Now the gains are great, but it’s loud now…too loud. At idle, it’s okay, but on acceleration it’s just too loud (that civic blaring volume), and at WOT, it just blares.
At this point, what are my options to make it quiet. I wouldn’t mind taking a minor loss in power so long it’s at least more than what it was before the header. but my main concern now is to get the noise down.
what are my options?
Add resonator? Add another cat? change current cat? change muffler?
When I had my KA I had a Hotshot performance header with a 2.5 straight pipe right to the back, connected to a Magnaflow strightflow daul tip muffler. It was way too loud but it was a good sounding loud, not that civic fart can sound, it sounded more like a rummble. Anyone that heard my car loved it and everyone used to ask what kind of exhaust I have.
i’m going straight to the exhaust shop after work today…
any brand name resonators in particular?
the shop that i go to always seems to have a plethora of magnaflow products, so I’m probably gonna end up with a magnaflow resonator.
any reviews/comments on this product?
I have the Magnaflow resonator. Sounds great, I love it! Only thing to worry about is clearance. You might need stiffer hangers so that puppy wong bang around durring hard cornering.
Magnaflow has a real good line of quality products that are performance tested and sound good on most cars.
Don’t waste your money on a resonator if you don’t mind the loudnes and you want your car to realy sound nice.
this maybe a bit off-topic but I’ve played around with exhaust design on 4cyl before, and I mean resonators/mufflers/piping/tips…
I found some curious things in no particular order:
resonators can cause a flat spot at part throttle, it feels like it bogs with a light foot
the tip shape makes a huge impact on sound, you can make a tiny exhaust into a trumpet and it will blare, I prefer straight tip for that reason
piping diameter affects backpressure and sound, if your piping diameter increases steadily towards the back, like 1-7/8 to 2 to 2-1/8 to 2-1/4 to muffler, the gas velocity slows down and blends the sound more, you can get rid of the raspy sound in a raunchy exhaust note
cats affect sound, sometimes they act like resonators if the engine pulses aren’t tuned (ie normal shitty manifolds) but they do muffle sound a bit
turbos act like variable mufflers, the turbine housing has an affect on the overall tone, but the rest of the pipes really determine the sound
using a resonator in place of a muffler will cause rather extreme resonance, not car-falling-apart kind but like pager set to vibrate, you feel it, and depending on your interior things will buzz and rattle for the split second you are in the resonance band
my preference will always be an increasing diameter exhaust with an oversize (by the car’s standard) padded and baffled muffler with a straight single or split tip
using a resonator in place of a muffler will cause rather extreme resonance, not car-falling-apart kind but like pager set to vibrate, you feel it, and depending on your interior things will buzz and rattle for the split second you are in the resonance band
this was the first thign I noticed - i think i might have to increase my piping diameter.
If i do increase the piping size, should i leave the resonator on, or take it off?
Agreed. This setup will work best for what I think you have in mind. 2.5 or even 2.25 inch piping is going to work perfectly on your KA.
Your main problem in all of this was ditching your cat when you replaced the stock cat with headers. You might consider replacing the second “dummy” cat (the one that connects the downpipe to the muffler piping) with a hi-flow cat from Magnaflow.
Agreed. This setup will work best for what I think you have in mind. 2.5 or even 2.25 inch piping is going to work perfectly on your KA.
Your main problem in all of this was ditching your cat when you replaced the stock cat with headers. You might consider replacing the second “dummy” cat (the one that connects the downpipe to the muffler piping) with a hi-flow cat from Magnaflow.[/quote]
Agreed. This setup will work best for what I think you have in mind. 2.5 or even 2.25 inch piping is going to work perfectly on your KA.
Your main problem in all of this was ditching your cat when you replaced the stock cat with headers. You might consider replacing the second “dummy” cat (the one that connects the downpipe to the muffler piping) with a hi-flow cat from Magnaflow.[/quote]
Agreed[/quote]
yeah especially since the cost of the tow/impound will be more than the cat, when you get caught…
