Track exhaust advise

[shinoo]

Originally Posted by Lotusmotion

Shinoo's posting about exhaust failures got me thinking...

The naked look has a distinctive appearance, but it may offer other functional advantage aside from added ventilation...especially for track rats.

You can visually inspect the cat for signs of cracking and exhaust connections for looseness without dropping the diffuser. Also, you can easily direct a fire extinguisher's spray into the exhaust area...should the need arise.

These could be significant advantages when at the track.

Any thoughts?

I think all those reasons are legit..plus you lose some weight by deleting that rear panel.

[R'elise Me]

Done deal - Larini 8" with Sector 111's rear panel eliminator bracket.

Is there any way to retain that new look without much fuss? That's a lot of muffler to be viewing if it's looking like an old smoker.

[Jack]

Glen -- Light and LOUD.... 6x18"

[rnr]

Originally Posted by R'elise Me

Shinoo - thanks for the feedback. I think the 8" sounds like the way to go. Can you post a photo of your car's gorgeous, nude ars here for all to enjoy.

Bump. I'm considering the 8 inch too and would love to see a pic of it on the car.

[R'elise Me]

Just got the box of goodies today - 8" larini, rear panel eliminator. I'll post a photo as soon as I get it installed. Muffler looks very nicely made so it should be a nice jewel effect like Jack's photo above- perhaps not so elegantly proportioned though.

[Green Hornet]

How does a 6" Larini and a sports cat compare to a Lotus Stage II with a stock cat ???

Anyone ???

Shinoo ???

[R'elise Me]

New Larini 8" is on. I'll post a pic when the daylight comes for a good shot, but it looks great and the tip detail is top notch. Almost as quiet as stock without the drone or raspiness on cam. It's very smooth and lower pitch than the old larini sport. I like it. It's the thinking man's exhaust. My headache days are over and now I'll be more at ease on the track, I'm sure.

The tip seems awefully close to the clam and I'm concerned about sinjing it. It's very hot to the touch. I did remove the entire heat sheild too. Need advise on this before I take it out for a long hot drive.

Interesting to note that removing the sheild, rear panel and trunk carpet/pad reduced weight by 9.5 lbs! THat doesn't include the weight saving if you are swapping out a stock pipe which is another 10 lbs approximately. I took out the carpet and pad to give the clam more heat transfer since I removed the heat sheild.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by R'elise Me

The tip seems awefully close to the clam and I'm concerned about sinjing it. It's very hot to the touch. I did remove the entire heat sheild too. Need advise on this before I take it out for a long hot drive.

Glen,

You can adjust the tip location by rotating the muffler, ever so slightly.

We also trimmed the heat shield leaving key portions in to protect the innocent, i.e., heim joints and trunk/clam area. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the reflection of the heat shield above the muffler can and the shield portions left in to protect the heim joints.

[Pestodude]

Originally Posted by R'elise Me

Sounds like Tubulars all drone from Carl's comments. So it's down to:

Larini 8" (quiet and heavy)
Von Hep - lightest (someone describe hwy sound please)
Larini 6" - heavier than Von Hep but better looking (even though they all seem to look like old BBQ's after a couple track days). - Does anyone have one yet? Any feedback Shinoo?

So how light is light? (or, how heavy is heavy?) My point is, I'm torn between the Larini 8, the Von Hep, and the 2bular 8 x 24. Can someone post the weights of these 3 systems and the weight of the stock muffler so I can see if we're talking pounds or ounces of differance. If it's close, I'm going to focus on sound and appearance. Also, has anyone dynoed these to see what power advantages or penalties, if any there might be over stock?

[R'elise Me]

The Von hep is about 9 lbs. Larini, stock and Arqray specs on Sector111.com. Blackwatchracing.com for Tubular and Von Hep specs. I say pick the exhaust that suits you aesthetic and noise requirements. 5 lbs isn't going to be noticeable unless you're dueling for small fractions of a second. I'm a bit of a stickler for weight, but I chose the heaviest aftermarket one I think since being able to sustain your mental and physical energy on a hot track for a whole day or two counts for way more than cool boysnoise and arguable handling improvements.

[R'elise Me]

Just got back from the track. The 8 inch larini is really a pleasure on the highway there and back. Very quiet - no ear plugs needed anymore. On the track - and we're talking Willow Springs big track where you spend most of the time on WOT and for long stretches - it's still a fairly loud muffler. I wouldn't qualify it as quiet, but it is definitely quieter than my old Larini Sport. I'm real happy with it in every way except one: in order to have adequate clearance from the exhaust tip to the clam fiberglass I had to rotate the muffler such that the tip points a wee bit downwards. It's a subtle flaw in the design IMO, but others may not even notice this. It's not that it looks awkward - just not as good IMO as it did when the tip was rotated closer (dangerously so) to the clam and pointing dead level. IMO Larini should adjust the design a little. Also - their muffler clamp looks frail compared to the more substantial one that comes with Tubular exhausts (at least the one on Jacks car). But it works fine regardless. The gorgeous tip more than makes up for that little complaint.