Thanks to Rick, Tony and Matt--some of the long-termers (I think that's actually a prison term, but I use it lovingly) on NAM. If *they* say this is hard, seconded by Jan, then I truly believe my current experience is par for the course. I'd like to shoot a birdie, but par will do...
I haven't heard from Juston so far this week, as he's waiting on the black chrome oval tip to be made, but hopefully soon, and I can give Ver.III a try.
If I can get close in 3, I'm way ahead of 9...

PS, I've been writing up my car for the Alliance's 1st anniversary issue, and it's been more a walk down memory lane than a list of mods. Thanks to all the wonderful people here on NAM--young and old, new and jaded.
Threads like this prove that the heart of NAM is very much beating strongly.

 

Contributing to this kinda stuff is where the real fun is at. I kinda wanna start cutting up the new car to start another straight back exhaust setup after re reading through this thread a bit, hehe.


There are quite a few new ideas and better ways of going about doing things that I never thought of when I did the silver car in this thread alone.

Even though this was probably the biggest waste of money on my silver car (just because of the wasted tubing, custom hangars, flanges and mufflers) it was also the most fun, IMO.

 

Hey Matt, long time. Been out of the country for dang near half of 08... Was hoping you would invite me to Cal/Stanford hoops again, but given the odd outcome last time, I wasn't holding my breath. Good, competitive game, but you guys got us...

You've heard my MINI before, is it really loud? Very few have heard it here on NAM...

 

It looks like I'll be installing in <3 weeks. The Supersprint resonator w/ center pipe is being shipped from Italy (thanks ProMini) & today I ordered a custom muffler by Coast Performance (Coast Fabrication): 2.50IN/2.50OUT/4.50OD/19L/GLAS; weight = 3.xx lbs. I have some Schwarze carbon fiber exhaust tips coming. Combined with the header, it should be pretty sweet. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Oh, yeh! Can't wait to see how this works out for you Fracky. Juston should be shipping mine tomorrow if all went well. Those CF tips are hawt. I went with an oval tip as I really wanted something unexpected. Black chrome should suit the overall theme of my car (of course, CF would too...haha)

 

K, the CF tips should be here tomorrow & the Supersprint resonator + center pipe in 1 week. Tonight, I came home to a much awaited suprise: custom order Coast Fabrication 2.5/4.5/22L muffler. Sweeeeeet. (Note: sorry for the crappiness of the photo quality- this was a quick snap with a 1st gen iPhone)

 

Looks nice Fracky.

What's your plan for exiting out the rear? The valence openning is about 3" lower than the tunnel/center pipe. If you don't drop somehow, the exhaust will go straight into the reverse light...

 

Like this?

 

Bingo. That's a photo I've never seen before... Actually, that doesn't look all that bad. Requires some trimming and the loss of the reverse light, at least in that spot...

You'd ideally want to make sure that you like this set-up before cutting things up.

 

Fracky: where are you gonna put that sucka? Do you think it will fit inside the central tunnel, or in the rear once you exit the tunnel? My measurements only have 25" between the tunnel (where the control links mount) and the valance, not leaving much room for a tip. My new oval tip is about 8" long (I can't wait to see what Juston did to get it on the muffler and still make the length limit...but we'll know tomorrow!!!)
Keep us in the loop, Fracky, thanks.

 

I run twin 2.5 " pipes down the tunel with the factory heat reflector in place. Should be room for that muffler with no problem Sweet muffler.

 

Yea, who needs a back up light?

 

The guy doing the inspection for your yearly sticker might be looking for a reverse light.

You could swap out the tail lights for '05/'06 which have the reverse light with the tails. May have to run some wires from your stock wiring location, but it would be neat and clean.

 

Yea, where I live we don't have to worry 'too' much about the law.
But true that one should have some replacement. A small one could placed somewhere, or as you say, taillight switchover.

 

Greg, if you are saying that he should put that bad boy in the tunnel, then he'll need cut his new SuperSprint center pipe in half to make that happen. Fracky, if you are cool with that, then great. If you don't like it though, then your center pipe might be of little use on your next attempt at something else.

