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Loud and now much quieter

DaveOBrienDaveOBrien
At the Dana Pt concourse a few weeks ago I got to see many 356's and had a great time. I also got to hear them as the tubs and 911's moved around the grass. One thing really struck me, how quiet they were! Got the opportunity to check out the undercarriages of quite a few speedies and they almost all had stock mufflers with really small tailpipes.

That got me thinking about the sound my tri-mill makes. Granted it has a really nice sound and it is almost brand new but what would a stock hi-quality muffler be like? Take a 100 mile drive with the tri-mill and you really feel it, especially your ears.

So I bought a German Ernst muffler for a 1600cc engine, and all the clamps, tailpipes etc last weekend. Today I installed the Ernst muffler and Wow! it was very quiet and just as fast or at least no loss of power in my 1776cc. Just what I was looking for, a much more relaxing ride especially for my right seater Chrissa who met me for lunch in Point Loma after I degreased myself from the work. Chrissa likes the new sound way better as do I. On the freeway all I can hear is the wind and other car tires with the top down. For me this is a more relaxing solution. Now I'm ready to travel!

After lunch we drove out the the end of the Point Loma lighthouse through Fort Rosecrans cemetery, a most beautiful location with views of the Pacific on one side and downtown San Diego on the other side. We thought good thoughts about our friends and family who are there along with the rest of the hero's at their final rest.

On the way back we drove down through tuna ville into Shelter Island along Harbor Drive with the bay on one side and the Airport on the other. Then back home.

So I saw some mention of possible cruises next weekend. Remember the euro meet will be at the SD stadium (Qualcom, Jack Murphy, Charger stadium) If the OC speedster members want to come down we could have some fun in San Diego.
Jim, Will, and the rest of the west coast boys what do you think? We could hook up in Carlsbad in Will's territory and cruise down the coast then maybe end up at the stadium for a while.

Ps: I live just above the SD airport and am central to SD if anyone needed an overnight rest stop.

Cheers
Dave
The Quiet D
1959 Intermeccanica(Convertible D)
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DaveOBrienDaveOBrien
At the Dana Pt concourse a few weeks ago I got to see many 356's and had a great time. I also got to hear them as the tubs and 911's moved around the grass. One thing really struck me, how quiet they were! Got the opportunity to check out the undercarriages of quite a few speedies and they almost all had stock mufflers with really small tailpipes.

That got me thinking about the sound my tri-mill makes. Granted it has a really nice sound and it is almost brand new but what would a stock hi-quality muffler be like? Take a 100 mile drive with the tri-mill and you really feel it, especially your ears.

So I bought a German Ernst muffler for a 1600cc engine, and all the clamps, tailpipes etc last weekend. Today I installed the Ernst muffler and Wow! it was very quiet and just as fast or at least no loss of power in my 1776cc. Just what I was looking for, a much more relaxing ride especially for my right seater Chrissa who met me for lunch in Point Loma after I degreased myself from the work. Chrissa likes the new sound way better as do I. On the freeway all I can hear is the wind and other car tires with the top down. For me this is a more relaxing solution. Now I'm ready to travel!

After lunch we drove out the the end of the Point Loma lighthouse through Fort Rosecrans cemetery, a most beautiful location with views of the Pacific on one side and downtown San Diego on the other side. We thought good thoughts about our friends and family who are there along with the rest of the hero's at their final rest.

On the way back we drove down through tuna ville into Shelter Island along Harbor Drive with the bay on one side and the Airport on the other. Then back home.

So I saw some mention of possible cruises next weekend. Remember the euro meet will be at the SD stadium (Qualcom, Jack Murphy, Charger stadium) If the OC speedster members want to come down we could have some fun in San Diego.
Jim, Will, and the rest of the west coast boys what do you think? We could hook up in Carlsbad in Will's territory and cruise down the coast then maybe end up at the stadium for a while.

Ps: I live just above the SD airport and am central to SD if anyone needed an overnight rest stop.

Cheers
Dave
The Quiet D
Gordon NicholsGordon NicholsMassachusetts 1993 CMC Supporting Member
Dave:

You've found the secret of real 356 cruising; yes, they are very quiet, but it seems that most replicas have been steered towards "quiet pack mufflers" that aren't really very quiet at all.

If you're running a relatively small (for a replica) displacement engine, like 1776cc's or under, you can certainly run a stock exhaust pipe and muffler set up. I think the exhaust pipes are something like 1-1/8" inner diameter and they work just fine and provide the proper back pressure to make the engine happy (VW engines rely on a certain amount of exhaust back pressure to work properly).

Once you get into larger displacement, like 1915 cc's or higher, then you start to need progressively larger diameter exhaust pipes and a decent collector and extractor system, but a lot of replica owners tend to go overboard a little with their extractor exhaust (just like me) and then they tend to be louder (often too loud, bbut we put up with it).

I inherited a complete stock muffler system (with stainless steel heater boxes, no less!) with the kit I just bought and am thinking of selling it to help finance the rest of the project (it's too small for my 2,110), so maybe someone else will be able to enjoy a quiet 356 cruiser in the future, too!
DaveOBrienDaveOBrien
thanks Gordon,

I agree the stock muffler is for the smaller displacements.

One thing I might play with is replacing the pea shooter tail pipes with some Chrome tapered baffled exhaust tips, they look like the pea shooters but are a larger diameter at the end, about $30.00 for a pair or about 30% the cost of the muffler. Way down on the Things To Do list. (I have a TTD list in excel for Speedster projects)

An install note for anyone who goes to the quiet side is if you have dual carbs in addition to blocking off the preheater tubes you might have to persuade the drivers side tube around a bit. I my case my oil filter was in the path of the preheater tube and I had to flatten the tube and persuade it with a sledge hammer while holding on the the tube with channel locks where the tube comes out of the muffler and hoping I wouldn't break the weld. All work like a charm but boy is that German steel tough! I had to really whale on it to bend it.

Dave
FM Former Member
A couple of years ago, I drove the spyder down to Arizona for the Arachnamania (spyder) get-to-gether. I was absolutely floored at how loud the other spyders were. Our car is not exactly quiet, but it is a very comfortable audible experience especially on long drives. Good thing too because that trip was 2,500 miles. The other spyders (all air cooled four cylinders) absolutely drowned out my exhaust.

Not kidding - they were REALLY loud. There is no way I would have made a 2,500 mile trip with an exhaust that loud! *but they did sound AWESOME!*

angela
DUBSTUBDUBSTUB
When I first installed the A-1 Sidewinder and started the engine, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't louder. I am now of the opinion that it is loud enough and seems to work well with my 2180 and 44 Webers. It goes fast but not too loud. When we took our "brisk" drive in Paso Robles in April, Ed Janis and Terry Nuckles were just in front of me. Now those guys have loud mufflers, especially Eddy.
coolrydecoolryde
I agree with the non droaning of the engine on the freeway, however the right exhaust note on the streets is cool too. I currently have a quiet exhaust system on my tub. It has two mufflers tucked up next to the valve covers with a nice header system and has a nice quality sound. I for one want that slightly deeper note with a little rasp for that exciting sound when you go full throttle. The only porblem with stock 1600cc exhaust systems is that they sound like Jorge Jetson's car from the Jetsons. There is nothing quieter then stock tho.

my .02 cents
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