Hey

A chance conversation with a work colleague found out that in a previous life he was a mech engineer at Walker and worked on the VRX exhaust.

I guess its all common knowledge, but he was saying that Mitsu Japan have a real liking for a particular muffler that has REALLY bad flow, but great noise cancellation. Also theres 2 mufflers, one rear, and one front....with the front to filter out high frequency engine harmonics (like valve bounce etc) and the rear to filter out the lower frequency stuff. The much loved rear muffler targets 3 frequency bands, roughly around 1500Hz, 3000Hz, 4500Hz.

Thats all useless info, but he said for simple power gains (up to 10%), all that needs to be done is to put on a high flow muffler.

I guess the really is no decision as to whether or not to do it, its just a choice of what muffler/tip to get!

Wot im after is something that lets the bystanders know theres 'something not quite right' about that magna, but doesnt drone at low rev cruising speeds and doesnt lose much low end torque. Also, I'd like it tucked up under the rear bumper....basically i dont want it to look good, I just want performance and a little growl.

Has anybody in Adelaide have this kind of set up? Does anybody have suggestions on what kind of muffler to go for, and what exhaust/performance shops to do the work? Is it worth also to go for a hi flow cat and increase the pipe size cat back (relative to price-performance)?

Cheers

hey man, welcome to the forums! :D

looks like you got a nice ride there too!

as far as mufflers go, there's plenty around and i guess its up to you and your own personal taste which one you choose. i personally hav a jun bl canon style muffler which is loud and sounds very racy, but it is visible. the vrx mufflers are the most discreet but there seem to be a few people here in th forum that think they are too quiet. but they are a straight through muffler and the power gains are the same for any straight thru muffler you decide to choose. and yes, you definately do gain some increase in power by just replacing the muffler as th stock exhaust is a 2.5" mandrel bent system.

all i suggest is shop around. i got my exhaust done at AAA exhausts in richmond and i found them to be very helpful and very reasonably priced.

good luck and hope to see you and your car on a SA cruz sometime. :D

Yeah, welcome!

Yes, the stock muffler does an excellent job as far as quietness and restrictions go. There's also Magnaflow, which a few guys here swear by. I've got the Lukey, (aka Walker), bolt on muffler. It doesn't drone and has a nice growl to it. To an extent I think it sounds like a refined note. Once it's worn in a bit and when it warms up, it definately sounds like it's on a car that's no longer stock but not annoying loud. Sounds great in tunnels! It's probably slightly louder than a VR-X muffler, (which it's supposed to be based on).

Welcome Mate.. I joined not too long ago.. heaps of info.. smart thing to do!

Yeah mate.. If your bored and you have the skills.. and loud things amuse you.. chop the thing off.. take it for a burn up and down the street, then replace it with the Lukey BoltOn without a tip.. Its a nice muffler.

BTW.. How long does it take for the Lukey to settle in/warm-up etc. ?
Cheers

SuFz :evil:

if you're looking for a muffler that hides well, my Turbosmart is excellent! it's a HUGE jap muffler, but with a droopy tip on the end, you can actually only see a small part of it when standing behind the car.

the power difference was pretty much like all other jap mufflers, definately shifted the peak higher in the revs, but still good down low... can get a bit drony under heavy load, other than that... the note is awesome... sounds soo much like a deep burbly V8 (my mates actually think it sounds more like a V8 than a friends VP SS 5.0!) gives it a real touring car roar at high RPM

gday Anon, from what you said, you dont want something to loud, prolly the best bargain is the lukey that has been mentioned earlier (LR2779 is the muffler and it comes in a bolt on config as well... AR-???, do a search on here, it'll be somewhere..)
i have the LR2779, and it gives a sweet note underload with no drone at any revs! most people dont even notice unless they know about it... or see the 3" stainless hole in the back end...

if you want something a bit louder, well you're best to go to the jap type mufflers like JunBL etc...

BTW.. How long does it take for the Lukey to settle in/warm-up etc. ?

Probably depends on how you drive it but I'm guessing 20 - 25 mins after normal city driving. It doesn't get evilly loud though, just louder.

just expanding with the heat...

Hey Guys

Thanks for your help.


Hey

I guess the really is no decision as to whether or not to do it, its just a choice of what muffler/tip to get!



HAH! Who would've though this exercise would've been so hard. I've been shopping around and getting 'professional' opinions, with the idea being that the truth is somewhere in the middle of all those opinions. But all these experts have all had different ideas. Very few of them believed me that the magna had 2.5" mandrel stock. Most wanted to do 3" cat back, with one telling me no power gains would come just from the muffler, and that I needed extractors, twin high flow cats, and 3" all the way to the muffler. :?

Anyway, I'll be heading to 'D&T performance' and 'exhaust techniques' this weekend. Hopefully sanity will prevail there.

However, all this has got me thinking about extractors... What would be the rough cost for extractors, muffler and high flow cat? (I'm guessing around $1k all up) I'd prefer RPW extractors, so is there anyone in Adelaide who stocks these on the shelf, or would I have to freight them over and get someone else *moans* to put them in?

Ahh the joys :)

Anon,

Don't know if you're interested, but I'm going to get a Lukey for my TE in the coming weeks. If we go in together, maybe they'll give us a discount ?

I guess you can only ask when getting quotes.

I'm just going to get the bolt-on (AR-?whatever?) and a fairly non-descript 2.5' tip, hopefully bent downwards and probably not crome.

-Dan

changing the whole system is stupid, the stock piping is good, the lukey is a good choice and you dont too much noise

Yeah, he who said a muffler alone won't do anything obviously doesn't know Magnas. The triflow muffler does an excellent job and is why you see reasonable gain when swapped. Also, the piping is 60.5mm ~ 2.4 inch mandrel bent.

And 3' - hahaha... what's he thinking? He'll steal Dave's TT setup?

Rough rule of thumb, $100 per cylinder for extractors. Probably more if an exhaust place has no experience with Magnas and you want a tuned length set. Pacemaker and RPW have extractors. No idea of pacemaker have a tuned length set yet but RPW do.

:D
Hey dingo the part number for the lukey you mentioned, is that the bolt on or the welded job??
You were right about the offset for my Awd. Finding the right rims will be fun. Momo have the offset, but I cannot jump over the price.
Not in any hurry yet, am running in the new toy. the awd setup is magic.
To think i put up with underpowerd subarus for years, Still great cars though.
Next week begins with the suspension mods. Still haven't decided which way to go.
Will talk again soon.

the LR2779 is the muffler part only (weld on job)... i got this one as the bolt on job was unavailable and the muffler dude said he would charge me the same anyway (which wasnt much - $200 inc basic stainless tip)

the bolt on is AR-???? and is made to fit sedan FWD's only from what i've heard...

agree i do about subaru's being underpowered (save a WRX or two).... the rest just seemed adequate!!