If you put it post tunnel, as Phil said, a normal tip will stick-out pretty far, and as I said earlier, without a way drop 2+ inches, you'll need to do some surgery in the rear. These are fairly serious considerations for some just to try something. As Phil has learned, getting things right might take a few tries...

This is really the beauty and simplicity of inverting an offset muffler. The elevation delta is built-in to the muffler, at least the Borla one I used.

Just trying to offer some input that I hope might help.

 

Who needs a fancy tip?

Just slant cut a short piece of tubing and use that as a tip.

 

I agree Rick. Nothing wrong with that. I like the raw look at times, no doubt. I wanted to fill the valence openning, so I went oval, sort of Boxster like.

 

Also, I never had a problem with the midpipe having a 2 inch drop. I always used a dead straight piece of tubing. I would then hang the muffler, and make up the difference of the angle in the connection between the midpipe and the back of the muffler.

 

I think I follow you Rick. Are you saying that you use a straight pipe in the tunnel, not the typical MINI design that has an elevation gain? If so, and that gets you to the valence exit fine, that's great. That wouldn't help Fracky though as he's getting the SuperSprint center pipe, in the same design as the stock path in the tunnel...

 

Yeah. I couldn't see why the designed in that change in the tubing. It doesn't appear to be there for any clearance reasons.

Well if Fracky wanted to, for about $40 at Summit he could make one like mine, and add whatever resonator he likes. That would probably free up some more room to push the muffler closer to the rear subframe cross member.

 

I've discovered that one of the reasons the stock setups have a 15deg up coming out of the tunnel, then a 15deg down out of the muffler is to get the tip(s) to point slightly down. This makes water drip out of the tip more easily, and gives even straight cut tips a little "angle" to match the angle of the valance.
I personally don't like the V-dub upswept trumpet look on my car, but that's just me.

 

Good stuff Rick. I guess one would also need to get a flange welded (for behind the cat) and those support arms, as well as a resonator. Cost-wise, with the price of tubing, paying a welder (you probably did it yourself, as I recall) and a resonator, this route should be a little less expensive than buying a center pipe with resonator, like the SuperSprint. And, it's actually a straighter exhaust, without the elevation deltas.

This thread is a good resource for those contemplating such an exhaust.

 

I don't think a reputable welder would want more than $50 bucks or so to do all the welding for the midpipe. Even if you just wanted to build one to test it, you wouldnt be in the hole too deep.

If you bring the OEM one, or better yet, the Supersprint one to the welder he should be able to make a replica of it without having the car. I don't know what kind of sound he wants so I don't know what kind of resonator to suggest. The Borla has a deeper, richer sound. It eliminates alot more of the high frequencey. The Magnaflow has more of a buzz to it, but its louder than the Borla. The Magnaflow is also probably much cheaper...

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

This SLP resonator also has a wicked sound to it.


I'm thinking long and hard about doing this again with my new car. I really want to do it, but I wanna make it look absolutely perfect this time. I'm thinking of using stock size tubing, as i'm unsure still what the total lack of backpressure is doing to the torque. I think if one was to run 2.25" tubing to a 2.25" or 2.5" muffler, you would still have adequate backpressure. This is the series muffler I plan on using. I dont know what tip style I want yet though. I dont think i'll need a resonator with it because of the Y inside the muffler. I think that alone should cancel enough noise for me.








I'm almost certain my 3" straight pipe made power when I dyno'd my silver car, but I dont know how much torque I sacrificed for the power up top.

Hopefully this time I will be able to get some dyno time in to verify the changes. (Whatever they may be)

 

I'm also wondering if the stock exhausts have the bends to keep the exhaust higher for two reasons: ground clearance (more likely on the R56 since the battery box on the R53 hangs down quite a bit), and to keep the exhaust gases hotter so moving faster. I imagine the exhaust cools down faster if it's hanging in the middle of that blast of air moving under the car.

 

Well, I could see ground clearance as being one reason.

I'm not sure about keeping the gas hot to move fast though. Why would they bother making the gas flow freely and quickly till it hits the clusterf*ck of a resonator/muffler setup int he rear half? If anything, I would say that was their intention with the R56 since it is a turbo car and that is quite a bit more important when trying to spool that turbo up quickly.