WTB, quiet Exhaust... suggestions?

Hey all.

I am tired of my Thermal, and I want a new exhaust.

I know mugen's are really quiet, but I dont care to spend $1100.

DC's are just as bad as mine, I dont know why people think they are quiet.

apex'i or any other with a silencer is not an option.


Is the Comptech quiet?

Is there a way to use a stock muffler with mandrel bend pipes? Or anyway to modify a stock muffler? Or a Type-R muffler? THis way would be preferred if at all possible, to go back to the sleeper look/sound, but I have no clue how feasbile, or how much HP may be lost.

Any other suggestions?

BTW< the car is a 4dr GSR.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 22, 2003 07:08 PM: Message edited by: gsrteggie ]</font>

I've been thinking about the same thing these days. I'm pretty tired of my Borla. It's not "that" loud, I guess. I REALLY like the way the new G35 coupes and 350z's sound. I want an exhaust that can emulate that soft burble.

I know someone on this board has a Remus exhaust. How are those?

Okay, I'm gonna confess my shameful story. But I'm happy with the sound and that's all that's important.

I had one of the Greddy systems, (from header to exhaust) I never did like the sound all that much when it was new, but as it aged (either me or the system) it just began to sound worse.

I was at Pepboys (for something else at the time), and looked at some of their universal exhausts, and bought one for 100$. I took my car to Meinike muffler, and they cut off that shitcan greddy, (just the exhaust and tip) and put on this new shitcan. I don't have the reciept anymore, but the printing says "AR racing" on the tail pipe. I think, its American products company but not sure. I measured the inside diameter at 2 1/2 inches. The inside of the exhaust has a swirl going through the center of it when you look through it and it marked as a universal muffler for imports.

And get this: THIS FUCKER IS LOUDER, BUT SOUNDS BETTER THAN THE GREDDY EVER DID. It gives off a low growl -- even the two guys working at the shop were impressed with the difference -- neither of them particularly import fans either. Further more it doesn't give me a headache.

But this is just my opinion, and your results may vary. I'm just offering my 2 cents. I also added a resonater to the pipe around the area of the car near the (approx under my seat) to the original greddy system -- so this may make a differnece as well.

My car came stock with a 1 and 3/4 inch exhaust. I eventually went with the DC Sports catback, and had it for maybe 2 years, and eventually got tired of the loud import stereotype exhaust sound, so I traded it with a guy for an SI catback exhaust... sure I'm getting a bit less HP out of it than the DC, but more than stock, but it's a hell of a lot quieter, and its 2 and 1/4 inch piping, the same as the DC Sports.

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Reddelsol. . . did you add a 2nd resonator or was that your first resonator?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Greddy built one in, so really there are two. I could probably take one out and get by though. The second resonator was really an attempt to fix the greddy, and although it did quiet it down, it really didn't change the overall tone.

I had the same complaint with my Thermal until I snapped and traded it for a Greddy Evo with a mid-pipe resonator. It's way quieter with the Greddy. I can actually carry on a normal conversation in my car now and listen to the radio.

Definitely Old-School RS*R... I had a DC system, and got sick of the droning noise on long trips, so I luckily scored the RS*R from a kid in Central Jersey. It's quiet as stock.
If you can find one, it's a great way to not sacrifice HP and keep the volume down!

http://www.ranneypeimer.com/RSR2.JPG

There is a guy on H-T that sells mandrel piping and he sells magnaflow mufflers. K-teller I think is his name. Someone on here has this setup its 2.5 and he said it was loud but said he put a 18 magnaflow resonator and its ALOT quieter. I will check to see if I can find that post for you.

B18C-Check PM

Reddelsol. . . did you add a 2nd resonator or was that your first resonator?

can i weld a type-r muffler onto my thermal (i.e. cut the muffler off), yet still have mandrel bends up to the muffler?

I think this can be possible if I can find the exhaust itself.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 24, 2003 02:27 AM: Message edited by: gsrteggie ]</font>

I know some have gone to the Type R, but that still has a baffle rather than straight thru and is going to add backpressure.

It's relatively cheap to have resonators welded into your existing setup (certainly not even freakin' close to $1100 even if you put one in, hate it, and take it out again 10 times over).

I'd consider that route first; it might be enough to satisfy you especially since you've been listening to a usually very loud thermal system.

A muffler shop can do it in a hour.

