What if I removed the stock MCS resonator and muffler, and where the straight pipe ends, installed a cherry bomb muffler? Would it sound terrible? Could the battery heatshield/plate be modified, or replaced with something smaller to allow the (pretty narrow) cherry bomb to fit? This would at least get rid of some of the many twists and turns the stock system has.

Bad idea? Your input is appreciated!

Ken

 

What is this ... 1955?

Major Faux Pas

 

It is a good idea, and it has been done. While your at it, you may as well take out the entire OEM cat-back system, and pop on a 2.5" or even 3"(if you dont mind loosing your hearing) pipe in its place.

The car WILL be loud though. Make sure you are comfortable with a good amount of drone, and a few dirty looks. If you are not, I would go with a Milltek or simular design. The bends are there to help with sound...

Try talking with TonyB. He has done a version of this with a muffler. I just went 3" piping, no muffler. Probably not your style.

-Brian

 

It is possible - I almost went this route before I found the B&B cat back on sale. Very do-able -- I was going to use a single muffler / glass pack on the passenger side ( to help balance weight ) and have the tips exit the stock location ( center ).

Good luck

 

TonyB is the man .

Nothing got in his way to create the straightest shortest exhaust routing.

 

Cool guys, thanks for your input. I'm always lookin for the cheap, creative way but at the same time wanna avoind baling wire and duct tape!

I definitely wouldn't mind some more noise. No muffler at all, mmmmm you got me thinking....

 

You know, I'm tired of your smartass posts, if you don't have anything constructive to say keep it shut

 

the easiest thing is to put an elbow in ahead of the resonator, angle the exhaust out at 45 degrees, and leave the battery box alone. i copied garfield with a supetrapp.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/engine-dr...ures-long.html

i think i also have this installation here on nam, but i can't find the thread.

garfield's supertrapp dyno plots are also on mini 2 and here on nam.

although i use a lightweight battery, i left the stock battery box in place in case i ever have an on-the-road emergency and need to put in a stock size battery.

 

this is definetly possible, it will just be pretty loud and you may lose some torque if you go to 3" pipe. Im thinking about doing a custom muffler myself. This is definetly a unique way to go, louder exhaust is a sure fire way to turn more heads

 

No so sure about the torque loss. I have found the loss in torque only happens with an incorrect header.

-Brian

 

I would imagine you would only see torque loss with an NA car with a straight pipe. Other than that you should be OK.

I went 3" straight back, Magnaflow muffler, MINI Mania header with Magnaflow cat.

I LOVE the sound. Very loud, nice tone, not too deep, not real raspy.

I would like to find a header with a 3" collector instead of the 2 1/2" one on the MM header, and one without a cat, but I cant bring myself to cut up the slick MM header.

Heres mine...



The screws are for the tip, I like to change them alot, so I just screw them on, lol.

The gold you see if the flange on the header, Its dead straight and restriction free!

And some sound to go with it...

 

Ken, just noticed this thread...

It was a few year ago when I ventured down this path, and I'm remain very glad that I did. At the time, it was a bit intimdating because I wasn't aware of anyone who had done something like this on a MINI. At least no one in the forums...

You can save some money by doing your own, but it's really not a whole lot once you add it all up. What you save a lot of is weight. You can, with the right choice of muffler, get the sound and volume you want, and with the freedom to pick any tip, the desired appearance as well....

My system consists of:

SuperSprint ss center pipe (2.5"), with resonator
10 or so inch ss welded extension to reach the end of the tunnel
2.5" ss band clamp
Borla Turbo ss muffler, with welded hangers (no ss, but should have been)
Ractive ss oval tip to fill valence opening

I've never dyno'd my car, so definitive claims in that regard, but timed runs revealed performance gains. Best of luck to you.

Just saw Rick's video! I don't believe mine to be that loud, but then I've never heard it from the outside before. I've never had any stares or tickets, so it's never been an issuse in that regard....

 

I think my video can be a bit decieving.

For one, its in an industrial area, and theres alot of resonance in that area. But the main reason its kinda decieving is because its a 2nd gear pull to redline (you can hear me bounce rev at about 7100 about 50-75 feet past the camera man).

The video is about as loud as it gets. Its a pretty extreme case of acceleration, so its not always that loud.

I have alot of drone still. I would like to try and get rid of it, but that means probably investing in a 3" resonator and mounting it right off the cat.

Driving around late at night can be kind of a hassle, and rolling past the bears on the freeway means alot of rolling past with the clutch in, lol.

One thing I have found is that for some reason, no matter what, between 2-3k rpm is the loudest. I'm unsure why, but no mater what the throttle position is, its actually quieter at 4500 than 2500 in any gear. My asumption is that 3krpm is the "yeild point" if you will for the exhaust, after that point, its flowing such a high volume that its not making much noise.

