I'm thinking about doing the One Ball Exhaust mod to my mini. My major mileage is highway miles to and from work. Is there any highway speed drone associated with the One Ball Exhaust mod?

 

with or without the header.

Matt

 

No drone at all. It sounds like stock except a more throaty when you get on it. Do it, you'll love it.

 

Without for now. It will be my first step toward increasing performance. I've just about got it looking like I want now so it's time to start playing with the things that make it go faster!

Then probably followed by a Dinan CAI and pulley...Mini of Nashville is an authorized Dinan dealer. I purchased the extended warrenty before I was introduced to the obsession that is Mini ownership. I'll probably have to pay more, but may keep them more willing to work on my ride if needed.

 

The 1-ball is a good performer as cat-back exhausts go...

At 1.75 psi back pressure as tested, it is one of the lowest resistance exausts, with only Miltek testing lower at 1.25 psi. Stock is 2.5, JCW is 3.75. Like other low resistance exhausts, you will probably feel a freewheeling difference, although by itself if it gives you more HP it will be very little. Combined with other mods, like the CAI and pulley, perhaps also a header and ECU remap, it may contribute more.

If you have it done in the conventional way, you'll free the car of about 20 to 30 pounds of sprung weight in loosing the passenger side muffler.

By itself, cost for a 1-ball is very affordable, even if done by a custom shop.

It is a little louder -- maybe 50% -- than stock. Throatier but still understated. The burble is lounder too, but not offensive.

Your dealer will probably not love this mod; it will at least void your exhaust system warranty. If the dealer is nasty it may void more. But it would be no worse with any aftermarket cat-back exhaust.

If you have this done by a custom shop, they can keep the exhaust system *looking* stock by re-attaching the passenger side muffler with a dummy pipe that only shows from underneath the exhaust heat shield when the car is up on the lift... This won't fool a serious mechanic, but it will keep the stock look for anyone else who might care if your exhaust system is stock or not. It also maintains the exhaust system weight balance that was built into the car, and keeps the OEM exaust hangers working as they were designed to work -- but it does so at the expense of those 20 to 30 pounds that you would loose otherwise.

Either way you do it or have it done, it is not a bad mod.

I'd probably recommend doing a 1-ball (or any low resistance cat-back exhaust) at the same time as a CAI and a pulley just to take care of the engine's breathing all the way through, but that's pretty much just a matter of personal preference.

Have fun!

-- Don

 

Is there a logical reason why the JCW is producing more back preasure than the stock exhaust?

 

I've often wondered if it this was done intentionally... Certainly if Miltek can do low resistance in a replacement system, so could JCW if they wanted to...

If the MINI's exaust valves and ports allowed more gasses out in each cycle, having more back-pressure in the exhaust could theoretically increase torque. But as things sit, that seems to be mostly controlled by the head, the throttle body and the ECU.

So, the question remains, is there an advantage to more back pressure in a cat-back exhaust? Maybe preserve the cat or the valves?? Just quieter??

What say ye, our well esteemed tuning masters?

Best,

-- Don

 

I've considered the $125 MyMini elbow, but I got an estimate from a local shop that I trust for $50 to $75 for the installation. That's nearly 1/2 the cost, plus gives me a free weekend day! I may have to go ahead and schedule an appointment to have that done.

Thanks to everybody!

 

Yeah, don't spend $125 for the little elbow pipe. My one-ball only cost $50 from my local shop! Def the way to go...

 

There is a bit of a trade off between backpressure and scaveging. If you think about putting the exhaust through a soda straw, the gas velocities will be hellishly high, and scavaging will work well, but exhaust capacity is low, so it will choke the motor.

If you make a 6" diameter exhaust, backpressure will be pretty much 0, but exhaust velocity will be low, and scavaging will be poor, and you will loose power.

So you want to have both high gas velocity and low back pressure. Getting both together is the key to a good exhaust.

So Rolands data on backpressure is informative, but only half of the story....

