ive never heard a n/a gasser even come close to being diesel loud..
my diesels have all been so loud that they will make your ears ring after a good wide open pull..
Well I doubt our diesels sound any different, my interpretation of the 1.6 na with a cherry bomb and nothing else is much quieter than my 1.7 gas motor. The diesel sound is all from the engine, not the tail pipe.
I'll never run a straight piped NA again............
Was it legit straight piped? or did it have any sort of muffler at all? A glass pack will change the tone completely and take it from a droney horrible sound to a nice note, with rasssp. I have a 67 Cougar that we straight piped, true duals to the rear off the long tube headers. Holy christ.. Threw on some $30 cherry bomb glass packs and sweet sweet music.
anybody remember the old IDI fords with straight pipes? GOD DAMN they were loud..
50:1 CR will make a loud explosion 
TO THE OP, you wanted to do it originally, so doo it man. Go with your first instinct. Just make it reversible if you dont like it the muffler goes back on. Plus you likely have a resonator still, that will muffle some sound. It might sound bad ass.
Response 1.) dude, there is DEFINITELY a sound coming out the tail pipe on diesels.. if you think all the noise comes from the engine, then think, or listen again. sure the clack at idle is engine noise.. if all that noise is from the engine and not the exhaust, then why do EXHAUST MUFFLERS make the engine quieter?
anything else, is exhaust noise. i REALLY WISH you could have heard my n/a with an open header.. gave a new meaning to the term "LOUD". yes, OPEN HEADER on a diesel rabbit, not open manifold..
Response 2.) yes, it was a Legit straight pipe, like came off the downpipe, no mufflers, then exited in front of the rear tire.. it was FUGGIN LOUD!! it would RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP right off an idle.. thru every gear. you couldnt drive that car and not rap the pipes..
another thing to remember, if your going to run straight pipes, just remember that overkill on the diameter, is a good thing on straight pipes.. it mellows them down alot, gets rid of alot of the low RPM rap..
Response 3.) ford IDIs never had 50:1 compression, they had like 18-19:1 compression.. our IDI VWs are the highest-factory-compression engines ive ever seen.. tell me that the ford IDIs with straight pipes didnt make any sound out the tail pipe? all that sound was from the engine, not the exhaust?
24:1 (diesel) exhaust is alot louder than 8.5:1 (gasser) exhaust generally..