So after a few months of seemingly endless careful thought and lots of YouTube-ing, I finally decided on exhaust. I decided I wasn't spending some retarded amount of money for 4 feet of pipe with two slight bends in it. I want an exhaust for the sound, at least for now that is. Maybe later I will consider a custom 2.5"+ but for now, I want it to look and sound good. That is why i decided on the Magnaflow 14816 ::link-->
It should be here in about a week and it should be on a few days after that. A reputable muffler shop quoted me a ball park figure of about $40 to fit it.

Now, I have searched youtube and keep coming up with the same small handfull of videos with this muffler on an R56. They are all either with no cat/ no res or with cat and res. I know there are a few of you fellow motorers here with this muffler; does anyone have the second cat in place but not the res? I want to hear it! Also...feedback? Experience with this part anyone?

 

That's really cool man! I'm going the same route, magnaflow 2.5" inlet and 4" chrome tips but I will powder coat the tips black. I am doing the resonator off and 2nd cat on unless I find someone who lives around me with an 11+ MCS that sounds good with it off.

I would guess the sound sort of is the same but louder if you keep the 2nd cat. I don't know exactly what I am going to do but I want my MINI to be able to have this sound, , but I think I'll just keep the resonator because he told me that without the 2nd cat and resonator delete, he gets too much drone. I'll just delete the 2nd cat since he still gets the same sound and it does give the car a bit of power punch to it!

Good luck, post a video of what you do so I can see it and HEAR it!

 

That's the way I am going; 2nd cat in place and res off. I already have the res deleted so this should be a pretty straight forward swap for the muffler guys. Weld hangers, weld muffler. Part of me is worried that it will be too loud, but if that's the case I can always put the resonator back up. Who knows maybe it won't be loud enough; if that's the case I will just remove the 2nd cat.

I will be doing a video, but I am not sure how long it will take me to do it. Probably just do a cell phone vid of the before and after at first and then later on I will borrow a buddy's GoPro and do a driving video.

 

The man in the brown truck stopped by today.....

 

I had the same on my 2011. Keep the tips clean or they will rust, one Michigan winter was enough for them to start to become tarnished. Also, without the resonator it was very boomy but it was never a huge deal to me.

 

Thanks for the feedback, but I have a few questions...

Doesn't stainless mean it won't rust? The muffler I have is stainless body and tips. The only parts not stainless are the inlet and obviously the welds. If this is true and you had the same muffler and it rusted, then that worries me a little.

What exactly do you mean by "boomy"? Can you elaborate?

 

He probably means it will be pretty loud and poppy.

But if you wash your car and keep it clean you really shouldn't have a problem with the tips and muffler rusting, trust me. I've seen everyone else's MINI here in Michigan and I see all their exhaust tips rusted or black from all the dirt. Mine is still super clean since I bought her and it shines from the sun.

But are you gonna do both the cat and resonator or just the resonator? Because I talked to someone and he said keep the resonator on cause of drone and just take the 2nd cat off for some added horsepower and still sounds loud. Let me know!

 

I plan to keep the second cat for now and since I already have the resonator off it will stay that way when the muffler is put on. I still have the resonator lying around, though, so that leaves me with a few options if I don't like the sound!

To be honest, I don't clean the Mini as often as I should but I am picky about keeping nice looking exhaust tips and wheels clean so that shouldn't really be a problem. When I said I was worried in my last post, I was referring to the thought that stainless would rust at all. If a stainless part rusts, then it isn't really stainless it is simply polished.

 

It's boomy as in both drone at highway speeds (I normally drove in 5th on the freeway to not deal with it) and overall noise level. It was loud enough that inside of an office building people could hear me take off.

SS will still rust dependent on the quality of the SS. Just keep the pipes clear of salt in the winter and you should be ok. I polished mine every few weeks but it was still popping up by the time I parted with the car.

 

Stainless can and will rust, under the right circumstances. There are many different types of stainless steel alloys that have different material compositions that change whether it's more corrosion resistant, harder/softer, easier to form, etc... 304 and 316 stainless is the most commonly used for everyday applications. 304 will rust, is magnetic, and is easier to form. 316 stainless is much more corrosion resistant and non-magnetic, and more expensive.

The common misconception is that stainless steel as a whole is corrosion proof (meaning it will never corrode). It's corrosion resistant. All stainless steel resists corrosion better than your typical mild steel, but it's all dependent on the alloy on how well it does resist. Adding salt into the mix, like we see here in Michigan in the winter, is tough on almost any material.

The welding of the material also changes the corrosion resistance of the material. The filler material used, as well as the use of argon back purging on the weld can affect how the weld will corrode, and subsequently, the rest of the part.

 

Thanks for the explanation evil, it is appreciated! I don't know much about metals so I was assuming (we all know what happens when we do that.) I will be sure to keep it clean when I can but I shouldn't have to worry too much. I live in eastern NC but still a good ways from the coast (about 3 hours) so I shouldn't have to worry about salt, etc.


BTW...Friday is the day!!!! Finally getting this thing put on!

 

I am very interested to hear how it sounds. This could be a good way to get some sound out of the mini without spending a lot of money. I know performance won't be much better.

 

Got the exhaust installed today. So far I am impressed and I really like the sound. It's not obnoxious but it definitely adds some volume. I didn't get a before video but there are res delete videos on youtube which are easy to find. I will try to get a video of the new exhaust tomorrow.


EDIT: I was going to upload a couple of photos, but I can't seem to upload pictures anywhere for some reason. Stay tuned and I will post a video tomorrow most likely.

 

Eagerly waiting

 

Ok so I finally have a video. I will warn you, it sucks! All I have is my cell phone so the quality is sub-par but here ya go anyway...



New video a few posts down.........

 

sounds super quiet to me? Maybe the muffler body is too large? Makes me reconsider this route.

 

nice, I love it when the truck arrives w/ a new toy!

I decided to go for the NM Engineering complete exhaust from downpipe to the tips. I liked this system because it is bolt on, no cutting no welding required. I can install this myself. From what I've heard the NM exhaust fits perfect. ...just waiting for the truck to arrive at my house ...any day hopefully!!

 

No idea how to embed on this site.

Does sound quiet but sounds decent.

Does it get raspy at all?

Have to remember it is not broken in yet.

When I put an exhaust on my SRT 3" w/hfc only I thought it was too quiet. Told the exhaust shop to take off the hfc they made me wait 2 weeks. Guess what.... I kept the hfc on lol.

 

Right now it's only a little louder than the res delete as far as overall volume goes. At WOT under load it is definitely louder than before. The biggest change is the tone. It is MUCH deeper than stock. That crappy video doesn't really do it justice at all. In a few months I will be visiting a friend who has a GoPro and all the motorcycle attachments so we will do a video then to show idle, acceleration, etc. once it is broken in.

Edit: It is not raspy at all. It is very smooth from what I can tell. I have yet to hear anything but a rev from outside the car so we shall see....

 

Ok as promised here is the new video. It is long but you will get a good impression of the sound after break in. It definitely got louder over the last few months.

There is a hard WOT take-off at 1:19, at 6:15 there is an easy take-off, and at 9:00 there is a medium/mild take-off.

BTW I figured out how to embed!

 

Thanks for the update. Do you notice much drone from inside?

 

Stainless does not mean rust proof. It only resists better than plain steel. I've had a Magnaflow muffler on my car for two winters and it will get a little bit of rust over time. Keep in mind, this was with washing the under carriage ever week in the winter and religious washing in the summer.

 

Drone is minimal. It only comes on at a certain rpm range and you won't be in said range for long anyway. There is very little drone at cruising speed in 6th.