I may be interested. I have a modified MCS with Milltek header and Alta exhaust for comparison.

 

The more the merrier!!

 

ALTA exhause on PMC's would help out lots. Ditto with BillTheCat's buddy with the Stebro!

As Agokart said, any reason to rev our engines is good

 

I have the Stebro on my Cooper. Let me know if you want to hear this on Friday Morning.

 

we totally want to hear it! bring it on out.

 

Shall i bring my exhaust backpessure tester? Or is this merely off of sound..., Ill vounteer it if people want me to, just need to know if i should pack it......

it goes into the second o2 sensor port, measues at idle and 2500 rpms.....

Also ill bring the nesscary wrench and mechanix gloves if needed....

someone will need to bring either ramps or a jack though, i dont have enough room for my ramps or my big floor jack.......

 

Sounds like a good idea Caddman, but then again, sounds like a bit too much work Let's save the backpressure measurements for the R&D department. The Exhaust shootout is more of a "how do you like the sound" comparison, that's it.

T-minus one week until departure! YAY!

 

I was just offering, to try and appease everyone.... so ill leave it at home.........

 

g

 

I'll be there Monday getting ready and testing my Borla......

 

Well the Borla Sport is LOUD with a Mill Tech header.

Kinda wish I had samples of the Mini Mania no cat header and Helix cat back from my old CVT MINI.

DAMN THAT WAS LOUD

 

Thanks everyone for coming out and hanging at the Exhaust Shootout. Greatbear is heading back home and will be doing the mixing for the audio recordings, and AGOKART is sorting through the video footage. We hope to have the media put together soon! I'll post the basic dB figures for the systems tested when I unpack in a bit.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

I think when you are finished with this exhaust comparison data and clips it will be a great resource for owners interested in what options are out there.

It's funny how some exhaust header and cat-back combinations create more exhaust note volume than others. Just another variable to consider. You'll have to think about whether you can live with more loudness even if it doesn't necessarily add up to any difference in power.

Maybe put a sticky on your final work??

 

Can't wait till you get finished. Anyone else have some feedback on your experiences with the different exhausts? Wish I could have made it there for myself.

 

Exhaust Shootout ‘04

Exhaust system, dB at 3k RPM, Peak dB during WOT to 6k RPM
Keep in mind all these deciBel measurements are relative, and subject to big error due to driver not following instructions (bad!), Chad talking too much, or me breathing heavy into the mic!

Stock Cooper: 74/86

Cooper Borla: 84/93 - The Borla cat-back for the Cooper sounded (to many) the best of all at the Exhaust Shootout! It had great tone, not too loud, and never obnoxious. The only downside (to us old-geezers) was it’s cartoonishly huge 4” tip!

Stock Cooper S: 80/96

JCW: 83/91 - Quieter than stock, the JCW was a surprise at how silent it was. One attendee even asked if we’d run the car yet!

One-ball: 84/91 - Also quieter than stock, who’da thunk? The One-ball modification to the stock MCS exhaust, while good for “not negative power” according to Eric at Helix, sounded horrible in person! It was very “tin-can” and “bumble-bee” sounding, not good attributes in my mind.

Borla Street: 89/95 – Quite mellow, very similar sounding to stock, but a touch more throaty.

Magnaflow: 89/101
Milltek: 89/101
Stebro: 91/101 – Not a favorite. Sounded similar to the One-ball, but not as raspy
Milltek header/Borla Street: 91/100
Milltek header/Milltek cat-back: 88/107
Milltek header/Borla Race: 88/105 – My favorite for the Cooper S. Great tone, great rumble without blowing out your ears.
Supertrapp Dual: 93/118 – WOAH! LOUD! A very loud tin-can

Classic Mini Cooper S – Play Mini cat-back: 108 peak – this systems sounded fantastic, and was a real crowd pleaser!

Many people afterwards stated that the Cooper Borla was their outright favorite sound. The Supertrapp blew heads off with loudness, but nobody liked the sound. Greatbear says he should have the audio done up by weekend. I’m going over AGOKART’s place Friday to help compile the video.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

>>Stock Cooper S: 80/96
>>JCW: 83/91 - Quieter than stock, the JCW was a surprise at how silent it was.

That's really surprising to learn that the JCW is actually quieter than the Stock S.