I love it, its a head turner. It sounds kinda like a superbike at high rpm's. I get lots of compliments on this one in particular. I spent alot of time welding it all together very nicely so it looks as nice as it sounds underneath. If I didnt tell you I MIGed it, you would probably have to believe it was TIGed. I think I have about an hour and a half in 4 helds on the system.

As far as horsepower goes, I'm unsure. I dynoed with it but had some minor issues on the dyno (belt breakage and some puley damage) I think on the last run I was able to make (the highest hopspower pull of the day) I was slipping belt very badly, and I still made 206whp....soo make of that what you want to.

 

Rick, do you have any photos of your system? The underside, and how you dealt with the battery box area. Just curious...

Between MINI2 and here, I've probably received over 100 PM's asking for further details (beyond a long thread) in how I made it happen. I always responded, and requested to be told if anyone completed the project. I never heard back though...

So, for street-driven MINI's, I don't think there are many of us with a straight exhaust system. Actually, you are the first that I have been made aware of...

If you don't mind sharing, what mods were you runnin' with when you got 206? I like trying to ballpark where I am at...

As far as sound volume goes on mine, I can only compare it from the inside, and with the two previous systems I had: stock and a QuickSilver. It is much louder than both of those. But, having the rear seats gone certainly doesn't help in that regard. Probably no one has heard more MINIs than Randy Webb and he has heard mine a couple of times. He commented that it wasn't noticably louder than something like the Magnaflow system. That made me feel better, and reassured me that I would not run into any db complaints; and I have not. In CA, that is saying something...

My first attempt did not utilize a resonator. After experimenting with one, it was the way to go, for me at least. It only dropped the volume a tad (as per a sound meter), but really refined the sound more, cleaned it up a little. I don't know, hard to explain...

Oh, for a header, I have a ceramic-coated SuperSprint, with the stock cat. This mates-up to the SuperSprint center pipe...

 

Oh, come on, Chows isn't that bad...

... though some days I myself can hardly wait to see someone do the inevitible one-ball mod on him...

I'm starting a pool on what year that finally happens...

 

Which header would you recommened for a 3" exhaust? Would torque loss be an issue with the stock header?

Have you looked into the Stahl header? Once I get my exhaust done I'm considering dropping one of those. One of the versions has a 3" collector and is optional without a cat...

 

The stock header will limit the top end and low end torque from my experiance.

Right now I am using a Milltek(4-1) with no cat. It probably isn't giving me the most power possible, but I got a good deal on it, and I can feel more torque from it than I did with the prototype mania header(4-2-1) I ran last season. From what research I have done, the Stahl(in theory) should be the best match. The primaries, according to the literature I have seen, are the only ones on the market with the correct length for these blown 1.6L's. This is only theory though as I have not personally tested it, nor have I seen numbers to back it up. Maybe DMH can stop in and show us some...?

I do know of another comany in SoCal (they are also producing a uber-trick water to air system ) that is in the process of building a set of headers for the MINI with a 3" outlet. However, I have not heard from them for quite a while now.

-Brian

 

If I do decide to exchange headers, I will make my own, i'm not paying for another header when i'm perfectly capable of just making one.

Save my self a few hundo while doing it. The only thing I want to buy is the collector, i'm bad at making them.

 

werd.. why don't you start fabbing up headers for NAM and save us all some money.. I know I'd be willing to pay a decent amount of cash for a fabbed header like the saclam.

 

I've tried doing that before, and its not worth the effort.

If it doesnt have a name brand, people won't buy it, so i'm not going to bother offering any of my stuff to anyone other than local people anymore.

 

HEY! Don't say that word

And btw, how was your post constructive?

 

Well if you ever fab up a header that works... Hit me up as I definitely don't care about name brand...

 

Sure thing.

I'll have one in a few weeks. I have my flanges and collector and stuff, i just have to make a jig for it.

I wouldnt expect anything pretty, but i'll do something that will get the job done better than like an OBX for damn near the same price.

 

[quote=TonyB;1377068]Rick, do you have any photos of your system? The underside, and how you dealt with the battery box area. Just curious...


Thanks to all. I would also like to know what to do with the battery box. I'd like to keep it intact. A cherry bomb is so small, I wonder if it could be mounted off/under the box somehow.

Also, I love that video! Not too loud for me at all.

 

The easiest thing to do is remove the box.

You cant go under it, its way to low to the ground.

You could do any number of things. Dump the exhaust before the battery box, get a hole saw and run the exhaust pipe the the middle of the battery box, etc etc.

But the cleanest way to do it is get rid of the box all together. I dont like anything thats "half assed" I do it right the first time and thats the way it goes.

You could run a Cooper exhaust on the car too.

The Cooper Magnaflw flows well. I had an RSpeed Cooper exhaust on my car for months and it was very nice..

I'll get some pics up for you soon. I'm trying to get a daytime video shot today too.