CAT stolen

I had my CAT stolen and I'm in the process of ordering parts to repair it, I have on order a new CAT and a downpipe (they cut it) and an exhaust fitting kit. When they did the dirty deed they cut the backbox band that supports the CAT and this part alone is £50, the bracket disappeared with the CAT but I have the band so I was thinking get the band welded and make up a bracket to attach it to the CAT. I can measure and trial fit this together off the car so it does not appear to be difficult to do, has anyone done it or got any thoughts.
I will also need to change the Lambda sensor from the old downpipe to the new and this it appears can be APITA, if it all goes wrong what sensor should I buy. The general opinion is OE and that's what I would advise if it was someone else's money, the variation in price is substantial so any advice/experience of a particular pattern part would be appreciated.
I have in the boot of my C3 a new backbox strap that I have yet to fit (no its too small for the MG) this is a much more substantial and of a better quality than the MG part and cost me the grand sum of £10, I know the argument C3's are common MG's aren't but given the margins involved it seems a bit spurious .

A further question I have had to grind the nuts off the backbox flange that connects the box to the CAT and then had to knock the studs out, I think I may have problems when refitting as bolts will be a loose fit where the studs went so would like to replace the studs as original. I've googled and looked but I have no idea what they are called to do a proper search, they are like wheel studs (smaller) they have a round head, a splined section then the thread.

Sorry to hear about the theft.

TBH I am not sure what the band actually does, I can't see it is substantial enough to do anything.

The first time I changed my silencer I cut through the band expecting it to be cheap, when I saw the price I didn't bother.
I noticed no problems 5 years later when I changed the system for a sportier one.

The general opinion seems to be that this part is not needed, I have asked the company who made the C3 one for a quote on a strap of the correct length so I await their reply and will make a decision then. The backbox is in remarkably good condition and if it's not the original I think it must be OE as it still has a fully functioning exhaust bypass valve ! I'm going to refit the backbox for now the new shiny SS will have to wait till next year.

Your local lowlife scumbags must be a desperate lot, to bother of going to the trouble of pinching a cat converter for scrap value.
Here in Oz the local vermin can't be arsed pinching much less that the whole car, even then most wouldn't bother with an oddity such as one of our cars (A MG is an oddity to the uneducated feral morons) they prefer to knock off Holden Commodores , Toyota Hiluxes and other bogun fare.

Bogun = Chav

When I fitted a SuperSport exhaust from MGOC the band did not fit the new exhaust, when I asked MGOC the advise was that support band was not needed as the stainless steel exhaust was lighter.

Cheers,

I hear what everyone's says about the exhaust band and I probably will end up leaving it off but I do have some questions.
If this item serves no purpose why didn't MG Rover delete when they were trying to save every penny they could?
Was it still fitted to the late LE500 models, I don't know the answer to this but if it was why?
With all due respect the MG spares answer is business speak for "we will sell you this pointless strap for £50 but as we don't do one for the smaller exhaust it's not needed"
Looking at how it all goes together the strap (if it was better quality) is there to support the CAT, the CAT has a solid mount to the backbox at one end but the other end has a "solid" mount to the downpipe which has a flexi in it, so not so solid/supportive. To my mind this means the weight of the CAT is almost entirely hanging on the backbox mount and this area will be subject to stress.
It would be interesting to find out where backboxes fail most commonly, if it is around the area that the exhaust enters the box this is the area I think would be subject to stress.
Being old I do have a Victorian attitude to engineering if a 1/2 inch mount will do make it 5/8 to be sure but I also appreciate an elegant solution, this is neither

Cobber wrote:

Your local lowlife scumbags must be a desperate lot, to bother of going to the trouble of pinching a cat converter for scrap value.....snip

O/E cats from early MGF can be worth £100's. Later car cats and replacement cats are worth very little Unfortunately the scumbags don't realise this so think any F or TF is worth steeling causing £100's of pounds of damage.