- Feb 22, 2006
- 367
As quite a few of you know, our friend DBK decided to send his fourth and possibly favorite child, named HO40, down to our facility in Sarasota, Florida a few weeks back. Needless to say we were all pretty excited at just the thought that this car would be arriving. To say I was like a kid on Christmas eve would be a serious understatement. As the door started to open on the back of the trailer and I saw the back end of the car I had goosebumps. So many people would look at these cars that we are fortunate enough to experience and wonder how you could make it any better, or why you would even try. Thankfully I won't be having to come up with an explanation for this need to improve everything we come in contact with to anyone in this group.
As always we took a very methodical approach to designing the exhaust system for this car. Being that titanium is so costly and time consuming to work with we made a few different prototypes out of stainless steel first. We paid close attention to the difference in sound, fitment, proximity to other moving parts or items that could be effected by heat, structural integrity and manufacturability. The final configuration incorporates the best virtues from each of the prototypical designs.
The difference in sound is noticeable. While it is louder, the greatest audible difference is the increased amount of turbo sound. As you are driving around there is now no mistaking that this is a turbocharged car. The sound that the car generates while downshifting is also noticeably improved. Cabin noise level remains very reasonable. Holding a conversation with your passenger or having a phone conversation is still possible without having to raise your voice. The weight savings is right at 20 pounds over the factory muffler.
The last detail to sort out on this system is the exhaust tips. The unfinished look of the straight cut ends of the tubing doesn't sit well with me. We have a couple of different tip being made that we will try out before making our final decision.
I will put together some other video as well as photos of the ready for market product shortly. For now, this will give a good idea as to what the system sounds like inside the car and out.
Thank you, Dave for trusting us with this project.
[video=youtube;Z6vO3p0ZlfQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6vO3p0ZlfQ[/video]
Now that we are coming to the end of the development process for this system we are moving on with improvements for a number of other items on the car. Updates on these to follow shortly.
As always we took a very methodical approach to designing the exhaust system for this car. Being that titanium is so costly and time consuming to work with we made a few different prototypes out of stainless steel first. We paid close attention to the difference in sound, fitment, proximity to other moving parts or items that could be effected by heat, structural integrity and manufacturability. The final configuration incorporates the best virtues from each of the prototypical designs.
The difference in sound is noticeable. While it is louder, the greatest audible difference is the increased amount of turbo sound. As you are driving around there is now no mistaking that this is a turbocharged car. The sound that the car generates while downshifting is also noticeably improved. Cabin noise level remains very reasonable. Holding a conversation with your passenger or having a phone conversation is still possible without having to raise your voice. The weight savings is right at 20 pounds over the factory muffler.
The last detail to sort out on this system is the exhaust tips. The unfinished look of the straight cut ends of the tubing doesn't sit well with me. We have a couple of different tip being made that we will try out before making our final decision.
I will put together some other video as well as photos of the ready for market product shortly. For now, this will give a good idea as to what the system sounds like inside the car and out.
Thank you, Dave for trusting us with this project.
[video=youtube;Z6vO3p0ZlfQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6vO3p0ZlfQ[/video]
Now that we are coming to the end of the development process for this system we are moving on with improvements for a number of other items on the car. Updates on these to follow shortly.
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