916 TS Exhaust advice

[ugame]

Due to rust, I had the large middle muffler....erm....."replaced"

While this move has served me well in the past with other cars (300C V8), the result for the Twin Spark was not as desired.

It's marginally louder, very deep, and very drony.

Now, I'm not after trying to make a 4 pot sound like a V8. I'd rather celebrate the TS's tones.

What I AM after is that higher racing "barp barp" that I know these wonderful engines can produce. ...something like this.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PRvFxMrySE
Or this
https://youtu.be/klT5eGzBGXs?t=9s

Researching is hard as people dont give full details on YT of the setup, or those detailing setups on forums dont give a YT clip sample lol
Also you can find several clips that say "Ragazzon" (for example) but they all sound different, and the detail about which section is new, and which original resonators are left, is not included.

Any advice on setups?

What I think I know so far is as follows:

The TS has 4 mufflers in play as follows....

From the engine to back:

• Pre-muffler (small muffler/resonator (which?) right after the cat)
• Muffler (Large straight through glasspack) - This is what I have had removed.
• Resonator (large, right behind the muffler) - Will removing this give me the desired effect, or make it too loud?
• Exhaust tip (also with a small resonator)

Is my best option to remove everything after the pre-muffler, throw a small sports muffler in, and a nice exhaust tip/resonator of choice

being a cheap car I don't want to spent stupid money on a full system
Being a nice car, I don't want to cheap out and end up with the sound of a riced up lancer (which is what it now sounds like).

Thoughts......?
Or even advice about the sound change from straight piping each of the above components or combinations that have worked.

[alanm]

EB Spares UK offer a couple of alternatives that might deliver the result that you are are after.
You are looking at a few hundred plus delivery though.
Al

[ugame]

EB Spares UK offer a couple of alternatives that might deliver the result that you are are after.
You are looking at a few hundred plus delivery though.
Al

Cheers matey.

I had already had a look at eb spares offerings and they are very cost effective until you add freight sadly

Given a local exhaust guy can easily make up an alternative for less than the total cost.

The trick (even if buying pre-made items from somewhere like eb) is which sections to replace, to get the desired sound.

The 2nd video I posted has the most detailed information which may help me if I can find a similar "small silencer" locally.
Comment from the video poster states:
"Small original silencer after the catalyst and then 1 'small' silencer in the Ragazzon centre exhaust. "

And you can see from the footage that it doesn't have a silencer on the tip at all :O

The only annoying bit is he doesn't state if by "silencer" he means "resonator" or "muffler", but I guess I can research the exhaust and go from there. I'd be guessing it's a small glass pack muffler, but I could be wrong.

I think from here tbh, my next step is to just go back to the exhaust shop, discuss the sound I'm after, and look at options for a custom setup that includes the original muffler after the cat, and a sports glass pack mid section.

I may even just opt to chop out the large resonator and see where that gets us.

EDIT:
The guy who posted the first video from above, has answered my question
"They put in a new system with one muffler as opposed to 2. I would say it's much better sounding without alot of drone"

So seems I was on the right track with my thoughts.

[ugame]

Quick update on this.

Not happy with the drone from removing the middle resonator, I went back to the shop.

What we did was, put in a free flowing sports resonator (Redback J535 MN 8x4x16OC 2") and remove the muffler that follows it, and the resonator at the tip.

The sound is EXACTLY what I was after originally.

There is no drone at low revs at all.

Then when you choose to drive with some gusto, the car sings accordingly, with just a little burble on occasion on lift off.

Wonderful.

I'll do a video clip when I can.

So to be clear.....
THis is now the setup

From the engine to back:
Cat = still in place

• Small Resonator after the cat = still in place (Removing this will make it too loud we think, but I will be replacing this with a new one eventually as mine is beginning to rust)
• Large center Resonator = Now replaced with a slightly smaller than factory Redback.
• Large center Muffler = Removed
• Small Exhaust Tip Resonator = Removed

I used Peter at Exhaust World on Newcastle Street, Perth.
Great guy. True car enthusiast.
He was surprised at the results as he thought removing the rear resonator would make it sound crap, but I asked him to do it anyway

Total cost of all work, pipes, and resonator.....
$280 (across both visits)

[johnl]

I had already had a look at eb spares offerings and they are very cost effective until you add freight sadly

It's my experience that cost of actual parts (not only Alfa) sourced from UK can often be very good, but then the deal is completely blown out of the water buy ridiculous post / freight cost. It seems particularly expensive to send items out of the UK relative to other places, or there might be a culture of quoting low on prices and then adding on top for 'handling', or maybe post / freight in the UK is just exorbitant...?

