Look no further: http://www.timet.com/tubeframe.html

 

Cool, thanks, they have a place about an hour north of me...

As when I built my 2.5" system, it's not so easy as just a straight pipe... The tunnel is not truly straight as it drops-off several inches and that is why I had to use an existing MINI aftermkt center pipe (SuperSprint). I have a feeling that the cost to Madrel bend 3" Ti for our tunnel would be prohibitive. Maybe I'm wrong.

Then to find a matching offset muffler such as the Borla Turbo I'm using, but in Ti, would be a challenge. The inlet/outlet offset is what gets me to the proper valence exit point without needing any bends beyond the center pipe...

I would otherwise consider the idea of a 3" Ti straight exhaust, but not if it has a "heavy" 8 lb ss muffler at the end of it... sort of defeats the purpose of the expense...

 

We are the most experienced and known titanium bike manufacturer in the world and I have talked to our engineers and our shop foreman and hope that they can help me with a little system over the winter. Now since I have my Borla Race exhaust in place I figure we can use the original one as a model.
But we are so busy with bikes, they may tell me to just enjoy what I've got.

Cheers,
Herbert

www.litespeed.com

 

How is that more relevant than a stock header info? Everyone has had the stock header on their car at some point.

 

Cool Herbert,

Slightly O/T - I've got a 93' ultimate. Logged almost 7k miles this year. Still going strong. ... I was thinking of calling up my freind Kent over at Moots to see if he could fab up a 3".

Cheers!

 

I currently have Ti intermidate pipe on my '03 JCW S, straight w/o resonator. For me, I consider the $ (USD 600) is worthy for the benifits :

1. It does retain heat much better than ss, even I don't have solid figure to explain, but I can touch my tail pipe very soon after some serious run, the oEM ss pipe can't.

2. The sound of the exhaust system become much sweeter, and quieter. But still authorative. I guess mainly because of more high pick sounding due to the material.

3. Weight saving maybe minor, don't mind.

 

I thought I was nuts....... My hats off to you guys pushing the envelope

Herbert, keep me posted.....

 

I have a Ti exhaust on my Z06... It cuts the weight down in half. Not sure it would be worth it on the mini.... the weight savings effect on performance would be minimal vs the cost.

 

I agree with Tony... If one goes to all this trouble & expense to make a Ti system, only to stick a heavy SS muffler on what's the point? To do things right We'd need a big-*** re-pack-able silencer.

Not to complicate Randy Webb's life (anymore than it already is) but his upcoming system would lend itself well to Ti in the application being discussed.

The benefits of Ti go beyond weight savings... Ti is VERY corrosion resistant, and springy or resilient (for lack of a technical word), resists bending & impact/dents quite well. Speaking from my (albeit limited) exposure to 3al/2.5v & 6al/4v Ti tubing.

Technical question for someone in the know (possibly the esteemed jlm), re: elongation/thermal expansion.

Compared to 304 stainless or whatever's commonly used in SS Catback's e.g. Magnaflow. Would we see similar elongation (to what we do now), or might we see greater, if the whole cat-back system were fab'd from Ti?

I suspect this question could be 'loaded' or alloy-specific, but I'm hoping there might be a general rule or alloy trait re: Ti.

 

quanmer, good info. Would you happen to have any photos to share? Glad to hear that Ti is better with heat than ss… It is interesting that the sound is quieter. If the wall thickness is the same as ss, then that would seem to make sense. Given the strength of Ti that minimc mentions, wall thickness doesn’t need to be as much, if I remember correctly. I think I have a PM from jlm on this topic over on MINI2. I also sort of recall that Ti is not easy to weld, or that maybe it’s not easy to mate it up to ss? Not something for just the ordinary muffler shop. Curious to know if you ran into such difficulties. jlm, if you’re still lurking, your wisdom here would be appreciated.

