Advice needed. 'Want more noise'!!!

[mjh500]

Having reading various posts on exhaust mod's i am totally undecided on what route to take. I was thinking about removing the cat's but am worried what problems [if any] may arise in doing so. There is also the centre section removal option, does this really cause any problems??? I would very much like to hear from anyone who has undertaken either of these tasks and any problems if any they have encountered. Thanks.

[headlights]

My chimaera 500 has a sports exhaust on it, as far as I know the center section has a striaight through pipe in it. I think it sounds the biz when you put your foot down, but on part throttle its not too loud (from the inside) I must admit thought, I do freewheel down the drive and onto the road before I fire it up first thing in the morning!! I'm told it would be too loud for some track days - not a problem for me, it gets throught the MOT no problems. I would definitely recommend one; if you've got big V8 you want to hear the thing!

>> Edited by headlights on Tuesday 11th November 20:38

[Steve_T]

My advice, don't go for the decat. There are cheaper ways to get more noise. Be aware that the car is not exactly quiet as standard and a sports conversion may push you beyond the noise limit for some circuits, should you ever want to track the car.

Steve.

[colinrob]

Same as "headlights" sounds fantastic

[robertp]

I had middle silencer removed during last service - now sounds like a cross between a nascar and concorde!! Absolutely brilliant as far as I am concerned, but not sure how nieghbours would react if my garage wasnt so far from the house! as i said car was serviced too and performance is unaffected as far as i can tell but grin and pose factor (if thats your bag) have doubled if thats possible! Oh, and lots of pops and bangs available to order now

>> Edited by robertp on Wednesday 12th November 08:16

[chimhunter]

Tamago is getting his done tomorrow. There are 3 basic options. 1, open the silencer, remove wadding, weld back up. 2, open silencer, sleeve the perforated pipes, weld back up. Option 3 is partial sleeving.

I plan on taking the car out on track so a full sleeve or removing all of the wadding would be too loud, even with extra silencers (circa 107 dB, silencing knocks off around 5 dB). Personally I'm going to go down the partial sleeving route, plus a couple of extra in-pipe silencers for the odd track day.

Cost? Between £100 and £150 is around the norm.

Rob

[kevin secker]

At the risk of stating the obvious, anything you do to the exhaust must still leave it capable of passing an MOT AT ANY TIME! If you don't meet this criteria then you might as well be driving without insurance. OK boring bit over.

My Chim 500 has no cats (ex Jersey car...i.e. legal!) and compared to the girlfriends V8S it sounds like a Focus. Still nice, just not that loud. If you want IIRC you can remove the precats (if use hasn't done that for you already) and still remain legal.

To make real changes to the exhaust note you will have to look at the rest of the system. See if you can get to listen to some of the cars with exhaust mods done. As you will know, one persons nice and loud is anothers painfull.

Kevin


P.S. if it helps I will be selling my manifolds and downpipe in January when I do my 5.3 conversion.

[M@H]

I reckon with a "sports" exhaust/decat etc..

Lary town runs, cruising wif da nova's etc... Yeah OK then

7.30 am going to work... Hmmm..??

5.30 pm stuck in the traffic coming home from work... No thanks

Any long motorway trip... ok for 10 mins then a headache after 30..


Call me a killjoy (Bah humbug) but don't they sound nice already..? Why potentially risk de-tuning the engine just to make it sound like a Nova with a "Scorpion/Excoset/Muthaa" Exhaust or the more powerful Jap Stuff that they are trying to copy..?

[terry wogan]

..is it me?

[/terry wogan]

Matt.

[tamago]

chimhunter said:

Tamago is getting his done tomorrow. There are 3 basic options. 1, open the silencer, remove wadding, weld back up. 2, open silencer, sleeve the perforated pipes, weld back up. Option 3 is partial sleeving.

Certainly am
Plus getting it MOT'ed and after the last track day, a new oil sender!