 

Hang in there people, I'm gonna mix down, edit and post the audio clips as soon as I can. Mom's in the hospital, my studio setup is in shambles and me with very little free time. I am hoping to get it all taken care of Friday night. I'll post them here for the anxious, then there will be a separate page with everything in one spot. In the future new clips will be added to the ones already posted as new stuff comes out, more combinations get tested, etc.

I am hoping that some audio clips and measurements can be taken during dyno pulls to get an even better idea of the sound under load and throughout the RPM band.

 

>>
>>That's really surprising to learn that the JCW is actually quieter than the Stock S.
>>

All I know is when I let off the gas and started to pull away I heard Ryephile comment on how quiet it was, and he later told me it was one of the quietest.... I like that about it personally, but to be honest it was kinda fun listening to all the loud ones, especially the supertrapp when it nearly knocked over the camera when he opened it up....

 

yea, the Supertrapp was definitely deafeningly loud (say that three times fast!), especially for Chad and I just feet away!

 

Listen up people, here are the sounds!

Apologies for not being able to get these up sooner. I edited the sounds and saved them in 80kps mp3 format that everyone should be able to use; the file sizes are dialup-friendly at ~200k each, and the fidelity is more than enough to convey the sound and the differences between each system. This should also help keep my site from being bandwidth-swamped (hopefully). If it looks like the bandwidth allocation is going to be an issue, I will try to find a mirror for the sound files. Apologies in advance if this occurs and I havent gotten a mirror yet. I also plan on making this a stand-alone page independent of NAM for clarity and easier access.



To make the comparison and measurement of the various systems consistent and repeatable, each car was parked in the same location relative to the recording and measurement instruments. A wheel chock was used for this. The recording microphone and sound level meter were located about 5 feet behind and offset to the right to prevent draft from the exhaust from affecting the recorded sounds and dB level measurements.

Picture of the setup:


Sounds were recorded with a single microphone onto a DAT, the tape was transferred digitally into a PC and the files created there.


Here is what we tested and captured:

Cooper
Stock Cooper system as a baseline
Borla cat-back system for Cooper

Cooper S
Stock Cooper S exhaust system as a baseline
JCW-equipped Cooper S
"One Ball" system
Magnaflow cat-back
Stebro cat-back
Milltek cat-back
Milltek full header and exhaust
Milltek header with Borla Street cat-back
Milltek header with Borla Race cat-back
Supertrapp dual outlet cat-back

Classic Mini
Play system for Classic

_________________
"Earl Grey" - '03 MCS, DS over DS, 17" R85s, NAV, DSC (often turned off!), Packs #1 and #3, Rally lights, etc, etc. Perf Mods by the boatload, on the way! Fulton, MD. FRS 7-21
Let's Get Small!

 

We also had a very special guest, Minzilla himself!

 

I wish I could have mede the shoot out but I just could not get a way from work soon enough to make to the gap in time.

The few that have bought our recently released Circuit Exhaust for the S have raved about the sound.

Sorry

Maybe next year?

 

You got dyno numbers for that Minzilla exhaust?

 

Greatbear, AGOKART, Ryephile,
You guys, THANKS.
A great piece of work there. The sound bites are very well done and make it much easier to tell what kind of setup I would like to get. It is surprising how different they can be from one another. Also stopped me from making a mistake and getting something I was planning on.
I think Minzilla's exhaust note was, um, juiciest....

Cheers!

 

>>I wish I could have mede the shoot out but I just could not get a way from work soon enough to make to the gap in time.
>>
>>The few that have bought our recently released Circuit Exhaust for the S have raved about the sound.
>>
>>Sorry
>>
>>Maybe next year?

I'll be more than happy to do this again next year.

Overall, this was a relatively easy undertaking. By having all of the various cars/systems in attendance, it was a simple matter to create one setup at one time then have each car pull in and be tested. Doing it like this made direct comparisons possible between the various systems much more valid than if the recording setup was brought to various places.

I learned a bit from our first foray into this to help make the next one even better. One change will be to have the same person rev the engines in the same manner rather than the individual owners doing it differently each time; this will add to the consistency of the samples. I'd also like to add a 'take-off' sample after each test is done as well; after the stationary recordings and measurements are made, the driver simply motors away (somewhat spirited, of course) from the testing area with the tape still rolling so there will be an additional sound of the car/system in 'action' to add to the clips. In this case the testing area will need to be possibly an unused or closed off road. The recodring gear can go anywhere, it's independent of an electric outlet (I used a large 'jump-starter' battery pack and power inverter to power the recorder and mixing console) so location is not affected by this.

See ya next year!