Has anyone removed the resonator from their Alta exhaust? The reason I ask, is I can't seem to get the exhaust positioned right so that the resonator doesn't sit against the heat shield of the car, making it extremely loud inside.

I was wondering if it would be extremely loud outside if I were to just put a straight pipe in place of the resonator section.

Thoughts?

 

Might drone a little bit...

But the Alta exhaust is pretty quiet, so maybe it'd help to open up the exhaust a bit!

 

Is the Alta muffler straight-through or chambered?

 

I know the mufflers are different between the r53 and r56 but for what it's worth I removed my resonator because mine was banging on the middle heat shield and was dying. I loved the sound but the drone on the highway between 65 and 80 mph is insanely annoying inside the cabin. 2 weeks after removal I put in a magnaflow resonator that was a little skinnier but longer than the Alta res. sorry, I don't remember the part number.

also, I had an Alta header with hi flow cat.

 

Are other people having issues with the resonator touching the heat shield or should I just spend some more time trying to get it aligned properly?

 

Mines been doing the same i tried fixing it by placing some thick foam where it was hitting most on the heat shield but it just muffles the sound but its there but not as bad.

 

I took the reso off of my R55 JCW, and it sounds a lot better! No resonation what so ever, just a good healthy exhaust note!

I bought the full ALTA exhaust, turbo back, and was leary about throwing on a system that has another reso on it. Let alone, from what I can tell, the ALTA system is pretty quiet, and I definitely don't want to throw on a $1,500 exhaust system and make it quieter!

But yer saying yer reso hits the heat shield? That's unacceptable to me. I'll either sell the system, or be putting in a straight pipe.

 

The resonator is straight through, but OH LORD does it love to flex and bang into the heat shield!

 

So is the one on the JCW, so I didn't think it'd make much a difference it sound, but it does.

 

What I did is get some pipe clamps and tightened them down on that metal plate under the car that covers the pipe. I then torqued everything to spec (185 in lbs) and left the clamps on for a day or two. I re-torqued everything, took the clamps off, and it's been working like a champ ever since. No more noise! No more vibrations! I would recommend making sure the downpipe-resonator connection is perfectly aligned (get the two rubber grommets fairly level) before messing with anything down the line. It took me a couple hours of tweaking, but I got it!!

 

Sound clips!

BTW, was everything still aligned when you got it back?

 

My resonator was having this problem as well because of how huge it was. It was banging right at the v-band section onto the head sheild between the res and muffler section.

I ended up having my fab buddy remove that v-band section completely and putting a tiny angle when welding so that it doesnt get near it.

I have no rubbing issues what so ever anymore.

 

This is a different solution than what you ask, but consider this:
Mine never hit, so I'm not sure why yours would but have a guy throw it up on a lift and see if you can move it forward/backward and get it to stop. You could also throw some spacers on the shield for some vertical clearance if the pipe also hits.

 

That is a good idea as well. Ive heard both that some people have clearance issues and some do not. I attmempted to loosen every v-band the exhaust had and re-twist and re-fit the exhaust, but every time I tightened it up, the v-band on the back of the resonator would immediately hit the car..at the section that would touch chassis of course. lol

 

Maybe you cut too far to the back of the car, assuming this is a cat-back. There is a lot of wiggle room in the fittings that bolt to the rest of the exhaust, but maybe another inch forward you could make it fit properly.

 

People with catbacks...this could be a way to fix that issue. I had to custom fab it though since I have the turboback and still had this issue :-\. Worth the exhaust note though!

 

Wiggle it around. But you could place some kind of heat resistent padding in between the exhaust and the heat shield. But I don't know if I would take it out cause it might make it raspy and ricey.But on the other hand it might sound awesome. Take it out with and have a test pipe fabbed up so that you can interchange them. Also make sure all the bolts and nuts and clamps are tight enough it might have loosened up and needs to be tightened back down.

 

Custom fab on a $1500 exhaust system? So anyone wanna buy my unused ALTA turbo-back for a Clubbie?

 

Im just good like that . Mine was far from an ordinary fit...It was a constant battle of loosening every single v-band clamp for wiggle room from the downpipe back for nearly a week.

But, the good news is...it still fits any Cooper S perfectly, no issues what so ever with rubbing or even close anymore, and my buddy TIG welded the section (its only about 4" long) with stainless so its a one of a kind, rare mini exhaust now