[tamago]

M@H said:

I reckon with a "sports" exhaust/decat etc.. Lary town runs, cruising wif da nova's etc... Yeah OK then 7.30 am going to work... Hmmm..?? 5.30 pm stuck in the traffic coming home from work... No thanks Any long motorway trip... ok for 10 mins then a headache after 30.. Call me a killjoy (Bah humbug) but don't they sound nice already..? Why potentially risk de-tuning the engine just to make it sound like a Nova with a "Scorpion/Excoset/Muthaa" Exhaust or the more powerful Jap Stuff that they are trying to copy..? [terry wogan] ..is it me? [/terry wogan] Matt.

Hey Terry!
Fair point but personally, I am getting used to the noise my Chim plays ! Had the misfortune of hearing a Cerbie that had its exhaust sleeved and all (WOW!)... Need to save up for the 4.5 lightweight but as a stepping stone I am confident that this weekend I will be grinning madly!

[tonyrec]

Just had the Exhaust baffles removed at Tower View on my Chimaera and 2 stainless pipes welded back inside the silencer.

It sounds awesome, loud when you want it and now i know the real meaning of 'popping and bangin'.......only regret is that i didnt get it done sooner.

[Nick P]

go for the baffles to be removed on the next service by a dealer...bout £100

[chimi500]

M@H said:

I reckon with a "sports" exhaust/decat etc.. Lary town runs, cruising wif da nova's etc... Yeah OK then 7.30 am going to work... Hmmm..?? 5.30 pm stuck in the traffic coming home from work... No thanks Any long motorway trip... ok for 10 mins then a headache after 30.. Call me a killjoy (Bah humbug) but don't they sound nice already..? Why potentially risk de-tuning the engine just to make it sound like a Nova with a "Scorpion/Excoset/Muthaa" Exhaust or the more powerful Jap Stuff that they are trying to copy..? [terry wogan] ..is it me? [/terry wogan] Matt.

go to work2.30 am in mine most days, if i give it a bit much backing out the garage i can even set the alarm off on my dads cerbera!!!!! our neighbours dont like us

[Big Al.]

tonyrec said:

Just had the Exhaust baffles removed at Tower View on my Chimaera and 2 stainless pipes welded back inside the silencer. It sounds awesome, loud when you want it and now i know the real meaning of 'popping and bangin'.......only regret is that i didnt get it done sooner.

Top man!
Same as mine then, AWESOME fits the sound admirably. OH

Fortunately mine was modded when I brought it.

If you want to hear mine, check out the Surrey Run 4 Vid, I'm one of the TVR’s coming out of the pub car park at the end.

Which one you ask, well you tell me!

[bassfiend]

Big Al. said:

If you want to hear mine, check out the Surrey Run 4 Vid, I'm one of the TVR’s coming out of the pub car park at the end. Which one you ask, well you tell me!

The wife heard Big Al's Chim on the Surrey Run 4 DVD and liked it so much she had me find out whos it was!!!

Phil

[mjh500]

Thanks for all your info guys. I have decided to go for the centre box removal. I have removed the system and carefully cut out the centre box and bought some 2" pipe to take its place. Part of my trade involves a fair bit of welding so a good job will be done. I am also keeping the large tray which the box was fixed to and using the existing rubber mounts so that the system is properly secure. If this ends up being to loud then i will modify the box,but im sure it will sound lovely. Im doing this 2morrow/sat so i will let you know the outcome. Cheers all.....

[chimhunter]

Tien,

So, what happened with yours?

Rob

[mjh500]

Im well chuffed with the outcome, it sounds much much better, like a V8 should. It burbles away nicely on tickover and sounds like a monster when you apply the loud pedal,and it does'nt drone as much as i thought it would. Was'nt to much hassle to do either,just cut out the box and welded in two 2" pipes. To make life easier i placed the whole exhaust on the garage floor and drew round it so that i was sure everything lined up when i welded it back together. "worked for me" I totally enchorage you to do the mod if you like the true sound of a V8... Costs: £13 exhaust pipe. £7 weding gas. approx 3 hours to do. and bit of tinkering/polishing.

[madant69]

mjh500 said:

Costs: £13 exhaust pipe. £7 weding gas. approx 3 hours to do. and bit of tinkering/polishing.

How much do you charge for labour? You sound like by far the cheapest option so far...and you only 30 minutes away!!

[Paul V]

Where did you cut the box?

Thinking of putting pipes in mine, only thing is I already have the pre-cats removed so I’m thinking of only sleeving it half way.