Muffler removal

[dremd]

Excellent load indicator. You will have no use for a vac gauge then.

From the sound of your town, it might just attract women.

I drove a friends MKIV supra around Houston in March with no Exhaust (not to be confused with no muffler) and let me tell you, DWL was a necessity. I couldn't make it over overpasses without fear of permanent hearing damage. (FYI he smashed the exhaust/ back left corner in to the wall at TWS, he normally has a Cat + Muffler)

[ebacherville]

I hear every one here say performance mods hurt FE.. Well i would think anything after the gas has been used to make less work for the motor would be beneficial to FE.. at that point its a waste product of the process.. get rid of it the easiest way you can.. In My Hyundai Accent I did a cat back exhaust with a flow master muffler and its didn't hurt gas mileage..and yes you can tell when your getting on the gas with louder exhaust..

It wasn't overly loud but you could hear it and when you got on it, it rapped a bit more.

[Lazarus]

Since you don't live near me give it a go but without a scan gauge it will be pretty hard to quantify your results because the increase will not be above the noise of tank to tank fills.

[bhazard]

Originally Posted by ebacherville

In My Hyundai Accent I did a cat back exhaust with a flow master muffler and its didn't hurt gas mileage..and yes you can tell when your getting on the gas with louder exhaust..

Flowmasters actually dont flow that well, and provide a lot of backpressure. Thats why theyre a BIG nono in the turbo world.

[Figjam74]

Well, the integra article was interesting, but the final paragraph illustrates his lack of knowledge. At that point he has basically forgotten that you have to treat the entire exhaust as a complete system, and that the exhaust flow is limited by your 'tightest' component. Sure, putting a fire hose on a garden hose does squat, but putting a garden hose on a fire hose _will_ restrict flow.
Honestly, I can't imagine what backpressure does for you beyond increasing your pumping losses. I'd much rather have some properly tuned equal length headers tuned for my cruising speed that properly scavenge exhaust (providing negative backpressure.)
http://www.cobbtuning.com/info/?ID=3222

[Duffman]

x2
I don’t subscribe to the thinking in the Integra article either. If adding backpressure did anything for FE you would have seen throttled exhaust become mainstream decades ago. If you think that your exhaust is too free flowing my recommendation would be to change to a 1/4" smaller pipe from the manifold back instead of welding washers into the existing pipe.

It could be quite possible that in low RPM, economy load region that the gains are so small to be immeasurable as Frank says and definitely outweighed by the noise increase. Although nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[brucey]

I'm not sure if it would hurt or help, but my friend has a removable muffler on his honda. He jacks up the back of the car, takes the tire off, and theres just a clamp holding the muffler on. Takes about 5 minutes.

[dremd]

Originally Posted by bhazard

Flowmasters actually dont flow that well, and provide a lot of backpressure. Thats why theyre a BIG nono in the turbo world.

And yet I have one on my TDI, I 'm rather certain that it is quieter than stock.

[tasdrouille]

Originally Posted by Duffman

[...]If you think that your exhaust is too free flowing my recommendation would be to change to a 1/4" smaller pipe from the manifold back instead of welding washers into the existing pipe.[...]

One procedure is a bit more involved than the other. It costs nothing to try the washers first.

[Johnny Mullet]

I used to have a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4 with a huge "20 gallon drum" muffler on it that weighed about 40 pounds. I hacked that gas-sucking tank off my pipes and installed a 2 1/2" Cherry Bomb. The truck sounded good, but not real loud at cruising speed, but when you opened it up, it sounded pretty damn good. I also got better fuel mileage from the swap.