exhaust sounds a little ricey :/

[Phillip]

Exhaust is sounding a bit ricey when accelerating.

 

My previous exhaust setup was Stock manifold with 2inch piping to a cat, then 2.5" piping, with that I think dynomax muffler that comes with MSA's exhaust kits. It sounded ok, wasn't really loud, I liked it but I also wanted it a bit louder and a little different sound.

 

I cleaned up my rusted MSA 3-2-1 Header, pop those back on, and changed the piping up to the Cat to 2.5" (although it still drops down to 2inch right before the Cat) then 2.5" with the dynomax muffler that comes with MSA's exhaust kits.

 

When I got everything welded up I listened to the exhaust at idle was thought ok nice, its a bit louder kinda still has the same tone oh well. Dropped my friend off at his house revved up the car a bit, then he noted that it was sounding a bit ricey. So I went around to the back of the car while he revved it for me, and yep it crossed that fine line, between a raspy muscle car sound, and the raspy civic sound. We did however advance my timing a little bit before we listened to the exhaust, cuz the damn car won't idle smoothly. Could having the timing a little too far advanced affect the sound?

 

I know that the headers with the 2.5" piping relieved a lot of backpressure so that changes the sound.

I guess my question is, is it my timing that could have changed the sound, or I need to go to a different muffler?

and would a Flowmaster Super 44 muffler solve my problem? cuz i've been needing an excuse to buy one lol (im not the most knowledgeable about exhaust systems so yeah im thinking the changing the timing would have nothing to do with it, but its the only thing I did to the engine after I got the exhaust welded up, but before I noticed the sound of the car sooo idk)

 

I can try and make an exhaust clip if needed idk how great the sound quality is on my camera though.

[jhill]

unbolt the header and run the exhaust right out of the block, that'll fix it right up

[Phillip]

unbolt the header and run the exhaust right out of the block, that'll fix it right up

haha it would, but i'd be deaf the next day

my car idles like its a muscle car, but once you step on the gas it screams import which sucks :/

[PurePontiacKid]

So does it basically sound like this?

 

I personally don't think it's ricey, but I don't like the way it sounds. I've got a 2.5" exhaust with Cherry Bomb mufflers and no cat with my header... it's loud, but I love the way it sounds:

 

I had alot of exhaust leaks when I made that vid, I fixed most of them now (along with altering the header quite a bit), but it's up on jackstands so I don't really want to make a vid with the car immobile lol

[19762802+2]

 

This is my personal favorite, supposedly this is what this guy did for the exhaust "Monza header with a straight pipe going into the race Magnaflow 6" tube".

[datsun723]

I'm personally a fan of the twice pipes with 3-2-1 headers but I'm biased lol.

 

Maybe take a quick vid Phillip so we can get an idea of what your Z sounds like.

[Phillip]

Ok it idles with muscle but once i step on it sounds like this civic when he is revving it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNBlwnecdcs

Really pissing me off feel embarrassed to drive the car lol it starts sounding like the civic around 2300+ so as of right now im shifting before that lol. It's just the muffler right?

[at-jefft]

cuz the damn car won't idle smoothly.

 

might wanna fix that, and see if it also helps your exhaust issues.

[Phillip]

Friend tells me my car might be idling rough because it sounds like it has a cam in it. Although I know I have alot of carbon buildup on my valves. because everytime I drive car real hard grey smoke comes out of the tailpipe.

On the stock cam for the L28E, does it say JAPAN near I think it was approx. 6th or 5th cylinder, valves? just to see if I have stock cam lol.

 

idk if the idle has to do too much because the engine smoothes out around 2500

 

Looked at MSA and the muffler is a 'walker turbo' muffler? idk im confused I just wanna get rid of the civic sound asap lol

[PurePontiacKid]

hack the muffler off? lol

 

nothing quite like the sound of a straight pipe L-series

[Phillip]

so that civic sound is caused by the generic 'turbo' muffler right? if so im gonna buy a new muffler tomorrow from autozone, they have 2.5" Flowmaster Super 44's in stock

[JMortensen]

Flowmaster will give it that underwater burble, but they generally suck for flow so you'll probably lose some power to get that "I drove my car into a lake" sound.

