (Skandix/Simons, etc) onto a '74 model 140? I have noticed that exhaust systems for 142s tend to indicate they work up to 1973, so '74 must be different.

My exhaust looks like it has been tinkered with before and left disconnected between the first muffler and the pipe to the second one. I figure my choices are to have a shop make something or to order something (stock or 'performance'). Something with a slight bit more rumble might be nice, but I doubt I can have a shop touch it for less than the $150 the stock replacement system will cost. I'm hoping someone else here has some experience to share. Thanks for any info!

On my 1974 144, I custom make the system at our local muffler shop.

Piping wise, the 74 is closer to the 240, as the gas tank was moved closer to the rear seat for rear end collision safety reasons. Therefore, the routing of the pipes at the rear is different from the pre 74 models.

Both original mufflers on my 74 is similar to the earlier 144s, but is smaller than the 240s. What my local shop does is to use pipes for 240s, and weld in the 144 mufflers. Works very well, and its been over 5 years since I did any work to the exhaust system.

Also, the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the dual downpipes is the same between my 74 144 and my 1996 940...

Hope this helps.
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...and the bricks keep on rolling