Exhaust Upgrade

[Lexiguy]

Hi Martin

It appears they are proper exhaust fabricators looking at the pipes on the rack to the side.

If no-one comes back with any negative comments it is near enough for you to call in to check them out. 

After chatting to them I think you will know if they are any good.

Good luck, Anthony 

 

[Neil E]

9 hours ago, Wardair said:

Hi Neil,

I appreciate your feedback. I also felt the price was pitched high and the fabricator was hardly enthusiastic about the job which put me off straight away.

Do you know anything about Style Dynamics in High Wycombe? Looks like they do a stainless system at a more reasonable price (see pic).

Martin

 

I don't know them but they look much better, it's one of the Powerflow franchise, they tell a good story, seem enthusiastic and that's a decent looking SS exhaust set up for an SC. 

3rd cat delete, Y merge out to 2 resonators, dual into the rear box and out to the tails. 

14 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

Hi Neil

Always the voice of knowledge and experience, good to hear your words of wisdom!

🐜

🤣🤣 Following my advice should probably come with a health/wealth warning Ant.🙃 I spent eye-watering amounts of time and money on the exhaust.🤣

For words of wisdom, listen to Bob. 👍

[Wardair]

14 hours ago, Neil E said:

I don't know them but they look much better, it's one of the Powerflow franchise, they tell a good story, seem enthusiastic and that's a decent looking SS exhaust set up for an SC. 

3rd cat delete, Y merge out to 2 resonators, dual into the rear box and out to the tails. 

🤣🤣 Following my advice should probably come with a health/wealth warning Ant.🙃 I spent eye-watering amounts of time and money on the exhaust.🤣

For words of wisdom, listen to Bob. 👍

Hi Neil, I am planning to go and see them soon to explore options (mainly amount of silencing) and price. Is there any downside to the 3rd cat delete? Will ULEZ compliance technically be lost? They have given me an additional price to add a sports cat as the 3rd but it adds £200 + vat.

Martin

[Neil E]

It was designed and built with 3 cats but lots of owners have removed the 3rd cat without having issues with the MOT emissions test.

If it's a high flow sports cat then I doubt it will make any significant difference to the performance or the sound but it should lower the emissions and help the environment by a small fraction.🙂

If substantial, the rear silencer does most of the noise reduction and keeps it 'civilised.' Retaining the centre resonators as well should limit the sound to what I would call a 'mild sports' tone. Others advocate keeping the centre resonators or fitting small mufflers instead and removing the rear silencer but it's much louder. It also results in a void where the rear box should sit and that can't help the air flow. 

 I drew this a little while ago for one of the many similar exhaust threads.🤣 

 I've become one of those old fellas who tell the same old story like a broken record on Groundhog Day.🙄🤣

 

[Wardair]

21 hours ago, Neil E said:

It was designed and built with 3 cats but lots of owners have removed the 3rd cat without having issues with the MOT emissions test.

If it's a high flow sports cat then I doubt it will make any significant difference to the performance or the sound but it should lower the emissions and help the environment by a small fraction.🙂

If substantial, the rear silencer does most of the noise reduction and keeps it 'civilised.' Retaining the centre resonators as well should limit the sound to what I would call a 'mild sports' tone. Others advocate keeping the centre resonators or fitting small mufflers instead and removing the rear silencer but it's much louder. It also results in a void where the rear box should sit and that can't help the air flow. 

 I drew this a little while ago for one of the many similar exhaust threads.🤣 

 I've become one of those old fellas who tell the same old story like a broken record on Groundhog Day.🙄🤣

 

Hi Neil,

Many thanks for the 'old fella' story. This info will help me in my discussion with the fabricator. I plan to visit them either tomorrow or Tuesday so they can inspect the system. I may still go for the third 'sports' cat to ensure ULEZ emissions compliance, as I have n doubt the ULEZ zone will be extended in the not too distant future. This extra spend will be my 'green' contribution 😉

Martin

[Wardair]

Visited Style Dynamics today and very impressed. Clearly very experienced exhaust fabricators and currently working on some very interesting cars.

A replacement system as per standard but without 3rd cat in Stainless is £1,100 as on eBay.

Unfortunately, I will need front flanges repaired (cut and weld new SS flanges and O2 sensor port onto existing front cats).

Now the difficult part, deciding if I should add the 3rd cat and what length of resonators to have fitted (16 inch is the standard length installed but these can be shortened to 9 inch to add some volume).

Rear box will be same size as the standard box (this is a Full Flow standard box used for Nissan and Lexus) so larger than the one pictured in my early post. They do not put the little plastic airflow parts back on the new box(not sure how important these are to underfloor airflow (see pic)?).

Can anyone help with the resonator length to go for?  This is a tough call as once it is made it will cost me to change if I get it wrong. It is a shame these companies do not have an exhaust sound sample volume table in decibels and example audio clips.

[Lexiguy]

Hi Martin 

Did you read back through my earlier messages on this exhaust feed because I had exactly the same dilemma as you?

In the end I trusted the exhaust place to replicate what type of sound I wanted and the volume.