Regards,
John.

[ugame]

I had already had a look at eb spares offerings and they are very cost effective until you add freight sadly

It's my experience that cost of actual parts (not only Alfa) sourced from UK can often be very good, but then the deal is completely blown out of the water buy ridiculous post / freight cost. It seems particularly expensive to send items out of the UK relative to other places, or there might be a culture of quoting low on prices and then adding on top for 'handling', or maybe post / freight in the UK is just exorbitant...?

Regards,
John.

Depends what it is. My Koni shocks, even WITH freight, were way under Koni RRP for Australia, or I'd have just purchased locally.

The larger the item, the more the freight, which is normal.

If buying large items, order some of the smaller stuff to go with the same package and I'm pretty sure both EB Spares and Alfaholics will look after you in how they box the items together.

Buying parts in bulk, or organizing a group can both help I guess.

Re the exhaust though, even the tempting price of the ready made systems from EB spares were significantly above the $280 I've paid for a completed job.

Lastly though, I don't think there is any way that places like EBSpares are under quoting price, only to put extra on the freight....for 2 reasons.

1) You could arrange your own freight.
2) The price is the price. If i were local in the UK, I could pop in and buy the same stuff at the same price (apart from the added VAT (tax)).

Alfaholics have great prices and if you're bulk buying, may sometimes cut you a deal.
EBSpares seem to often be rock bottom prices from the get go, and as a result I've heard they'll scoff at the suggestion of a discount.

I've happily dealt with both and will go back to either with no hesitation.

[poohbah]

Wow, $280 sounds like fantastic value. Might have to take my '81 in to Exhaust World for a quote.

[bteoh]

Good to hear of an exhaust shop in Perth that do good work. Might take my 75 Potenziata there to see if they can fit my middle section that I bought from centerline alfa. 

[granto]

great thread mate, thanks for the exhaust advice, exactly what i was looking for!
Granto

[ugame]

Here ya go guys.

Made a little video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ML-79HXuRw

[bonno]

Hi Ugame
Great video and the exhaust sound is quite pleasant throughout the rev range, without the deafening rumble noise. If I could offer just one suggestion and that is future videos it would be invaluable of a comparison of the two using the same/similar conditions road/driving, ie; before and after videos of muffler mod.
Cheers
bonno

[poohbah]

Cool - is that Jarrahdale you are driving through?

[ugame]

Cool - is that Jarrahdale you are driving through?

Bickley Valley up in the hills.

[ugame]

Hi Ugame
Great video and the exhaust sound is quite pleasant throughout the rev range, without the deafening rumble noise. If I could offer just one suggestion and that is future videos it would be invaluable of a comparison of the two using the same/similar conditions road/driving, ie; before and after videos of muffler mod.
Cheers
bonno

Yep good advice and the thought did cross my mind However this mod began kind of unexpectedly. An impulse purchase if you will lol.

"I'm cool with the price. When could you fit it in?"
"how about right now?"

lol.

You're right about consistantcy too, which is harder than you'd think.

Just as a heads up, for this video....
Talking part
Recorded on phone.

Behind the car external
GoPro 5 Black for video.
Zoom H1 audio recorder for sound, with the level set just right as to avoid peaking and distortion, positioned right next to the camera.

In Car
Go Pro Black for video.
Zoom H1 audio recorder for sound, again with the level set to TRY and avoid peaking (it peaked when I had window down as I dont have a wind sock yet, as can be heard in the latter part of the video.

Post Production
I use premier. Syncing the audio and then muting the sub par audio from the hero cam is easy enough but still time consuming. Chopping it together is easy too but again, takes a little bit of time but not much as I'm used to it.

However what IS "tricky" is then leveling the sound without creating a false impression of what it actually sounds like, and ensuring that it doesn't peak.

I used a hard limit of ~ -0.5 DB to avoid it going over 0 DB (thus peaking) which is why, in the "window down" section near the end, rather than hearing peaking, you can kind of hear the audio cut off, as the limiter kicks in.

Still perfecting the art.

I'll get there.

In Comparison, I hardly had to do anything to this one of my beetle, because it's so loud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLOsBhHNpLY

Ironically, there were some Younguns videoing the exhaust on thier "minitruck" in a car park the other day on a Sumsung S8, holding the phone waaaaay too close to the exhaust.

So I walked over to give them some friendly advice.

"Na mate. It came out fine actually?"

"Really?" I replied. "Can I hear it?"

You know what? He was right. It was fine.

Meh.

Hmmm..... in fact from memory, this one I did of my mates Brera was all done on my cheap phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvxAa2GEcYA