Exhaust Fabrication
One of the items that has been on my to do list for some time has been to build an exhaust for this car. My goals were twofold: save weight and make power while still being able to meet the strict sound restrictions at our local site.
Here is the finished product, from each end:
I owe a huge thanks to Ryan who provided information and a parts list for his exhaust, which I have mercilessly relied upon for mine.
Tubing: 3" Stainless
Merge: Burns Racing 2x2.25" > 1x2.75" > 1x3.0"
Catalytic Converter: Ciro Design Racing 3"
Resonator: Vibrant 1142
To the question about weight... I opted to keep the stock muffler on a V-Band as my local site has an uber low sound level. As you can see, retaining the stock muffler means the
grand total for weight loss is 3lbs (not including the weight removed from my wallet).
I didn't get a chance to weigh the stock muffler on its own, but I expect there is a 10lb weight reduction available at minimum with a race muffler. Weight is with street wheels on, etc so useful only to measure difference - this is not race weight for the car.
The sound itself is somewhat changed, but not much louder - it is clear that the muffler is the primary control on the sound level and leaving it unchanged did just that. It has a somewhat racier sound with the new resonator and cat - a mild change, but a nice improvement. For a "daily driver" this is a perfect sound in my opinion.
I have not dyno'd the car before/after but am looking forward to continuing down the road with a custom tune. I am pleased with the ability to swap back and forth between mufflers and will play with this further, but this was the project I wanted to get done as I can't do it at home myself. I'm very pleased with the fabrication work that
MDA Fabrication did for me - a shout out to them, I'd happily use them again.
Cheers,
Mark