Exhaust help / suggestions

[SirMaxximus]

Got my new project car up and running this week now that its spring! she's running nice and reliable and I've been driving it everyday this week. However the exhaust sounds horrible, so I need some help with it.

I haven't touched the exhaust yet, this is all work from the PO, so I want to know whats savable, what muffler/resonators and where to place them?.. Im running an m50tub25 and it has Ebay headers off it... besides that it has a muffler, unknown brand. its duel pipe all the way down to the muffler. it currently sounds extremely raspy, it rattles, obnoxiously loud but not in a good way. I know a lot of people run single pipe exhausts, is there a reason for this?

heres pictures, I'm good at fabricating and can weld things together. I want to know what I should run on this thing to make it sound good, whats usable on here, what I should buy and where to place them.. I'll be doing a turbo build on it within the next year so the keep in mind the backend can't be too restrictive. heres photos











backside of the headers:


frontside of the headers:



for reference I had a system U UUC cat back with stock mid pipe on my e36 m3 and I absolutely loved the sound it made.. I want it to growl and be loud at times but not obnoxious.. thanks in advanced for any help

heres a pic as she sits today for fun:

[marek|steezkal]

If you keep it dual pipe I would add an x or h in there somewhere and then add some resonators or a second muffler to bring the rasp down.

If single, add a Flowmaster Y at the bottom of the headers and run a 2.5" or so pipe to a center muffler (Borla Proxs seems to be popular) or resonator. Then another muffler at the end (Magnaflow or Vibrant seem good here).

Edit: Good looking car btw. Looks clean as hell.

[SirMaxximus]

If you keep it dual pipe I would add an x or h in there somewhere and then add some resonators or a second muffler to bring the rasp down.

If single, add a Flowmaster Y at the bottom of the headers and run a 2.5" or so pipe to a center muffler (Borla Proxs seems to be popular) or resonator. Then another muffler at the end (Magnaflow or Vibrant seem good here).

Edit: Good looking car btw. Looks clean as hell.

Thanks I just picked it up before winter with engine misfiring. now that its spring this is the first time i've actually gotten to drive it around all healthy and im absolutely loving it!

and that helps alot actually! I'm considering going single based on the idea of keeping it simple. I'd need to pick up a flowmaster Y, a resonator, a muffler, and some genaric 2.5io pipping. would that cause me any trouble in the future if I went MLS headgasket ARP turbo route for rougly 350ish hp range.

in the e36 world like to keep it duel, technically im running an e36 motor. if I keep it duel I can use alot of the same curves that are already there. what is most peoples opinions of what would sound best and be most reasonable?

[marek|steezkal]

For N/A, exhaust can be sort of a science (if you want to squeeze every bit of HP and TQ out of it). Dual pipes are better for flow characteristics like velocity, scavenging, etc.

For turbo, you just want a really free flowing single pipe. I bet others can chime in on what piping diameter is best for that HP range but there are so many variables like turbo size, tuning, fuel, etc.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I'm planning on running a single 2.5" pipe with a high flow cat, center muffler, and rear muffler. There will be v-band clamps on each side of the cat so that I can remove it to free up the flow once I add a turbo. Hopefully 2.5" can be reused since my power goals aren't anything crazy and the only thing that would need modifying is a downpipe connection.

Since you're boosting in the future, go single pipe but do some research on the size for your given future power goals. If you go bigger like 3", it may be a little bit louder and loose some torque while your N/A but if you're going turbo soon that would probably be fine.

[Northern]

I'm considering going single based on the idea of keeping it simple. I'd need to pick up a flowmaster Y, a resonator, a muffler, and some genaric 2.5io pipping. would that cause me any trouble in the future if I went MLS headgasket ARP turbo route for rougly 350ish hp range.

2.5" will work for a lower power turbo setup, but a 3" will be better. I would either keep the current setup as is, but add an X pipe and center resonator/muffler, or if you're sure you're going to turbo the car, then stick a Y pipe after the headers to 3" -> borla ProXS muffler at stock cat location -> vibrant muffler at the back.

3" is far from ideal for your current setup though, so if you're not certain you're going to boost it, I'd stick to modifying what you've got. You can always sell it when the time comes for boost.

[shocwav3]

Vibrant Resonator knocked my rasp completely out .

[SirMaxximus]

thank you everyone for the help... This was an immense help, I decided to basically scrap what I already had there.. I have a friend who can bend the pipping and do the welding for free for me.

I went with a flow master Y to 2.5inch with a borla pro xs mid muffler and a vibrant 1148 tip. I really tossed this all back and forth for some time, but all set and done I only spent $250ish on parts. I have no problem paying that little and spending an afternoon for it to feel and sound right while I gather turbo parts for the next year. once I get the turbo up and going I may just upgrade to 3inch and have the same friend do the welding for me again! I will post pictures and sounds when I have it up in a few weeks!

[marek|steezkal]

Awesome. In for sound clips once it's done.