 

I kinda like the 2.5" super turbo sound. Here's mine from about 8 years ago: http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=15578

[Phillip]

Flowmaster will give it that underwater burble, but they generally suck for flow so you'll probably lose some power to get that "I drove my car into a lake" sound.

 

I kinda like the 2.5" super turbo sound. Here's mine from about 8 years ago: http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=15578

If my muffler made it sound like that I would definately keep it, but it goes from a really nice sound at idle to sounding like the civic in that video clip I put up :/ I got no clue why my exhaust is sounding like this, cuz when I had the stock manifold with 2inch piping up to the cat, sounded relatively like yours, (just not as great a note as yours did) now with headers and only about 2 inches of 2inch piping (so it can get into the cat) its horrible sound 2300rpm+ around 4800rpm I can't hear the exhaust anymore, only the engine and it seems to sound better though lol

 

I like the underwater burble sound more than the import sound so... im prob gonna buy one tomorrow morning and get it on. before anyone at school hears the car lol

[josh817]

hack the muffler off? lol

 

nothing quite like the sound of a straight pipe L-series

Oh like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXs1svOc5s

That was the first drive for the motor. Its a 3.1L motor, triple Webers, MSA 6-1 header that I cut the collector back to have a 3" outlet rather than 2.5". It was open header. Because it was the first drive on the motor, I took it easy, the one rev up was partial throttle (nothing over 4500RPM I think). I find full throttle runs with these carbs is retardedly loud, even with a muffler.

 

This video is kind of dumb because of how cocky I was. It was my first official open header drive... One where I good thrash, since the motor is broken in and all, so I was excited.

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a333/josh817/?action=view&current=CIMG1147-1.flv

 

In the video I had switched headers. I bought it wanting the 6-3-2 design however I'm not sure if its MSA or what. In the How To Modify Your Datsun book, they show a header that looks exactly the same with the measurements. If it is indeed a "Cyclone" header, I wouldn't know if its something rare or worthwhile. Its just what I run.

 

I can say one thing. If you want a deeper exhaust note, you will have to sacrifice exhaust velocity, which isn't good for the system as far as an N/A motor goes. I run a 3" pipe and the exhaust note is deep, I don't like it. I know the velocity is horribly low because when you stand behind the muffler, you can barely feel the exhaust blowing on your from 1-2 feet away. At my fathers shop, we had a Mini come in that had like a 1.25" exhaust pipe. I was standing like 5 feet away and I could feel it blowing on me. It had that buzzy 4 cylinder sound to it.

 

For PurePontiacKid: Lol I left you a comment on your video, in case if you're the dude who found the Clifford header in the junk yard...

Edited April 25, 2010 by josh817

[ComicArtist]

I don't quite get how a L-series sounds like a civic under any circumstances.

[zeeboost]

I vote for something along the lines of a turbo/super turbo muffler. I've always liked their exhaust note, but to each their own. As for your situation, I feel the same way about my '76 280z:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csS76v9IUbY

 

The exhaust setup is headers 3-2-1 headers with 2.5 exhaust to a universal bullet muffler. I'm pretty convinced the muffler is the culprit to the "riceyness" of the exhaust tone (video exaggerates the riceyness a bit, but you get the idea). I put tripple webers on this one, and at WOT and higher rpms, the exhaust almost starts mimic an old-school exotic 6. So, I've left it alone for now - but in conclusion, I figured if I want to make it sound better, I can either crank up the compression and add a larger cam with ported headwork, or just buy a different muffler As mentioned earlier, my vote is for turbo style muffler. I've always wondered how a spintech would sound on a Z, though. You can be the guinea pig.

Edited May 11, 2010 by zeeboost

[zeeboost]

Yay double post!

Edited May 11, 2010 by zeeboost