I got 2.5" mandrel bent piping from K-Teller's group buy on HT with a dynomax super turbo muffler and a 18" resonator. Its really loud on the inside of the car. Super low sound so it just travels really far. Dont get it if u want a quiet exhaust. I want that old skool rsr to....anyone wanna trade [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 25, 2003 02:48 AM: Message edited by: MartyMarGSR ]</font>

MartyMarGSR....did you expect a Dynomax turbo muffler to be on the quiet side? I am pretty sure that is a straight thru design like the Apexi or my Skunk exhaust. It's the choice of muffler that is making it loud...you can try a muffler that is 2 1/2 but is not a straight through design...that should help it some.

This is my thinking....

An exhuast add's like 2-3 HP in a NA setup, so it can't be that much of a loss/gain if I throw a more restrictive muffler on it.

I mean, look at all the ricer's that add just mufflers.... It does almost NO hp, so, granted, while I am supercharged, I cant imagine more than a 3-4 hp loss doing this.

Other opinions?

p.s. The rsr isnt for a sedan, so unless u can easily modify a 2 door exhuast to a 4 dr exhaust easily (add some pipe), that option is not available.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 25, 2003 10:30 AM: Message edited by: gsrteggie ]</font>

I have a Comptech S/S TIG welded exhaust and it sounds incredible. I wouldnt call it quiet though. It's pretty loud on the inside, but its a deep bassy loud. Not high pitched at all. It gets annoying on the highway so its probably not the exhaust for you, but imo it is the best sounding exhaust I've ever heard.

I "believe" that the Dynomax Super Turbo is a baffled exhaust muffler. I used to have it and ended up breaking some of the baffling on the inside after 1 year of driving. Anyways, I swithed to my Borla after that. The Borla is louder. The Dynomax has been the quietest exhaust I've had to date, and that includes the Borla SS and a Magnaflow straight-through.

My dunk muffler finally bit the dust a couple of weeks ago so I ordered a 2.25" magnaflow muffler from K-Teller's group buy on HT for $75. Shipping was 10 bucks. I just had the muffler cut off and welded it on to the dunk 2.25" piping. Sounds QUIET at idle but when you get on it, it sounds buzzy but still deep. I'm looking for an OEM exhaust tip. Any of you guys know off hand a Acura or Honda car that has 2.25" exhaust tip? Just trying to look stock as possible.

well, I have decided what I am going to do.....


i am going to do a new and larger resonator and the thermal stealth exhaust insert.

This will probably be the cheapest, and will get me done and over with for under 200 prolly.

thanks for the help

I don't recommend the "exhaust insert" if it is one of those things that plugs into the exhaust pipe. Many people call these silencers, but all the do is plug up your system. Here is what I did on my supercharged Type-R. I wanted a full 2.5 inch exhaust system so I went custom. First I replaced the cat with a 2.5" glasspack muffler (some guys call them resonators, but there is a difference). Then I got 2.5 mandrel bent piping system with two true resonators, a big one (24"?) right behind the cat and another small one farther back over the axle. These are where the resonators are in the stock Type-R system. I finished it off with a straight-through Magnaflow muffler. It sounded great. Not too loud at all, yet EXTREMELY free flowing. The exhaust tip looked like stock on the R. I got lucky and found great deals on most of the parts (some used) on the Honda tech classifieds. It didn't cost that much at all. The glasspacked muffler was only $25 at the Hot Rod Barn. They work great as resonators. Mandrel bent is nice, but crush bending doesn't really restrict flow that much.

it's not a apex type silencer. It is an inverter cone that directs more air into the muffler part, and not straight through. It has less restriction that those silence things u put in a tip.

It is basically the thermal stealth mod to an existing exhuast.

I think that 2 resonators is a great idea. I think I might use that on my setup? Can someone please explain to me simply how resonators work to decrease volume? Do they decrease horsepower if you overdo them? I have one really long one installed close to the muffler and am thinking about installing a second one closer to the cat.

on my car, I run a Apexi WS exhaust system.. The car sounds pretty nice... louder than stock, but not as loud and ricey as a lot of the other ones that roll around. The exhaust tip doesn't stick out 6 inches either, so it is barely noticable. I would recommend this exhaust as a reliable, nice-sounding catback exhaust system. You can probably pick it up for between 300 and 400$... maybe cheaper if you find a great deal or get one used.

I use the Apexi WS, too. Acceptably quiet, reliable, reasonably inexpensive and no "drone" on the freeway where I spend a lot of time.

So it costs me a couple of HP. I don't need all of those ponies all of the time and I'll bet you don't either.

