v8dats Posted November 3, 2000 Share Posted November 3, 2000 hey guys i was just wondering what kind of exhaust systems are under your cars or are planning to use.i read that some of you guys are using flowmaster 2 chambers!thats gotta sound pretty darn cool!but if your driving it everyday i think that most people would get tired of it.has anyone tried the shorter borla xr1 mufflers?or ny other type?a little while ago i visited Matt Millen and he is running the borla turbo mufflers.they were nice.they were pretty mellow at idle but it let you know he meant bussiness when he steped on the gas.any i deas on x,y,or h pipes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted November 3, 2000 Share Posted November 3, 2000 I put alot of thought and effort (and $) into my exhaust. Check it out at http://members.home.net/pparaska/exhaust.htm I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but that's my method. No, I haven't started the car to hear it yet . ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@home.com">pparaska@home.com - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickB Posted November 3, 2000 Share Posted November 3, 2000 Nice Pete...very well executed. BTW, my ride had Walker DynoMax Turbo's though not the "hemi's" as Pete's car. I like the sound of them. At idle it's quiet enough that it doesn't broadcast, "V8!" to all the other unsuspecting victims on the road RickB 280V8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fast Frog Posted November 3, 2000 Share Posted November 3, 2000 I've got dual 2 1/2" Hooker Super Competition mufflers on my setup. And they scream! boom! blast! rumble! and otherwise sound like an F-18 Hornet when under hard acceleration! But are pretty mellow at idle and cruise. I kinda wish I'd purchased something a little less dramatic, but at the time they were the only 2 1/2" mufflers with the configuation that I wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted November 4, 2000 Share Posted November 4, 2000 Hey Pete, did you butt weld the pipes together or did they slip into each other? How much did you pay just for the piping? I don't have room for mufflers at the back of the car, so I was thinking of one dual in and out muffler under the drive shaft area. Do you think that this would act like a cross over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted November 4, 2000 Share Posted November 4, 2000 Mike, Yes, butt welds. Lots o' Fun. I probably spent $150 on a bunch of steel mandrel bend J pipes, maybe $30 on the straight stuff. I don't know how much of noise attenuation you'd be able to get with a tunnel mounted muffler under the driveshaft, as the tunnel's so narrow. It ought to act like a crossover though. Maybe several small ones end to end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted November 4, 2000 Share Posted November 4, 2000 I was thinking of the Spintech Truck RV muffler, dual 2 1/2 in and out. Is that all you used was J pipes? and then cut them to size? http://www.spintechmufflers.com/spintech/spintechindex.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted November 4, 2000 Share Posted November 4, 2000 With a J pipe, you get a 180 degree bend and a 15" and 6" leg on each end, hence the J (for Hooker pipes anyway, from Jegs, Summit, etc.) I probably bought 8 of these, I could probably get by with 5 or 6 to do it again. I have 10 flanges in the system, not counting the headers. 2 at the headers, 2 at the ends of the head pipes, 2 at the front of the X-pipe, 2 at the ends of that assembly, 2 more at the short pipes to the mufflers. These things add up in cost also, I can't remember how much, but they weren't cheap either. BTW, cutting the system into 50" long pieces allowed me to get it coated, as the coaters have a length restriction of about 54" (Baxter Comp. Engineering does anyway). I would guestimate/measure how much of a turn I needed (sometimes using a piece of cardboard, protractor, etc.) After a while I got pretty good at eyeballing it (something like 25 separate bend pieces in the entire system!) and I'd cut off a piece with a little more of the bend than I'd need, use a hose clamp around the pipe to get a straight line around the pipe, cut it with a hacksaw. If it was too much of a bend, I'd redo the line around the pipe, and use tin snips to trim it back. BTW, where I had several bends butt ended up to each other and I was fitting things together, I'd use hose clamps to hold the ends of the pipes together while I measured, etc. This system took probably 80 hours total to build. I work very slow and meticulously at stuff like this. After that kind of investment in time, I decided to stainless/ceramic coat the entire thing (except the mufflers and the short pipes going to them) to save it from rust and to keep the heat in the pipes (hopefully). I spent several hours leak testing all the pieces before sending it to the coaters (BCE). ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@home.com">pparaska@home.com - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno74Z Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 Guys, I guess it's never to early to start thinking about ones exhaust system. I found this really cool site that will custom bend stainless steel exhaust pipe (any diameter) per your specifications without your car. The name of the company is Stainless Works out of Chagrin Falls, OH. In a nutshell, you purchase a kit from them that consists of flexible pipe and foam in a can. After laying out the exhaust with bends, straights, etc. you fill the flex pipe up with foam and after 15 min. you have a template (flex pipe with hard foam) of your new exhaust system. You then send Stainless the template and they work their magic. This sure sound interesting. Their web page is weak but here it is - http://www.stainlessworks.net/index.htm I just received their catalog and it explains the whole process. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 Mike Kz was talking about using spintechs. They do look pretty good. The pair I was looking at were like 4x6x12 each and they're square profile would make them fit in the back as Pete as done real good. Here is a photo: Nice looking units. These are one of they're pro-street models. Might be a tad loud, but with the shortness, could always put on some resonator tips. Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 Ya, I saw those after my post Lone, they may fit the back of mine too. I wonder if you put glasspacks under the driveshaft area then these mufflers, if it would quit it down enough, but still flow well? Do resonaters flow well?, and where do you get them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Frank280z Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 StainlessWorks...I got their catalog. $180- for the template system. Plus the cost of the shop you take it to. Or SWs cost with the shipping both ways. Pete did an awesome job for not having a pipe bender. I would have went that route but only a few of us are blessed with the patience like that of Pete. So I took mine to the "most recommended" local exhaust shop in town. I asked for 2.5". They wouldn't do anything bigger than 2.25. I supplied the mufflers/ tips/H pipe/collectors/clamps. They bent approx 6' of pipe. 16 hrs. $400...Know them before you try them.......Frank Oh yeah the system.. 2.25 thoughout. Hedman H pipe. And Dynomax Turbos. Gibson tips. ------------------ Build it. Drive it. Improve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 Frank, thanks for the compliment. Patience - that's a nice way of putting it . I think of it as anal retentiveness . Therapy for this mental malady is only a few years down the road, I believe. You think I'm patient? You should talk to my wife - Waiting ten years for me to get out of the garage - now THAT'S patience. The woman's a saint, I tell ya. I fully understand not wanting to tackle building a full mandrel bent system laying on the garage floor. It was fun though - creating a tight exhaust that should flow well with some pieces of curved and straight pipe is a bit like art work - you get a real feeling of accomplishment when it's done. The difference is hobby versus build it and drive it, I guess. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@home.com">pparaska@home.com - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 14, 2000 Share Posted November 14, 2000 quote: Originally posted by Mike kZ: Ya, I saw those after my post Lone, they may fit the back of mine too. I wonder if you put glasspacks under the driveshaft area then these mufflers, if it would quit it down enough, but still flow well? Do resonaters flow well?, and where do you get them? That could probably be done as well. Resonators are often used behind glasspacks to reduce that (whats the word) backrapping sort of sound (like when you rev it and let off). They flow real well as they're straight through, just a mini-glasspack really. Welding them right onto the ends of the spintechs would probably be fine without anything further (I say probably because I havn't heard they're exhausts, but figure its probably equivilent to 2 chamber flows judging by the size of them), would have to check length though as with the tips it might be to long for back there. Resonators (or what I should have stated as resonated exhaust tips) are generally just a exhaust tip that has glass packing with a straight-thru design. Basically its I'm guessing knocking the edges off of some of the sound waves coming down the