Just called Timet near my home to get an idea as to what 8’ of 3” would cost, and was advised to call their LA branch. Then, after they learned that I’m not calling from a company, I was told to call some guy named Dave, so I just left him a vm…

If the price for the material is reasonable, then time and energy can be spent trying to find a Ti resonator and muffler, again with the appropriate offset distance. A photo below reveals what the Borla does in that regard. The one on the rack is with my prototype (stock mated-up to 2.5" galvanized). Once this proved to work the way I liked, then I got the SuperSprint with resonator, and the approrpriate length extension (the other photo). Getting those two Madrel bends for the tunnel in the Ti will not be easy. I couldn't find anyone here in the Bay Area when I was contemplating this in ss a couple of years ago...

Starting to realize that this might be a pipe dream . Back to Randy's center pipe, and if I do that, I would probably just keep in all ss again as the weight delta would be minimal (with a Ti section in the middle), and I've already lost a butt-load in the rear anyway, so it wouldn't be a high priority for me to put a couple of feet of Ti into the mix. Let's see if this guy calls me back. Anyone know what 3" Ti tubing will cost? Figure about 6'... Thanks.

 

the weight savings ROCK!! :O)

 

Wow... That is very sexy.

 

for those who like curves in their pipes...

 

creative!

 

Wish they would make the header and cat-back as a kit. It would work better together.
Now how about a strut brace in this material

I don't think that it would expand as much as SS due to the fact that its harder if I may call it.

Now if only the Mini was built in Japan.. that would atract a few *** Co's

 

Tony B, give me some time, I will talk to Gennex Motor (http://www.gennexmotorsport.com/main.php?id=211&car=1) see whether they have photos for both Ti intermidate pipe w/ & w/o resonator. Rgd to thickness, installation and Tech. Info, also will chk w/ them if they would like to release.

 

If you can speak Mandarin, please do. I was out there last year, and went to their location near Taipei. My speaking abilities generally suck, and at the automotive level, are worse. Their English was about the same .

If they have a 3" Ti system (entire catback, with resonator), I'll find a way to come home with that center pipe. Looks like I'm going again in Feb...

 

I'm kicking myself for sitting here looking through another foreign parts site...

Still drooling over the Saclam header. The Ti exhaust does nothing for me though. Twin-looping with four mufflers on a 1.6l engine seems excessive.

 

Jeffs, my exhaust system consisted of : Saclam header + Ti intermidate pipe + JCW catback,

The Saclam stuff is very well made, but also very low C/P compares to Milltek

 

:0)

 

A company up the road from me were doing test fitting on a titanium exhaust. They used my car as the test subject. The exhaust was real light and sounded great. I watched as it was installed and it was a very quick and painless install. Consist of 2 peices total. Anyway, They cannot sell the unit as new anymore and have listed it on ebay. There are a good amount of pictures of the exhaust on the auction. Here is the link:
TITANIUM EXHAUST

 

I saw this system at SEMA last week. It is truly an amazing piece but when I asked them the question you all would which was " what gains did you record " they said they had no solid answers at this time. The construction is VERY well done and they thought it weighed about 22 lbs in total. We tried to reason with them that the proposed retail of 2,500 to 3,000 was a LITTLE steep for a 20k car but they responded that they have sold the first run on 10 aready in Taiwan. We tried to make them see the light but they are pretty sold on the high price point.

Randy
m7 Tuning

 

No metion in the eBay listing of the plumbing size... It appears from the tunnel shot (post cat) that it might be 2.5" as it looks a bit bigger than the stock pipe it mates up to...

Don't quite understand all of muffling devices (5) when the primary goal with a Ti system is to save weight. They could have been well below 20 pounds, and with a better price point due to less stuff. If that center pipe is 3" though, someone share....

 

the pic does show the center pipe lookin' like a 2.5", doesnt look 3" to me!
could it have sum thin' to do w/scavenging effect if thats a werdj/k

 

We asked them why four cans and they said that it was too loud with just two.

Randy
m7 Tuning