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Originally posted by 217gsr:
I think that 2 resonators is a great idea. I think I might use that on my setup? Can someone please explain to me simply how resonators work to decrease volume? Do they decrease horsepower if you overdo them? I have one really long one installed close to the muffler and am thinking about installing a second one closer to the cat.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are different types of resonators, but the ones I have seen are completely hollow. These have zero back pressure. I've heard of some that have louvers in them, and they may restrict the flow somewhat. When I bought the glasspacked muffler at a performance shop one guy there called it a resonator, but there is a difference. True resonators cause the soundwaves to bounce around so they kind of cancel each other out. I know that's not a very good description, but that's how I understand they work. I do know that they don't restrict the flow, but they do add a couple of pounds of weight to the exhaust system.

On team-integra articles they say that the resonators dont resstrict flow. Basically what you said the sound frequencies cancel each other out. A glasspack to my understanding is a ''cherrybomb'' that can be purchased at pepboys. They usually start to rust at the bottom thats the downside about them.
I plan on either running a straight through with 2 resonators with no cat converter. Or a high flow cat converter with one big resonator and a straight through. This is a 99 GSR running 9psi with hondata. Where could I put the WBo2 sensor in to get it tuned if i do method one? Or I can do freds method and run 3 resonators and no cat.

Just checked up on site again and hytech did a test with their system and their system using a magnaflow resonor. The difference was 2whp in favor of the resonator. just to prove that resonators work and arre not restrictive. I also looked at the cat converter article and test pipe vs a 2.5 carsound there was almost no difference. Test pipe had 2whp less but more torque and cat had 2whp more but less torque. The lines were right ontop of each other on the graph.

So I guess I will just get a carsound cat and 2 magnaflow resonators with a straight through muffler.
My question is that will the cat converter and 2 resonators be as quiet as just using 3 resonators and no cat. BTW the glasspacks are fiberglass resonators and when they got hot they start to melt the matarial inside and will make the car louder.

depending on the resonator, it will quiet the system.... My system will probably see most from the inverter cone, but I could careless at this point... I need my sanity back.

I certainly understand the sanity part.

Just remember that low backpressure depends on laminar flow. Resonators, by design, disrupt laminar flow. Kind of a catch-22. I don't think you will ever see a quiet system that delivers optimum power.

Post the results so we can compare the numbers. Our cars are very similar and I'd like to see how my Apexi WS compares to your setup.

Good luck.

I thought you were looking for a quiet system.

If you think that random sound waves bouncing around in a resonator will significantly reduce noise, you are kidding yourself. It might wind up sounding like a fart through a straw.

When you have your system in place, post the dyno results. I'm curious to see how the numbers compare to my '99, 9 pound, Hondata controlled GSR. I forget the exact number but I think Jim said it was around 240 whp.

BTW, will you need that extra 2 hp to pull the extra weight?

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Originally posted by TaiPan:
I don't think you will ever see a quiet system that delivers optimum power.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think it can done be but it will either be active noise cancelling (expensive) or prohibitively long (impractical)...

Listen to this guys hytech exhaust system and kamakaze header. Also Im planning on doing everything in feburary. we just got slammed with snow over here.
http://www.team-integra.net/forum/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=10&TopicID=64394 &SearchPagePosition=1&search=hytech&searchMode=all words&searchIn=Topic&forum=0&searchSort=dateDESC&R eturnPage= Search

If your not a member then click these. Right click and save.

1. inside car

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/i=wMTg0NzU4NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE=

2. outside of car 100ft away

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/i=wMTg0NzU3NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE=

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 06, 2003 02:30 PM: Message edited by: InfamousGSR ]</font>

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Originally posted by InfamousGSR:
Just checked up on site again and hytech did a test with their system and their system using a magnaflow resonor. The difference was 2whp in favor of the resonator. just to prove that resonators work and arre not restrictive. I also looked at the cat converter article and test pipe vs a 2.5 carsound there was almost no difference. Test pipe had 2whp less but more torque and cat had 2whp more but less torque. The lines were right ontop of each other on the graph.

So I guess I will just get a carsound cat and 2 magnaflow resonators with a straight through muffler.
My question is that will the cat converter and 2 resonators be as quiet as just using 3 resonators and no cat. BTW the glasspacks are fiberglass resonators and when they got hot they start to melt the matarial inside and will make the car louder.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The carsound cats don't restrict flow much at all. The reason that I went with the glasspack was because I read so many stories about how the carsound cats didn't last very long. My stock cat was already throwing a CEL. When I took it off it looked so clogged up that I was suprised that anything was flowing through it. I had heard that running rich would cause cats to clog. I didn't want to pay the price of a free flow cat if it wasn't going to last over a year. I can buy four or five glasspacks for the same price.

So even though the carsound flows about the same as a testpipe, I didn't think it was worth the cost.