Exhaust systems

As some of you can tell, Henry is starting my fabrication. A question about exhaust.Everyone likes a good sound emanating from their ride. Purposeful, resonant, throaty, substantial, are all words Ive heard to describe it. But as one person, at least has said, when does the "sound" become, obstrusive, annoying, distracting to the driver and or passenger. Im building a speedster 6 with a Porsche 3.2 motor. It has European headers, no cat and an original 911 single outlet side exhaust. It is serviceable, but not "period". Im looking for a 356 dual outlet like the original. I just like the look of it. MK exhaust will fabricate anything I want, but Ben has said this application will be loud. This is not a daily driver,but a weekend toy. For short drives, it may not matter much if at all. Anyone out there wrestling with the same question. I like a healthy dose of sound. I have Harley's, but not with open pipes. Ive used the Screaming Eagles that HD recommends, and they sound great. Comments?

Loud is good!! Provided it doesn't sound like a rice burning fart can...

Listen to my speedy at the beginning of this clip. I have a setup with dual 14" glass packs. Sounds awesome!!!

Gabe

I went on youtube and got an earful. There are several videos of 356 cars, with various drivetrains. It gives me a good idea of what Im getting into. I think I'll keep my Alfa spider for my wife.Much more sedate. But the animal Speedster 3.2 IM Carrera will be for me!

Howard, You cannot compare the wonderful 911 sounds with the noise that the type 1 VW makes. I am sure you are reading the 911 forums and checking their exhaust systeme. I don't know what is available for the 3.2 but I had a twin pipe sport muffler on my 2.4MFI car and loved it.

Here are a couple of photos of the system I'm talking about. They look great in a VHT light grey, chrome tips are not needed.

Check out the (Show us your exhaust system post) for some good ideas! Go to search, Exhaust systems

Howard, since your engine originally came with a catalytic and you're not using one, it will definitely be louder without one. I would try to set up a system that preserves the original 911 sound, which I think is just perfect (I just love the sound of mine). Without a catalytic converter, the exhaust fabricator should be able to muffle it a bit more to get you back to the original sound. Good luck, and keep us updated on your car's progress.

This is what my Raby Type4 sounds like inside the car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f12L5F4jDYM
JOe

Cool and jumpy ride, Joe!! The poor camera is all over the place; the engine souds mean!

Henry is going to rebuild my exhaust next week, it was just too loud for me to use as a daily driver. It would trigger car alarms as I drove up the street and was so loud I could not even hear my cell phone. Everyone who heard it thought it sounded great, and it does, but only for a few minutes. FOr people who are not looking for a daily driver I bet they'd love the sound of this car, but it was too much for me.

Good luck with yours.

Gz

Jon I understand. Henry and I have had conversations about how to tone it down. I still want the throaty sound of a flat 6 Porsche and this is just a weekend toy so we use it diffenrently, but your comments as to sound spooked me abit. Henry and I are trying to come up with a solution. I live in NJ and cant easily take it into IM for mods after the fact.

Howard,
Its really easy to get obnoxiously loud with the sixes. We have a 3.2 in Steves cabriolet set up much as your car is, no cat. I'll take a pic of the muffler for you this weekend (no start - wiring not done). It is a two out muffler. The muffler is a stainless Dansk. The exit pipes are large enough for me to stick my fist into...

This is reportably about as loud as you want for a street car. If you hit the throttle hard, this allegedly will set off car alarms but will still allow acceptable top-down cruising.

angela

Hi Angela! Im glad you chimed in. The body/chassis are one and at the paint shop as we speak. The 3.2 I found had Euro spec headers, with the cat replaced by a "pre-muffler". The issue here, which John had,is one of comfort. I think its fair to say we want our cars to "sound" like something nasty goes there, but one has to live with it. The motor came with it stock exhaust, a somewhat nasty affair, which as you know is a one inlet/one outlet job. I want to get a "period" look, with either a single centered "pea-shooter" GS look, or go with a dual outlet, ala 356. Henry works with MK exhaust,which will fabricate anything I want. But the sound may be intrusive for my tastes. Henry then backt racked and suggested he could make the existing exhaust work, with the look Im after. I think he is also concerned. As John mentioned in his thread, it may sound great for the first 50 miles, but I can understand how it could get tiresome to constantly have to strain to have a conversation with your passenger. Any comments or suggestions?

My lowly 1915 with Tri-Mil exhaust system sets off car alarms quite frequently; I guess it's more a matter of frequency rather than loudness.

Howard,
For the most part I don't think it's the exhaust that makes it hard to talk to your right seater, it's the wind. The exhaust is behind you. Though I do understand your concerns about it being too loud. There was a gentleman from Ontario (his name escapes me) at Carlise today. He had a gorgeous IM that he bought from Henry (it was Henry's personal car) and it had a wildly crazy gorgeous sounding exhaust! It was a single out pipe with a all kinds of twists and turns underneath. I don't recall what engine was in the car but see if Henry can shed some light on it. It was very nice sounding, you knew it was there but not over the top.

Angela,
Chuck Beck was out on the Auto X in his 904. You want to talk about and exhaust, or lack there of, it was freaking loud!!!! It sounded incredible though, I thought Lambros was going to faint he loved it so much.