Z-TARD Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Here is a picture of some mufflers I made out of stainless scrap, 3" copper nickel pipe, and shell casings from a naval 5" gun. Pretty ghetto, but cheaper than shelling out $100+ for performance mufflers through summit. I've made a few different sets with varying internal baffle arrangements so I can experiment with sound-vs-power, etc. One mans garbage...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 Too Cool. I have always wondered about making a dual inlet, single outlet turbo design so a Z could run dual exhaust with out modifying the spare tire well. The dual inlet muff is not common, but someone once posted they found an el cheapo at Trak or someplace like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil1934 Posted February 16, 2003 Share Posted February 16, 2003 My speed shop has Hooker HOO21510 dual 2-1/2" in, 3" center out in 4-3/4"x10-1/4"x22" for &64.98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted February 17, 2003 Share Posted February 17, 2003 Nice looking work Z-TARD. Do you have any pics showing the guts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 17, 2003 Author Share Posted February 17, 2003 This is the only picture I have for now showing the internals. There are two circular stainless plates spot welded to the inside about 6" away from eachother, each one has four 1.25" holes in it, they are offset by 45 degrees in an attempt to minimize the noise from the exhaust pulses. Looking at it now, I'm kinda doubtful that it will work as intended, and will probably be loud as hell. I've made another set of mufflers that have four plates each. the plates cover about 3/4 the diameter of the case and are arranged in an alternating pattern that forces the exhaust to go up and over one, and then down and uder the next, and so on. I'm hoping that this arrangement will make it quiet enough to drive on the street, and still have low enough backpressure to let it flow really well. I'm also working on a new set, but have not yet thought of any good ideas for internals, pehaps a perforated tube surrounded by fiberglass packing, ala Cherrybomb. If any of you guys have some good ideas, let me know and I'll try them out. Might be a while before I can do any testing though, as my engine is still just a bare block on a stand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted February 17, 2003 Share Posted February 17, 2003 How are you coming up with your internal configurations. Are you an engineer? Just curious. I again compliment you on your "end result". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 17, 2003 Author Share Posted February 17, 2003 I'm just pulling ideas out of my @#$@! actually.... Thats why I'm making several different versions, hoping that at least one will work pretty good. I am kind of an engineer, but not in the way youd think, I work in the engineering department on a Spruance class destroyer. My specialty is welding and fabricating, I started out in the Navy as a nuclear component welder. Lots of TIG welding on reactor valves that cost more than I will make in a lifetime..... But mostly now I just unclog toilets, It's the kind of thing recruiting posters are made of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted February 17, 2003 Share Posted February 17, 2003 You should look at the internals of a Borla XR-1 Raceline muffler. That's basically what you're duplicating with your design. There is a perforated metal cylinder that's the length of the muffler and the same diameter as the inlet/outlet tubes. Between that and the muffler wall is stainless steel wool packing. Down the center of the perforated metal cylinder is another sheet of the same perforated metal that bisects the tube lengthwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 My speed shop has Hooker HOO21510 dual 2-1/2" in, 3" center out in 4-3/4"x10-1/4"x22" for &64.98 Phil1934, thanks for the heads up. This will save me cutting out the spare tire well to run duals. Wondor why more guys don't run with this muff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 19, 2003 Share Posted February 19, 2003 Very nice work, Z-Tard. You make it look easy!! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30Z Bushido Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 let us know what it's like once you get it on the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 23, 2003 Author Share Posted February 23, 2003 OK, I'm making the new mufflers in the configuration that John described. I'm taking my time on these, so they should be pretty kick ass when I'm done. I may end up having to use fiberglass rather than steel wool for packing though. Should have pics up in 2 or 3 days. Thanks for the idea John. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverz Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Why are you guys saying that you need to cut out parts of the car to get duel exhaust. Mine has duel exhaust with a h pipe and two mufflers. Don't have anything cut up. My mufflers are mounted vertical, so it takes up less space. My car is a 77 280z with a 700r4 and a 350. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Excellent work ztard! You are truly a gifted welder. I made up a set of duel exhaust tips, two per side with glass wrapped inserts on the tips. I found that when the car is at idle the sound of the spent air traveling passed the ruff edges inside sounds like a bunch of old ladies spitting. I plan to revise my system later this year and move my baffles upstream a bit. Let us know how your design sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Why are you guys saying that you need to cut out parts of the car to get duel exhaust. Mine has duel exhaust with a h pipe and two mufflers. Don't have anything cut up. My mufflers are mounted vertical, so it takes up less space. My car is a 77 280z with a 700r4 and a 350. I suppose there are a million ways to skin a cat. From what I have seen, most guys tend to sacrifice part of the spare tire well at a minimum. I was heading along the route of completely remanufacturing the tank and removing the spare tire well to get duals at each corner. The other option was to try and make my own dual inlet muff (with internals patterned after an aftermarket model). How did you mount muffs "vertical"? Any pics, what type of muffs and how loud? From the sounds of it that Hooker dual inlet muffler should be pretty good from a performance point. Don't you think that would be a pretty sanitary and painless installation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Install a fuel cell, it leaves a lot of room for creative duals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 25, 2003 Author Share Posted February 25, 2003 Well, I completed the mufflers last night. They came out better than I expected them too, considering I had to roll the internal perforated cylinder by hand. The packing is fiberglass, as its all I had available to me at the time. I used one wrap of glass cloth around the cylinder, followed by a roll of 2" thick fiberglass insulation mat (Hope its heat resistant. Smelled funny when welding....) There is also a strip of perforated metal running the length of the pipe, as per John's description of the Borla racing muffler. If all goes well, it should sound pretty good, either that or It will end up creating a smoke screen of burnt fiberglass dust Dot, thanks for the compliments on my previous mufflers. I love your car, those headers you made are a work of art, its unfortunate that you cant see them from outside the car. I had considered putting a Jag V-12 in my car for a while, even went out and pulled an engine for the project. But after taking many measurements and pricing parts for rebuilding the Jag, quickly decided to go with the Chevy.I still have the engine sitting in my freinds garage actually. Probably end up using it in some other project later on... Anyway, here are the pics of my latest mufflers. I only had time to polish one of them, the shell casings have an aluminized finish that shines up pretty well with a little elbow grease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Looks like you might have something there. How much do they weight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 25, 2003 Author Share Posted February 25, 2003 I dont have a scale handy, but they seem to be in about the 7 to 8 pound range, each. The shell casings are kinda thick, about 3/32". The stainless plate that I used for end caps is 1/8", and the 4" nickel copper tubing on the end probably doesnt help lighten it up at all either. But they seem like they should be pretty quiet, and flow really well. My ultra scientific testing method consisted of stuffing a 110 psi air hose with some rags packed around it into the inlet side and blowing large blasts of air through it. it didnt seem to reduce the amount of flow very much, and was as quiet as a whisper too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlubes Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Nice looking Mike, Maybe weld 2 together side by side, or ovalize a couple of your tubes and make one casing with 2 inlet / 1 exit or 1 inlet / 2 exit ??? Very nice craftmanship, I need alot practice to be do welds like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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