Lol totally agreed. To each there own and as long as you like it that's all that really matters. And thanks on the 200. Hit that during my tuning session. Love having a capable tuner and good dyno shop that can play nice to hook me up.

 

Story time: my previous car was a 2005 Civic Si. Famed for the low revving K20a3. I wanted to hear it but didn't want it to sound like a ricer Honda. I spent days researching and found Invidia. It didn't sound ricey at all. I finally ended up ordering the Invidia N1 cat-back. It sounded better than I expected. The car with the closest sound I can think of was an SR20 equipped 240SX with a $1000+ HKS turbo back exhaust. It didn't sound ricey at all.

All that being said, I have heard some ricey-sounding MINIs...and looking at the muffler design of all the major brands, they've all got the baffled-style muffler design. IMO this is what gives the ricey-sound. The one exception to this is the Invidia system. It has straight-through style resonators, just like the system on my Civic had.

I'm banking that I'm right...and the invidia will sound amazing because I wanted to cry when I hit the purchase button on a $600 cat-back.

You can take what I've said any way you want because this is a completely subjective post based merely on my opinions.

 

I wasn't hating on any of the aftermarket systems just saying I don't want that sound. I like the stock sound. Just want it louder.

 

I wasn't implying you were hating. I was just stating the logic that made me decide to purchase an aftermarket system

 

I'm going to go with that magnaflow muffler that will fit where the stock muffler is. So it's going to be the 2.25" stock piping to a single magnaflow muffler.

I'll post a video after doing this. I saw a few vids on youtube that sounded pretty darn good with this setup.

Also I installed a CAI from WAY today and man does it sound better : ) . Can't wait to get the pulley on. I'm thinking of installing it myself since a shop wants 200 bucks to do the job.

 

Sweet! Can't wait to see/hear the video.

As far as pulley install goes lots of people do it themselves. Luckily I don't live far from madness, alta, and craven speed. Madness did mine and plugs for $100 labor

 

So I JUST finished putting my Invidia cat-back on. First impressions: not as loud as I expected. Oddly, NVH seems to have decreased. Its about as loud as the one ball but sounds SOOOO much better. Can't wait until it breaks in!

 

Gets much louder as it breaks in When I first installed mine I was very disappointed at the lack of noise but that sad face turned into a happy face after the first 200 miles .The pop and burble upon throttle let off gets more obvious and the low tone turns almost on the verge of drone in certain rpm's.

 

I was sort of sad when the pops weren't as loud as the one ball...but the nice bassiness of the exhaust note is sooooo nice.

 

Update already: about 50 miles in and its already MUCH louder...starting to sound GOOD it really screams above 3500.
Still has that new exhaust smell and a little bit of smoke from the oil burning off. Cant wait for it to break in ugh

 

Just ordered this magnaflow muffler

http://youtu.be/YeqASHSrqvg


11365 is the muffler number


Mine is going to be exactly like this guy's except for the exhaust tip which on mine is going to be the stock dual tip...CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

 

Nice! I really like the look of the stock tips. It gives the car a "sleeper" look to it. Update us once youre done!

 

Will do ^ and the pulley tool for the 16% pulley i'm putting on is going to be here soon : )

I'm hoping to get some more torque in my life. So used to the torque my 20th AE gti 1.8t has at 2k rpm's lol. I enjoy driving the mini more, just need a lil more torque imo.

 

You're never going to get the same low end torque out of an R53, unfortunately. The pulley helps in the low end..sort of. It feels to me like it just raised the torque curve x amount. Unfortunately our little supercharged engines have a positive boost curve...whereas a small turbo can hit full boost and stay there and just dump any excess.


That being said...the pulley makes a HUGE difference. All my friends that got a ridealong before/after couldnt believe the way it pulled

IIRC I would only get 5-7psi under 5k before the pulley...with the 15% I get 10psi at 2k if I want it. And it just goes up from there to (in this weather) 16-17psi

 

When I heard the video, and the one ball exhaust was up, just at idle, I swear it sounded like Speed buggy. Not capping on ya. It sounded good after you revved it, just at first it had that Speed buggy pttt pttt sputter. Loved it tho. I like the whine of the s/c myself over a loud exhaust. But you need both for the performance.

 

Man oh man I remember those days. If you do the vacuum gain system mod (10 min and a few feet of vacuum line) you will see full boost when the pedal hits the floor. Basically the bypass valve closes as vacuum increases. This gives full vacuum right away closing the bpv and giving you all your boost.

Could also go with the Detroit tuned bpv which has a stiffer spring and basically occomplishes the same thing. Just more $$$

 

AAAAAND you just convinced me to get the DT BPV... I've been eyeing it for some time now...

 

Having both I honestly recommend the vgs first. Easy cheap and effective. Idk how well the dt bpv works without the vgs as I did the vgs first

 

Where can I find a writeup of the vgs mod? Honestly I havent heard of it.

 

Ask and you shall recieve

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ystem-vgs.html

 

Mmm seems not worth it with the ominous lookig clouds. Spent about 30 minutes trying to get the vacuum line off the bpv and just ended up with busted knuckles. Does it really make a large difference? Since I don't have any yoyo-ing I'm not sure its worth destroying my hands even worse unless it is a noticeable difference

 

Instead of hitting 10lbs when pushing full throttle and slowly creeping up to 16 as the rpms go up I see 16 lbs as soon as I mash it. Seat of the pants loved it. And idk why the line on the bpv is hard to come off. Mine was a cinch

 

Probably due to the fact that I can't get my hand anywhere near where it needs to be if only I had a garage... I'll attempt this tomorrow if its not raining.

 

Good luck!

 

I had the VGS mod and it ended up putting a hole in the diaphragm on the bypass valve. Made a nasty boost leak. VGS no more for me.

On the subject of the one ball mod I had way too much drone in the cabin. I used all brand new OEM hangers and clamps in the process as well. I ended up with a 17" resonator from Summit Racing on it and now couldn't be happier. Nice exhaust tone (did not change the tone much of the one ball) and no drone.

Mine is an 03 and it was just the cat to straight pipe to the one ball. Is there another resonator on the newer r53 other than the other ball? Everyone I talked to said they did not have drone but had newer coopers.