RE: Exhaust fakery: Tell Me I'm Wrong

[alfaandomega]

A great subject that Dan has unravelled for us : this article has provoked so much reaction and proves that many of us have had the same feelings of revulsion lurking below the surface !
My all-time favourite example of this type of tasteless excess was an almost-new Vauxhall Corsa up-specced(?) with low profile alloys, rally seats with Sparco harnesses and deep aftermarket front spoiler and rear bumper panels - with FOUR tailpipes exiting through the rear one ....... the best bit was that this was a 1.0litre 12-valve 3-cylinder model !!!

Gotta read the rest of the comments now.....

[Richair]

otolith said:

chappardababbar said:

otolith said:

Appalling breach of cylinder count / exhaust tips rules;

Really? Wasn't there a function related reason for this? I think it suits the car, I also think the Motorsport pedigree means it's earned the right to break the rules and be a bit arrogant.

No?

Dunno, I just picked an iconic car which breaks "the rules".

No, there was no good reason for the twin exit chaps! That's why when I owned my HF 16v it was suitably corrected with an 'Elephant' 3" single exit system intended for an evo. That was probably the best sounding car I've ever owned! And the exhaust suited the car perfectly.

[carl_w]

estoril said:

Standard exhaust aftermarket tails (BMW don't sell the trims!)

I also have one of these -- do you realize that the four exit exhaust is the reason the battery is in the boot space rather than under the car as per the non ///M versions? I'd rather have had a single or twin exit exhaust on the left and the additional boot space.

[JVaughan]

Another Shameless TVR arse shot ...

The Big Bad Wedge, sporting a single 3" system and single exit tailpipe

[thejpster]

While technically a fail, I'm going to plead leniency on the grounds it's the best looking large saloon car ever made. There's two 3-to-1 manifolds, then a 2 to 1 downpipe, then back up to two to run down the length of the car and over the axles.

[Bibbs]

gbduo said:

I never liked the twin pipes you get on the S2000 as it was like the engine was punching above its weight so I changed it;-

Mine is on the right:-



I think it looks much better with the single pipe.

Agreed. I think it was close to 20kg I saved by swapping from stock to a single.
Shame the diffuser had a 2nd hole (wanted to put the fog light in the space.

[gregstark]

Timbo_Mint said:

sleep envy said:

Naff

Agreed

The California is possibly the only Ferrari I like the look of. Top up or down it is, IMO, stunning BUT for the vertically stacked exhaust.

It's a beautifully sculptured car. Why make such an, ugly, feature of the pipes?

The vertically stacked exhausts are a pathetic attempt to disguise the HUGE arse on the thing, which was necessitated by the foldy-roof-jobby that they stuck on so that bottle-blonde trophy wives could get home from the hairdressers in it without wrecking £500-worth of barnet-engineering...

[mikebrownhill]

gregstark said:

Timbo_Mint said:

sleep envy said:

Naff

Agreed

The California is possibly the only Ferrari I like the look of. Top up or down it is, IMO, stunning BUT for the vertically stacked exhaust.

It's a beautifully sculptured car. Why make such an, ugly, feature of the pipes?

The vertically stacked exhausts are a pathetic attempt to disguise the HUGE arse on the thing, which was necessitated by the foldy-roof-jobby that they stuck on so that bottle-blonde trophy wives could get home from the hairdressers in it without wrecking £500-worth of barnet-engineering...

Ha, that's kind of what I said earlier (almost) but seriously have you driven one - I have, twice now, both on track days and I have completely forgiven Ferrari for doing this - that folding roof gives access to a most satisfying soundtrack, vertical pipes or not, and the 7 speed box is amazing - this isn't a trophy wife or hairdressers car if you don't want it to be - I reckon it's the best all round Ferrari ever.

[TobyLaRohne]

mikebrownhill said:

....I reckon it's the best all round Ferrari ever.

Barman, I'll have what he's having

[Bibbs]

WeirdNeville said:

I think the PH rules are largely spot on. Things like exhaust tips should never exceed cylinder by more than a factor or 0.5 - so a 3Cyl can only have one, a 4 pot can get away with 2 from the same back box, Only V8's and up should have 4 exhaust tips, and they should never, ever be fake.

I'd go with one exhaust tip per bank/manifold/turbo, and add one for a screamer pipe.

