remote control loud/silent performance exhaust

[Sydney111s]

I thought I might start this as a separate thread:

XForce - Performance Exhaust Systems

I have installed the 3" inlet oval exhaust (and cut of the supplied oval tip/end next to the body of the mufler, connect 3" pipe and the exahust exits through the stock location on my exige S.

My whole exhaust from the header is mandrel bent, stainless, 3" tube, 200cell metal cat, VAREX muffler (parallel to the number plate/rear panel) all looking stock, except that I changed from the oval tip, to duel slash cut 2.25"tips.. kind of stock exige looking, but bigger..

On long road trips, I can set the exhaust to quiet (quieter than stoc) and listen to the stereo, and when I feel like going through the gears, I just press the button and instantly make ferrari's with Tubi exhaust sound tame...

I keep the remote on my key chain.

I have no commercial interest in the product/company, but it costs around 2.5 times or so LESS than a Larini etc... (less than usd 400 i think- I paid 450 Australian dollars fitted...)

[Noisycow]

Nothing sounds better than a Hemi 6.1 with cutouts, but I don't think cutouts on a Lotus would work. The ECU would starting bitching.

A great guy on the 300 6.1 Hemi forum made this vid --- with his daughters.

[Sydney111s]

the varex is not a cut out- its a dual circuit muffler-watch the u tube clip for the VE commodore (4 door version of pontiac GTO).

I used the:
Single Tip Oval VAREX:

Inlet Size:3";
Barrel Size: 6"X10";
Tip Size: 4" or 4.5" Round Double wall tip ( I cut this off, and connected a tail pipe, that eventually leads to twin tips in stock location)

Have done 4000km on this exhaust with no CEL/MIL- car has been great.

[Noisycow]

No kidding. That would be the ticket then. Make a vid of one installed please (on an Exige or Elise).

[Randy Chase]

That is pretty cool. I would have gotten that.

[Sh4rkattk]

That is so cool i wonder how much shipped to the US of A

[jimmyhoffa]

This is very nice. Can we get a vid of the sound with it open and closed?

And post pics please

[Sydney111s]

pictures wise, its a an oval muffler (as pictured on the website) behind the stock rear panel, all looks pretty stock... however, will do, and the video on my return back to australia (but thats the end of the month..) I put this up partly as a response to another post, and I thought I would make the remote control aspect more obvious by a new post

[Sh4rkattk]

Any problems with the ecu as stated by Noisy?

Sydney would you like to ship me one to the US?

[Frank Amoroso]

That's pretty tight!

Save for the inevitable weight penalty discussion of course.

[Sh4rkattk]

Originally Posted by Frank Amoroso

That's pretty tight!

Save for the inevitable weight penalty discussion of course.

Looks kinda heavy, im afraid to ask. Its so cool that i may just have to save weight elsewhere.

[Bom]

Do they have one for lotus elise/exige?

[Mr. Know]

I'm pretty sure some Lamborghinis come with an electronic heat related exhaust bypass which some owners wire to manual control, from the factory.

[Aedo]

Sounds great Reeves! Will it fit on a 111S with dual exhaust?

[Sydney111s]

its actually lighter than the stock exhust by approx 1.5kg (3.3lbs) but then the sport cat is lighter. Overally not to much of a weight saving, as it is essential a baffled muffler over a glass pack straight through) but it is very functional.

As for are they lotus specific? really no muffler is (marketing fluff aside). If you mean does it hook straight up? no- I paid $300 labour to install the the muffler (was about 5.5 hours work for new flanged cat, replacement cat pipe, new pipework, hangers etc).

All up it was approx $1000 with the 200 cell metal cat, labour, muffler etc.

I think any competent exhaust shop can do this- they just put the car on a hoist, position the muffle on a stand, then piece together the pipework/mandrel bends as required (the time consuming bit).

Ok the car was out of action for the day, but i just dropped it of in the morning, and picked it up at night (and the shop had never worked on a lotus before).