Much to my amazement the tone and volume was exactly right!

So if you trust them explain what you want and cross your fingers...

Anthony

[Wardair]

3 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

Hi Martin 

Did you read back through my earlier messages on this exhaust feed because I had exactly the same dilemma as you?

In the end I trusted the exhaust place to replicate what type of sound I wanted and the volume.

Much to my amazement the tone and volume was exactly right!

So if you trust them explain what you want and cross your fingers...

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

I didn't see anything on noise volume was it in another thread?

Whilst I trust they will make a great exhaust system, they are a sports specialist and had a hot rod which they were building a custom manifold for and a pickup which when they moved it sounded more like a racing car. When I said it would nice if my car could have a bit louder/sporty exhaust note, he said what is loud to you may be quiet for me and I really have to make the decision on length of resonator. The rear box they proposed is a high flow so will also let more sound out.

Late news: I have now found another fabricator very local to me who said he can do the job (did an SC some time ago) and is prepared to reuse the center cat if it is OK and suggested that the rear box (body) may be stainless but with mild steel pipes and this could possibly be reused if I wanted to save money but this would mean the car would still be quiet as a mouse.

I am awaiting his price.

Martin

Martin

[Wardair]

4 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

Hi Martin 

Did you read back through my earlier messages on this exhaust feed because I had exactly the same dilemma as you?

In the end I trusted the exhaust place to replicate what type of sound I wanted and the volume.

Much to my amazement the tone and volume was exactly right!

So if you trust them explain what you want and cross your fingers...

Anthony

Hi Anthony,

sorry now seen your other thread and listened to your recording. Many thanks for that, can you tell me what size/make of rear box you have?

Martin

[Lexiguy]

Hi Martin

I have put her away in the garage and I don't want to disturb her! lol

I will look tomorrow, find its name, get its dimensions and message you.

Are you still coming to the meet on Sunday, if so you can listen to several with modified exhausts. Pick the one you like best and then photograph, video, measure and record names!

If you are coming up Saturday you can listen to mine on the road!

Anthony 

[Lexiguy]

Hi Martin 

It was on another topic in SC430 club started by me called: exhaust lol

[Wardair]

10 hours ago, Lexiguy said:

Hi Martin

I have put her away in the garage and I don't want to disturb her! lol

I will look tomorrow, find its name, get its dimensions and message you.

Are you still coming to the meet on Sunday, if so you can listen to several with modified exhausts. Pick the one you like best and then photograph, video, measure and record names!

If you are coming up Saturday you can listen to mine on the road!

Anthony 

Hi Anthony, Still not sure about Sunday but the opportunity to listen to your car and several others makes it a stronger possibility.

Opportunity for someone to do a video comparing the various modified exhaust set ups and put it on the forum?

Martin

[Lexiguy]

Hi Martin 

I really hope you can make it, you will really enjoy seeing so many vehicles in one place. If its the distance, Tom and I have booked in at a great local hotel called Haighs Hotel on Saturday night for less than £80 including breakfast. 

Dr Will says he is coming and he is a YouTuber so I will ask him!

Regards, Anthony 

[Glyn Jennings]

Just had a new section made up and fitted today to delete the resonators. I am a little surprised that the exhaust noise is still pretty quiet with the standard back box muffler fitted. I need to pop in back to the fabricator as one of my tail pipe tips is slightly lower than the other one. Once that is done I am going to put back on the new rear exhaust I had made up at the beginning of the year which is straight through that I subsequently had to take off because of the drone. Getting the sound I want without drone is proving difficult.

[Neil E]

There are lot's of SC exhaust audio clips on youtube including mine with and without resonators but it would be useful to hear a few back to back recorded on the same device.

We may need to do some PR ahead of time as the pub neighbourhood may not welcome their peaceful Sunday afternoon disrupted by an entire choir of 3UZ V8s. 

[Wardair]

On 7/5/2022 at 12:56 PM, Wardair said:

Visited Style Dynamics today and very impressed. Clearly very experienced exhaust fabricators and currently working on some very interesting cars.

A replacement system as per standard but without 3rd cat in Stainless is £1,100 as on eBay.

Unfortunately, I will need front flanges repaired (cut and weld new SS flanges and O2 sensor port onto existing front cats).

Now the difficult part, deciding if I should add the 3rd cat and what length of resonators to have fitted (16 inch is the standard length installed but these can be shortened to 9 inch to add some volume).

Rear box will be same size as the standard box (this is a Full Flow standard box used for Nissan and Lexus) so larger than the one pictured in my early post. They do not put the little plastic airflow parts back on the new box(not sure how important these are to underfloor airflow (see pic)?).

Can anyone help with the resonator length to go for?  This is a tough call as once it is made it will cost me to change if I get it wrong. It is a shame these companies do not have an exhaust sound sample volume table in decibels and example audio clips.

Of course these air flow deflectors are NOT plastic - what was I thinking? - M

[lawler999]

Do what I did .

Copy what Neil did to his , and then proceed to tell everyone how brilliant it is .  Cheers Neil saved me a lot of flapping about .

[Neil E]

6 minutes ago, lawler999 said:

Do what I did .

