After posting this to our local MINI club board (PSMINI.org), I thought I'd also post it here, as other MINI enthusiasts might be interested as well. This June I visited my family in Germany and during that trip my father and I took his 2007 MCS (my mother actually drives it) to a custome exhaust shop. He has one from the same shop on his Z3 and it was now time to give the MINI the look and sound it deserves
We spent a total of 7 hours at the shop, as the exhaust was fabricated from scratch and piece by piece assembled right infront of our eyes. Staying true to German engineering, these guys took their time and made triple sure everything was perfect. Rather than calling them engineers or fabricators, I should actually call them artists, as that's the kind of dedication they have to their work. We told them what kind of sound we wanted and they built based on that. When discussing sound, we were lectured that you have to know more about music and frequencies than engineering...as I said, they're artists

So, follow along as the MINI lost it's stock exhaust and was given a new beautiful looking and sounding backside...

(For the full picture set, click here.)

Before the Facelift (or should I say Bootlift)...


Loudness of stock exhaust being measured to stay within stringent German TUV guidelines


Off comes the old...


Template for new muffler being prepared...


The work begins...




This is were old will meet new...




The muffler is done and being fitted now


The amount of steel wool, glass wool, and perforated pipe inside the muffler is where all the magic for getting a nice deep sound lies...




Another piece of the puzzle being put into place


Time to pick-out the exhaust tips. It was like getting warm bread from the bakery. We could choose from a round or oval tips in different sizes. They were still warm (literally) after just coming out of the polishing room . We opted for 90mm diameter round tips (the ones on top). Although I also liked the oval look on the MINI - looked very aggressive.


Adjusting for the correct placement of the tips.




Connecting tips and muffler


After everything was aligned, spot welding held everything together and then it was time to put the finishing welds and polishing on the whole exhaust system.

And here we go...












And an nice new shiny behind...


The final sound test. The car had to be presented to the TUV and they did another sound test and it passed. The drive over there had to be really slow and at low revs, so that not too much of the new wool gets burned. On the drive home I really let the MINI loose and you could hear a definite deeper gurgle. Gotta love driving 130mph on the Autobahn to burn some of the steel wool


It will take another thousand miles or so for it develop even more sound. All in all though, it was a great way to spend the day!

 

sweeeeeeeeet!
great summary. great post. I like that they built the exhaust and then got it inspected but the sound of the exhaust will develop over time as it breaks in.

 

After 12 years in Germany, this does not surprise me. I am sure the work was done by members of the exhaust guild!

 

fascinating,So the shop makes everything.Mufflers and all.Pretty cool.Thanks for sharing .

 

Wow!!! thanks for sharing. Gotta love the pride in crafting and finishing.

 

any video? Whats the name of he shop, I would like to stop by.

 

This was great! Thanks.

 

Looks great,.....sound clip?

 

Great write with pictures!! Didn't leave us hanging, except for maybe the sound clip...however, after reading this it made me want to start throwing steel wool into my muffler! haha Again, awesome write up and lets hear some clips of the growl!

 

7 hours start to finish...

how long from the time a vendor announces they'll have an exhaust until it's ready for sale?

 

^^^