Howdy everyone,

Have anyone here tried a 2.75" or 3" exhaust? What's it's like if anyone have experience with them?

Also, does the ALTA style (like the Andy@ross-tech's one ball) yield any significant difference than the conventional, 2 mufflers design? The reason I am asking is, I've got the PlayMini/Scorpion exhaust right now and it feels like it doesn't have much torque below 2000rpm and is quite restictive after 6000rpm not to mention the weight penalty of the 2nd muffler in the system.

One last question, does anyone know why did ALTA/Dinan put the muffler on the right hand side instead of left?

Thanks

 

On a left-hand drive car, placing a single muffler on the right-hand side results in better weight balance, assuming that the driver is the only occupant. I'm a bit surprised that there are no UK-market MINI exhaust systems that hang on the left side of the car.

 

Diaryboy,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.

As far as any MINI exhausts go, bigger pipes are not always better.
Depends on back pressure, resonance and noise from the final result.
Also given the MINI cylinder head design, exhaust ports, & exhaust header there may be limits to any gain beyond what has been demonstrated by the current cat-back exhausts.

Some samples in cat-back design-
Milltek-2.5" primary pipe to Y-fitting then 1.75" secondaries each side
Rspeed- 2.5" pipe throughout, louder than Borla or Milltek
UUC- 2.25" primary to mufflers then 2" tail pipes
Magnaflow- 2.5" pipe throughout- very loud
Borla street-2.25" primary pipe to Y-fitting then 1.5" secondaries each side
Borla Race- 2.5" primary pipe to Y-fitting then 1.5" secondaries each side
Supersprint- 63.5mm pipe throughout (2.5")

Single sided systems-
Alta sporttone- 2.5" pipes throughout
London Stainless Quicksilver-2.25" pipes throughout
NRP- 2.5" pipes throughout
Stock One Ball- 57mm stock pipes (2.25")

Alta/Dinan and other single sided exhausts have muffler on the right to balance off the car's weight since the driver is on the left. I know it's not much because the single exhausts only weigh about 20-22 pounds.

The difference between the one ball and stock double exhaust isn't much. The pipes are all the same with the same bends minus the extra turn and muffler. Some loss of weight, same power approx, maybe a little louder-not much. Mostly it is a cheap mod with weight savings.

Your performance results with the scorpion will vary with your intake, throttlebody, ECU, exhaust header and cylinder head/cam. The more stock stuff you have the less benefit your cat-back exhaust may give you. Sounds like the Scorpion is a bit restrictive.
The 32 pound weight is good for the Scorpion double system- beats the stock 44 pounds. I had a Quicksilver with madness intake and rebored throttle body and it worked quite well for added power in mid range to high rpms.

 

ill say this right now.. you buy exhausts for the sound, not for the power gains.. the only exhaust i'd say with any real gains are magnaflow and borla sport, the others will never make enuf power for you to say 'wow'

i love my scorpion.. cant really tell how much hp it's gained but LOVE the sound of it when lifting off, that popping and farting just makes me feel as if i invested 800 bucks on much more expensive system

to me.. in quoting randy on his site 'you pay for what you get' and in the end, i didnt really care for hp gains, the sound's nice and i am all for it, even if it's just 3-5 hp, so wat? most exhaust in the mini makes at tops 10 hp, its not like 5 hp ca be easily felt on the street anyways

 

Does anyone know if the '05 MCS exhaust is any different than previous years? I was wondering if my '05's tendancy to snap-crackle-pop, when off the throttle, is due to a different exhaust or software tweak.

Confessing guilt at being cheap, I'm ripe to go the one-ball route. My experience is only with the '05 stock exhaust and I'm wondering if the conversion is the same as with previous year models? Anyone done this to an '05 yet? Only negative I've heard about is the fact that the weight loss isn't on the drivers side, but at least it is a net weight loss.

-Barry

 

I should have something pretty cool to show everyone in about 10 days. It will be nothing like any other system available for the MINI.

 

If you really want to be clever, move the battery tray to the right side of the car, and run your exhaust straight down the middle. This car just begs for this setup.

 

The snap-crackle-pop is due to a slight design change in the exhaust. MINIUSA has claimed "the sound cannot be retrofitted to earlier MINIs"

Not sure why they claim it can't be retrofitted. Not sure if the standard mounting arrangement has been changed from the 04s.

 

sounds like you invested $800 on an old lady

-Paul

 

Larger isn't always better - especially with smaller displacement engines. You'll lose too much torque.

Let's not get too carried away with the weight of the exhaust here. You're talking about what a 10lb muffler on a 2600lb car? That's a little more than a gallon of milk. Is your MINI slower or feel unbalanced on the way back from the milk store???

 

I'd add the UUC to the power list for sure.

 

...and the Milltek cat-back.

 

Taking it a step further: Seems like there would be a way to use a one-ball/single-sided muffler, move the batt over to the other side, and put back a spare in the middle.

-B