Copy what Neil did to his , and then proceed to tell everyone how brilliant it is .  Cheers Neil saved me a lot of flapping about .

Paul has third cat delete, a good X pipe, no resonators, big sports rear box and it sounds very nice with just a hint of rasp where I think the X pipe has the extra scavenging effect to improve the flow. I would not be surprised if Paul's car has an extra 5-10 bhp.

Don't copy me unless you have a screw loose, deep pockets and a desperate need for more power. The PPE headers are a very expensive and difficult project for around 25-30 extra bhp, perhaps 40 with a decent tune to trim the fuel/air ratio at the top end. Until PPE offer a complete set for a left hand drive car, it will be difficult to find anyone brave enough to build the off side header, it requires a high degree of skill and the engine needs to be lifted off the mounts.  

[Lexiguy]

On 7/5/2022 at 8:54 PM, Wardair said:

Hi Anthony,

sorry now seen your other thread and listened to your recording. Many thanks for that, can you tell me what size/make of rear box you have?

Martin

Hi Martin

Sorry, you asked me 5 days ago for some information about my exhaust but it slipped my mind until now! It's not my age, it's the mileage! Although it is possibly both now!

The rear box is oval, 76cm long and 30cm wide. Not named but I believe they make their own.

Sorry for the wait, Anthony 

[lawler999]

Here's mine,  which was gratefully copied from Neil's. 

I basically did what Neil said and it came out just right .

Watch till the end as a security guard comes over to see what I'm doing 

[Wardair]

Quick update on my exhaust repair/upgrade.

I found a local stainless exhaust fabricator and discussed my needs which was essentially fixing the completely rotted flanges and at the same time improving the exhaust volume/tone.

After much discussion he suggested we could re-use the existing stainless components and re-build using new stainless pipe. As I could not decide on what new rear box to fit (for a totally new system he would have put in new resonators and two smaller rear boxes), I went with the rebuild option which still gives me the option to change the rear box for something sportier at a later date. So the car is still very quiet but I have already got used to that.

I asked him to retain the third cat as the ULEZ is to be extended to within a few miles from where I live and I am not sure if removing it might have caused a future potential emissions standards problem?

The picture below was taken at the restorers who are now doing the under-body rust treatment (see other thread which I will update when I get the car back).

Martin

 

[Glyn Jennings]

I updated my build thread with my latest work on my exhaust. How owners live with how loud the exhaust is when it is straight through pipes from the 3rd cat to the tips I don’t know. It is OK in the the car with the roof and windows up but is really loud outside the car. To much for me and I am not sure it is even at a legal level so I will be taking the straight through muffler section off again. It certainly gets peoples attention though if that is what you want.

[mr2lad]

21 hours ago, Glyn Jennings said:

I updated my build thread with my latest work on my exhaust. How owners live with how loud the exhaust is when it is straight through pipes from the 3rd cat to the tips I don’t know. It is OK in the the car with the roof and windows up but is really loud outside the car. To much for me and I am not sure it is even at a legal level so I will be taking the straight through muffler section off again. It certainly gets peoples attention though if that is what you want.

Ohhhh you old fuddy duddy 😉 … be youthful and roar around the streets, im nearing 56 but feel 21 again in my car but realistically look and ache like a 80yr old 😂

[Glyn Jennings]

3 hours ago, mr2lad said:

Ohhhh you old fuddy duddy 😉 … be youthful and roar around the streets, im nearing 56 but feel 21 again in my car but realistically look and ache like a 80yr old 😂

The thing is if I had wanted to sound like a Subaru  or a Ford Focus with a 6” exhaust I would have bought one of them. I really  like a good sounding exhaust having had a TVR in the past but there is a level where it becomes obnoxious almost sounding like the exhaust is blowing and that how mine ended up in my opinion. 
Today I am really pee’d off as I put the OEM muffler box back on only to find one of the tailpipes is dropping again. When I had the new section made up without the resonators I had to take it back to the fabricator for the same issue. I now realise they fudged the fix as when I took the muffler off I noticed it was only secured on one side so obviously the alignment is still not right on the new section they made. 
I am starting to wish I hadn’t now gone down the exhaust modification route as both times I have had bits made they have not been right for some reason or other so wasted a lot of money and not got what I am looking for. 
The only saving grace is I still have the old sections of the exhaust which are in good condition. Thankfully a lot of owners have ended up with a modification they are happy with but unfortunately so far it has eluded me.

[Russ59]

On 9/6/2022 at 1:47 PM, Glyn Jennings said:

I updated my build thread with my latest work on my exhaust. How owners live with how loud the exhaust is when it is straight through pipes from the 3rd cat to the tips I don’t know. It is OK in the the car with the roof and windows up but is really loud outside the car. To much for me and I am not sure it is even at a legal level so I will be taking the straight through muffler section off again. It certainly gets peoples attention though if that is what you want.

This is going to be my worry next week when my car goes in for a new exhaust.

I want that V8 rumble but not overly loud.

I was also asked if I want one big back box as original or two smaller ones, one either side, which I might plump for.