Matt

 

So, One Ball exhaust good or bad?

 

I've had it on for a week or so ($40 and under an hour at a local exhaust shop) and am very happy with it.

 

Seconded....

 

Thanks, Matt... Can you explain a bit about the theory behind scavaging? Then the balance concept will make more sense. I probably have heard it by other names, but don't have experience or understanding of it yet...

Where do you think the balance is between gas velocity and back pressure? Do you think at 1.75 psi the 1-ball is too low in resistance? I appreciate your opinion on this...

Best,

-- Don

 

I had this done the other day . . .. here is what i suggest . . . go find a shop with a mech that can weld really well . . . have them cut your resonator from the main line before it elbows. . . then cut it off the muffler like 2 in from the muffler . . .

If you would like to save some money dont buy the premade pipe to replace ... cut the pipe that went INTO the resonator off AT the resonator . . . flip it over and weld it back to the muffler and catback pipe . . . they WILL have to stretch the end that meets the muffler just a hair to get it to butt up properly but that's a no brainer anyone can do . . .

This all cost me a 12pack of corona and the time to find a shop that was having a very slow afternoon.

Two huge thumbs up for money vs return . . . love the sounds . . . absolutly NO drone at any time ... even in 4th @ 5k rpms with windows up and stereo off you can berly here it untill you increase the throttle.

Perfect exhaust for somone who wants a little boots without all that silly noise.

 

bingo. This is what so many people do not realise

 

Bingo!

Ok no light bulbs going on here. I still don't get it. Are you saying that the One Ball mod is a bad idea? I understand that with a forced induction engine that back pressure is needed, but are the One Ball and I guess Milltek for that matter bad exhaust solutions? If so, are they worse solutions than the stock S exhaust.

 

Exhaust travels in pulses. If you think of a pulse as a little plug of gas, it "sucks" stuff along with it as it goes down the pipe, just like a cork would pull stuff along behind it if it were pulled through a narrow tube. This extra "suck" can be used to move more burnt gasses out of the combustion chamber. This is scavaging. And how well this is done isn't really a function of back pressure, this is more a function of gas velocity.

So, if you just evaluate an exhaust based on back pressure, you may actually end up with an exhaust that doesn't do what you really want it to.

As for the one-ball being a good mod or not, it's on my car......

Matt

 

Dr Obnxs - Will adding a header like the obx to a one-ball improve performance?

Sorry, its probably mentioned in the OBX thread, but that thread is a bit of an animal.

 

I was thinking the same thing .... The OBX is the good low end power header right? I can't imagine why it wouldnt add power with a One Ball . . .

 

Being I'm basically a cheap person, I have the OBX and the One-Ball. I like it.... But I didn't have any of my performance meters or data logging, so I have no clue what difference it made..... I'm happy....

Matt

 

does anyone know how this affects emissions for ca smog laws?

 

so technically they are illigal modifications. Use a cat and you will pass a snif test though... Depending on what else you've done to your car.

Matt

 

I've had the One-Ball for a little more than 2 years and love it!! No "drone" on highway, and I did Montreal-Miami trips 4 times with it.

Go for it, it's a cheap mod, saves some weight and add a little sound to ur MINI.

 

ok lets take my car as an example. I have the oneball. I also have a pulley, intake, MTH, etc. I did my oneball before my pulley. Say the BMW engineers created an exhaust that gave a high amount of gas flow, and good scavenging. So now i've put on an exhaust that has less back pressure, but also maybe less gas velocity, and maybe i lost some power. Then i put on a 17% pulley and got some more back pressure due to the extra fuel i'm burning, and now i've got the right back pressure to cause better exhaust flow and good scavenging, and thus more power. Make sense?

The thing is, is that i don't have the measuring equipment or knowledge to know whether the oneball will give or take power, or better/worsen gas flow/scavenging. Like Matt said, if you have a 6" exhaust, the backpressure will be extremely low, but scavenging will be terrible. It's the best compromise that you have to find.