I will post pics when i get back to Sydney... STILL stuck in London with work (everything going slower than I would like!) and summer in London is such crap weather wise...

So Aedo (steve? I remember u did test drive my previous 111s) yes it would fit a 111s, you just need a "Y" pipe to exit on either side of the car if you want to keep the standard look.

I also recieved a pm from a member who made me realise I did not clearly state how/why I chose a product that is not "lotus" specific.

1 reason cited for not offering lotus specifc products is that its a small market etc. The thing to remember is that exhausts in particular are not car specific (more gas flow/volume specific).

The thing to remember is- look at the 2bular exausts, and arquay etc.. all mufflers are either straight through or baffled designs.
Sports mufflers normally have a perforated pipe encased in fibreglass, encased in a stainless steel shell...
Standard factory mufflers tend to use chambers/baffles, quietening sound by physically blocking and redirecting the gasses.
The xforce muffler uses both- a straight through, with baffles around it- 2mufflers in 1, hence standard or loud..

As an example, 2bular offers different noise levels, based on the size of the "can" (muffler). Tips/exits make no diff to the performance. Quality of the perforations in the muffler, and quality of the fibreglass make a difference to performance (and noise level too).

Sports exhust manufacturers who say they "tune" the muffler DO NOT have the resource of VAG/BMW/Porsche who really do tune the exhaust noise in huge sound labs.. all the usual suspects basically use their "experience" to select a packing density (for the fibreglass noise insulation) and volume (of he steel enclosure) to get a noise level, then modify a little if there is a harmnic resonance (DRONE) at certain rev ranges..

Differences in noise quality/sound of an engine come from the combustion chambers/cam/firing order etc- but basically for a given 1.8L motor (toyota/mazda/ford/Honda) etc, the same muffler will offer pretty much the same noise suppression. To really change the sound of a given motor, changing the order of the exhaust pulses at the collector/header before the muffler makes the difference- the muffler, does just that.. muffle sound.

Stating the OBVIOUS- the ultralight exhausts are LOUD- why? because they have very little fibreglass packing or a small volue or both (hence they are light! the Titianium mufflers are lighter because they have little packing, not because of the titanium- though it is 40% lighter than stainless used in mufflers, its the packing that weighs the most in straight through glassfibre exhausts).

I use the example of 2bular exhausts, as they have the most honest/transparent website, that clearly demonstrates that the noise level is related to muffler size (ie the greater diameter mufflers are quieter as they have more noise absorbing fibreglass).

THE IMPORTANT BIT
the Subaru Impreza WRX featured on the website is a 2.0L 4cyl turbo... so the same muffler will easily cope with a 1.8L supercharged 4cyl from the exige S..

For the most part the only "lotus specific" part is the pipe from the header to the muffler, and from muffler exit to tail pipe area and the hangars. ANY competent exhaust shop can do this.. the guys who installed mine had never seen a lotus before.

Its easy on the lotus because the exhaust sits in a big empty space under the rear... most modern hot hatch/small saloons have no where near the space the lotus does..

So, all i did was choose the muffler that would fit the space (and cut of the exit/tip of the muffler to weld the normal pipe to extend to the tailpipe as required for the lotus.

I provided the dimensions of the muffler I chose, as it fits the space well

I hope this helps! (I think to many people with exotic cars get ripped of because people say the product is "lotus/exotic car" specific)

[Dragon]

I'm interested... PoPo over here have been targeting loud cars...

You think you could maybe put together some kind of group buy when you get back to Ausi for us?

[Aedo]

Originally Posted by Sydney111s

...
So Aedo (steve? I remember u did test drive my previous 111s) yes it would fit a 111s, you just need a "Y" pipe to exit on either side of the car if you want to keep the standard look.
...

it is! I need to keep it standard and quiet when around SWMBO and our quiet street... but elsewhere a little more exhaust freedom would be a good thing!

Cheers,
Steve