Well - the driveshaft cured the problem.

However, in true rover style, it allows me to hear the slight rumble from the drivers side rear wheel bearing.....sigh.

But the chirp and vibrations went the way of the dinosaur.

@Charlie_V - yes, all I've done at the moment was replace the reservoir and the seals, which fixed my problem.

It's laughably easy, the wire "bobby pin" in your rebuild kit holds it on, the seals pop out with a dental pick, and a can of brake cleaner makes it pretty again. Roughly speaking, as mechanically complex as a medium-sized birdhouse.

I've saved the two o-rings and the yellow plastic "funnel" for when that part starts leaking, which, for now, hasn't happned.

 

Re: cats - just had a brilliant, or possibly insanely stupid idea. The line blurs as i work through my 30's....

Remove front cats, weld in straight pipe in their place. Cut out piece of exhaust downstream of factory cats, and weld in large universal cat in it's place. Extend wiring harness for 02's and......voila! Hot cat relocated away from sensitive grease-starved needle bearings....

Am I nuts?

 

No. That's not nuts. The catch is that the passenger side cat is offset. The pipe enters at a higher level than it exits, and the difference isn't fully compensated by an off the shelf bend in the pipe. I tried what you suggested minus replacing the cats and had to use flex pipe where that cat goes. That's what was so loud (glass bottle sound). It was unbearable. I bought a pipe bender to try again but with an inspection looming I just got a y pipe and left the bender in the box. I will definitely be at it again if another cat fails.

Well, I should say, before I tried the above, I experimented by hollowing the cats. The thin walls, and expanded chambers, and the offset, result in a terrible racket while driving. Also, after replacing them with flex pipe, I wrapped them... No appreciable diminution of the noise.

I do have a spare, stock y pipe if you or anyone needs measurements--the cats are good so I don't want to modify it. But in general, to remove the passenger side cat would require a little but of an s curve in the pipe that replaces it; it is doable.

 

There is a special rung in Hell where the germans are the police, the french are the army, and the british are the engineers and cooks.