Hey guys, I finally got my one-ball done today.

There seems to be a lot of threads on how it performs, what the sound level will be etc etc, and since the only mod I've done so far on my car is the one-ball, I would like to tell my little story to maybe help out people who are considering to go one-ball.

The cost was $50 dollars at my local muffler shop. I was expecting around 80-100 dollars but when he offered $50 bucks, why not?

It was done in like 40 minutes or so and I would say it's money well spent even if it costs a bit more than $50.

Throttle response is better, car feels nimbler, and acceleration got very slightly better as well. I believe the resonator is something like 25 pounds? It's not featherweight for sure.

It doesn't drone at all. And the sound level is almost the same when you are just driving around town but little bit of extra growl.

Things start to change around 4500rpm, and it is definitely louder than the stock setup but it's far from ricey or very loud. and it burbles more on the lift-off. even when you are just cruising

The car just feels to move more freely with less restriction.

bottom line is, I absolutely love it. And if you are not willing to spend extra dollars for a new exhaust system, I think one-ball is great!

 

Would you mind explaining what a "one-ball" is? Thanks.

 

oh, going one-ball is to cut the resonator from the exhaust system and welding a pipe straight to the muffler.

 

 

The empty space is a great mounting spot for an aftermarket horn!

 

I saw this video of a car with train horn installed.

they were just cruising around and scaring people.. and cats.. and horses..
i thought it was funny lol

 

What is the reasons for doing One-ball?
weight, performance. I'm interested!!!

 

Just a cheap alternative to exhaust systems. Instead of paying $900, you could do this and while you won't get all the benefits, you will get a little better sound and maybe a tiny gain in performance

 

Looks like a very good alternative to spending a lot more money on an aftermarket exhaust.

 

I had the one-ball done on my 2005 Cabrio two weeks ago in Tucson, AZ. I second all the comments. I love it. Mine cost $130. The extra rear braces on the convertible are right in the way, so it took longer.

 

I agree with all the comments except for the tiny HP gain. Tiny to me is like 1 -2 HP and hardly felt in the butt dyno but if I remeber it right, Helix has done a dyno way back in the early days that 1-ball adds 4 HP. Do the search function. Aftermarket cat back can probably only give around 8 HP on stage 1 modded MCS and at a cost 8 times more.
The 1-ball made my car like it has bigger lungs, still sounds very Mini but a little angrier.

 

This is pobably a stupid question (but I'm good at them!), but does the one-ball mod have any effect on your emissions? I'd like to get it done, but don't need any inspection issues...

BTW, thanks for the great pictures, OXYBLUECOOP! I'll print them out to take to the muffler shop when I go.

 

Just wait around for an used exhaust deal... $50 after market exhaust deal can't be beaten.

 

It's cheap- usually about $60 or less at most exhaust shops.
It's stealthy- looks stock. good for the upgrade police to miss.
It's easy and you can show these pictures for reference.
Sounds good- certainly not loud, again stealthy.
You loose weight for one muffler- it's down low and in the back which is not the greatest place to loose weight but OK.
It's been done for many years and owners report it works= safe.
It isn't going to cause worse performance- maybe a little positive but don't expect much, at least it's not negative.
It's probably CARB legal (???) for california.
It doesn't affect mpg (by itself) it's probably mpg neutral.

So what's bad about it?
As you can see you need to align up the joined ends.
Helix13 has a jig to easily allow the right position so welding it all up is easier. If the ends are not quite even then your muffler position and maybe tailpipe ends could be uneven- usually this does not happen.

It's not a really good solution for those that want the most free flowing exhaust although I do know some owners that have done some moderate modding on the engine and use a one ball and do OK on the dyno as good or better than those with upgraded cat back exhausts.

It's nothing too pretty except for the surgically altered pieces. If you could add JCW tips it might be nice.

It's not impressive sounding- mostly stock with a little bit extra.

I don't think anyone has done testing on before and after emissions but we have not heard of owners in California not passing emissions after doing the change to a one ball exhaust.

So on a budget, put your $$$ somewhere other than the exhaust and be happy you did it-

 

i'm sure it's carb legal in california because the cat is still there and you are just removing the resonator.

as far as mpg goes, I tried to test it yesterday on the freeway by totally babying on the throttle, and with the one-ball done, I got 2 more mpgs over when I totally babyed it before getting the one-ball done.

I think it's due to the minus weight(however little) plus reduced back pressure. If I stand behind the car and feel the exhaust coming out of the car, a lot more exhaust gas comes out with the one-ball done. So I'm assuming it's better flowing

 

Can't do the JCW tips without some modification -- but you can do the OEM sport tips + one-ball for a cheap and good-looking system

 

Yep... prettification is possible... you can go from this:


to this:




if you're willing to do some painting and a little fab work... details on my blog.

And, as has been said, you can do fun things with the space you open up on the passenger side...

 

Blimey, Wow...

I was going to get tips from Outmotoring...

but your tips are THE hawtness!

oh, where did you get them horns?

 

Thanks - I like the tips, too!
They got a good bit of attention from other OEM and one-ball exhaust owners at the MOTD car show on Friday.

Horns are from ebay... but there's a bit more to it. More on my blog.

 

which tips are those in the picture

 

Follow the link on my post above to my blog for details. They're from Thermal R&D

I'm not running them anymore - I've gone total black-out now, with custom powder-coated MINI sport tips and the GP trim.

 

how do the mini sport tips sound compared to the beer cans

 

just got my oneball done this morning and it sounds great. the shop i went to actually ran a pipe from the straight pipe all the way to the muffler because they used 2.5 inch pipe so it wouldn't restrict and they couldn't get a bed to go the the pipe coming out of the muffler. I guess if they used 2.25 which is what the mini exhaust is, the bend would have only been about 2.

 

I don't think tips have any impact on exhaust sound, at least not a material amount.

 

Could the one-ball be done on a Just-a-Cooper? And do I have the same tip options as an S or JCW?