pipe. They are available from many vendors, even MSA has a resonator/tip they sell that replaces the back muffler on the early Z's. Here is a picture of one: This is made by Ansa which in a pair on the back of the Z would probably look pretty good. You could also run glasspacks in the tunnel (provided they were kept tight and the car wasn't real low) area as you were saying, then just use these at the very back of the system it would be fairly quiet (well you know, thats relative, you ain't gonna sneak up on no-one, but it would probably be fairly mellow sounding). Theres loads of different combinations of potential exhaust systems, unless you get to preview em, its unfortunately "pays your money, takes your chances..." Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 19, 2000 Share Posted November 19, 2000 Hi, Pete and All I've been appreciating the fact for some time now that such a site as HybridZ.com has come online to fill an obvious void in the Z car community's information pipe line. Several of my website visitors have been reporting to me that several cars and topics on my website have been discussed in forums here lately so I thought I would stop by more often and contribute if I can. Seeing the thread about V8 exhaust solutions made me take the trouble to scan a recent photo of Mark Owen's Nitrous V8 powered Z running a set of Flowmasters running down from a a set of HPC headers that Mark sent into me. See the photo at http://www.jps.net/zparts/nonlinked/images/mowen_v8%20exhst.jpg I hope to be photographing Mark's car in more detail soon and I will try to zero in on his exhaust setup if possible and post more photos on my site later on. Eric Neyerlin ------------------ Z PARTS - Used & New Online Parts Inventory at http://www.jps.net/zparts/selectzp.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 19, 2000 Share Posted November 19, 2000 You guys have pretty much covered this topic well, but I'll go ahead and weigh in on it.. My system is a 2.5 inch system not unlike Pete's, But mine used duals coming out each side of the Fuel Cell. Now since I'm going with a wider cell, I have a space issue. I'll be looking at those SpinTech muffleras as well as Dynomaxes for the size limit. I had flowmasters, which were fine for about an hour of driving, but with no insullation in the car, it got a little noisy in my car. Hopefully the Dynomax or the SpinTech will be quiet enough. I'll have to look into the resonator tips as well. My system was custom built with an H-pipe and only 5 flanges: Two at the header, one in the center of the Hpipe, and two back before the mufflers. The system, including two Stainless corvette tailpipes ($80 for the pair) and the two mufflers, ran me about $650. I'm real happy with the workmanship of the system, but I'll be re-engineering the back section from the final two flanges at the mufflers back. Anybody get a chance to hear thos Spintechs? Let us know what they sound like! Mike ------------------ "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 20, 2000 Share Posted November 20, 2000 I shot a mail off to one of the partners of Spintech asking about sounds samples. I told him of my interest in their product and about some of the projects on HybridZ He sent a reply rather quickly as such: "Don, we are working on a web page dedicated to sound bites on a wide verity of cars. The only site for sure is a DAKOTA R/T club site and maybe Mufflex, who is a dealer of ours.I've heard a pair on an early Z with a big block Chevy, sounded awesome. the owner had a pair of 2 chamber FM, said the SPINTECH was a much better choice. cleaner more crisp, and just sounded more smoother.......Ron " It took a bit of scratching, but here is two links that have the sound samples of Spintechs. These are both on Dodge Dakota R/T's with the 360 v/8. One is mellow, one is rad. Mellow: http://blackdakrt.com/mpegs/bill.mpeg Rad: http://blackdakrt.com/mpegs/spintech.mpg To my ear they do sound as Ron put it, cleaner with a little less booming, but your ear may vary. For comparison, they have Flowmaster samples on some trucks (select Mpegs from the site menu): http://blackdakrt.com/ Regards, Lone [This message has been edited by lonehdrider (edited November 20, 2000).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nosz350 Posted November 21, 2000 Share Posted November 21, 2000 I KINDLY LIKE THE MELLOW SOUND,WHAT ABOUT YA"LL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Speaker Posted November 30, 2000 Share Posted November 30, 2000 yes, i concur, what kind of exhaust is on that mellow dakota? i can imagine what 6k-7k rpms sounds like ------------------ ------------------------ looking at a 240Z V8 conversion project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.