[mikebrownhill]

TobyLaRohne said:

mikebrownhill said:

....I reckon it's the best all round Ferrari ever.

Barman, I'll have what he's having

Yeah, fair enough, but I did say 'all round'... thing is I have an old 348 which is fairly hardcore/basic even by Ferrari standards (which I love) but sometimes I wish I had a less focussed machine for a more relaxed (only relative) experience... and the Cali fits the bill.

[james280779]

My passat has quads,

wish it had a single for stealth, need to get around to de-badging it too





does sound good though

[TobyLaRohne]

mikebrownhill said:

Yeah, fair enough, but I did say 'all round'... thing is I have an old 348 which is fairly hardcore/basic even by Ferrari standards (which I love) but sometimes I wish I had a less focussed machine for a more relaxed (only relative) experience... and the Cali fits the bill.

Fair enough, personally I think the rear is horrific, same as the new C7 Corvette, they look like a complete dogs breakfast of design but each to their own and all that

[RichardParker90]

Timbo_Mint said:

Agreed

The California is possibly the only Ferrari I like the look of. Top up or down it is, IMO, stunning BUT for the vertically stacked exhaust.

It's a beautifully sculptured car. Why make such an, ugly, feature of the pipes?

If I remember the brief correctly, it's similar to the exhaust system for the IS-F. Top is real; but because they didn't have room to do a proper aero vent to vent high pressure from the rear wheel wells, they hid one in the bottom half of the "exhaust tips."

Edited by RichardParker90 on Thursday 20th June 07:17

[peter pan]

The exahusts that I find most amusing are the after market Dartford tunnels hanging out from underneath the back of small hatchbacks / saloons, where you just know the pipework coming from the engine at the front end of the silencer, is really not a lot bigger than a bit of brake tubing!

[kambites]

dvs_dave said:

Only space for the silencers and forms an important styling detail. Coupled with the fact that they're a genuine 2 pipe system with 2 3-into-1 manifolds to optimize exhaust scavenging.

There's still no real reason for them to be on opposite sides though, unless the shape of the underbody means that's the only way to route them?

Edited by kambites on Thursday 20th June 08:08

[daveco]

james280779 said:

My passat has quads,

wish it had a single for stealth, need to get around to de-badging it too





does sound good though

What kind of hp are these putting out?

[Monty Zoomer]

"The petrolhead obsession with exhaust pipes probably has deeply Freudian associations"

Pathetic.

It's the sort of thing I'd expect a drunk, stoned student to say when he's the only single one left at a party who hasn't found a girl.

I didn't read any further than that.

Why don't they get grownups to write the articles?

[Captain Muppet]

kambites said:

Cheburator mk2 said:

Has it ever occured to you, that the quad pipes on BMWs often are necessitated by the need to route the system via the rear suspension?

Having a pipe on each side might be. Having two pipes off each back-box is just for show.

Not always true. There are engineering justifications for a twin exit back box as discussed earlier in this thread...

Captain Muppet said:

Plus in terms of tuning the sound a single large pipe will boom horribly.

Which is why two small pipes is so often a good way to exit a back box when the rest of the system has been a single pipe. Less boom for less weight and less cost.

[kambites]

Captain Muppet said:

kambites said:

Cheburator mk2 said:

Has it ever occured to you, that the quad pipes on BMWs often are necessitated by the need to route the system via the rear suspension?

Having a pipe on each side might be. Having two pipes off each back-box is just for show.

Not always true. There are engineering justifications for a twin exit back box as discussed earlier in this thread...

Captain Muppet said:

Plus in terms of tuning the sound a single large pipe will boom horribly.

Which is why two small pipes is so often a good way to exit a back box when the rest of the system has been a single pipe. Less boom for less weight and less cost.

I wasn't suggesting one large pipe per back-box, I was suggesting one small pipe (or at least no larger than the rest of the system). Theoretically this might produce a bit more back-pressure where you don't want it, but in my experience the extra turbulence from splitting the air-flow into two pipes will probably significantly outweigh the gains of having a bit of extra pipe area.

I don't buy the "less weight" thing either. Two pipes of area X/2 will weigh more than one pipe of area X because area increases with the square of circumference.



ETA: What I mean to say is that whilst I am willing to accept that, as you say, you can produce a better exhaust system in some circumstances by having two tailpipes on a back-box. I just don't actually believe that any manufacturer ever does it.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 20th June 08:46