- Aug 25, 2006
- 4,436
They say that an idle mind is bound to find trouble as such I do my level best to always have numerous projects underway and or being considered.
In any case; after driving my gal the 1000 miles or so to SoCal for the rally I find that I am getting old. As much as I enjoy the Stainless Work's exhaust there were a few times that it had just a bit too much "bite". The best way I can describe it is as follows; when you initially bring her to life it is akin to waking the dead and then she quickly settles into a nice deep throaty idle; this I like very much. Then when traveling through town while running through the gears always brings a huge smile and then follow this with a methodical cruise down the highway at a fixed speed; meaning without load the smile never fades.
However there were a few times when I was under a moderate load for an extended period of time such as when I traveled over California's Grape Vine where the grade is significant and constant for many miles that I would have like her to be a little less edgy. So much so that I shared this with Rich and Dennis aka The GT Guys upon my arrival in SoCal and then a few days later made mention of it to Bony. Bony simply replied by saying "she sounds great at 2000 RPM no drone I simply cruise along listening to the radio" to which I said; with the window opened or closed to which he said "with the windows up of course; don't you drive with them up too". I had to smile because typically I do not even if the A/C or heat are on I still enjoy the air movement
In any case because my gal has the rear bumper deleted and the fact that I wanted to retain that which I refer to as her "Heidi Fliece Ass" the options available to me were quickly narrowed to one.
Once the decision was made and the direction defined the process commenced
Initially I expected to be able to acquire a wide variety of internal aka pre-production exhaust pieces however I quickly found that this was not to be the case as such I purchased two bullets aka glass packs before they were completed and made ready for retail sale. I took these two bullets and as you will see in the picture cut them open and then cut the internal pieces until what remained were two short fluted pieces from which I would create my baffles.
The next step was to integrate them into the "H-Pipe" in such a manner so as not to change her looks, remain serviceable, and be of a quality befitting of my gal. After several failed ideas we took a piece of stainless steel and fabricated a collar in which the fluted insert could be fit into position and then Tig welded. We machined the collar with an internal step so that from the outside of the gal; meaning looking at the tips up close and personal you do not see the end of the fluted piece instead what you see is a nice stainless steel lip that extends into the "H-Pipe" 5/16". Then we machined it for a 10-32 button-head socket cap screw to insure that once in position it would remain. Now FYI the machined stainless steel collar fits very snugly as it slides into the "H-Pipe" so the securing screw will do very little work. Even as snug as the fit is the baffles are relatively easy to remove as I had them in and out several times during the fit confirmation process.
Once the pieces were completed and dry fit into position the securing holes were drilled in the "H-Pipe", the fluted barrels were wrapped with OEM glass pack material and the "wholla" they slipped into position as if there from day one.
I can share that she still has the heart and voice of a lion however the results of the process are exactly as expected; the extreme bite is gone and an unexpected (at least for me because I know that many like the following) benefit is that the deceleration cackling was significant reduced.
In closing did I ever consider taking the Stainless Works exhauist off; "NO" as it is a simply wonderful looking and sounding system however similar to the mounting hardware tweak that I designed I simply fouind myself wanting a slight noise tweak too
Takes care
Shadowman
In any case; after driving my gal the 1000 miles or so to SoCal for the rally I find that I am getting old. As much as I enjoy the Stainless Work's exhaust there were a few times that it had just a bit too much "bite". The best way I can describe it is as follows; when you initially bring her to life it is akin to waking the dead and then she quickly settles into a nice deep throaty idle; this I like very much. Then when traveling through town while running through the gears always brings a huge smile and then follow this with a methodical cruise down the highway at a fixed speed; meaning without load the smile never fades.
However there were a few times when I was under a moderate load for an extended period of time such as when I traveled over California's Grape Vine where the grade is significant and constant for many miles that I would have like her to be a little less edgy. So much so that I shared this with Rich and Dennis aka The GT Guys upon my arrival in SoCal and then a few days later made mention of it to Bony. Bony simply replied by saying "she sounds great at 2000 RPM no drone I simply cruise along listening to the radio" to which I said; with the window opened or closed to which he said "with the windows up of course; don't you drive with them up too". I had to smile because typically I do not even if the A/C or heat are on I still enjoy the air movement
In any case because my gal has the rear bumper deleted and the fact that I wanted to retain that which I refer to as her "Heidi Fliece Ass" the options available to me were quickly narrowed to one.
Once the decision was made and the direction defined the process commenced
Initially I expected to be able to acquire a wide variety of internal aka pre-production exhaust pieces however I quickly found that this was not to be the case as such I purchased two bullets aka glass packs before they were completed and made ready for retail sale. I took these two bullets and as you will see in the picture cut them open and then cut the internal pieces until what remained were two short fluted pieces from which I would create my baffles.
The next step was to integrate them into the "H-Pipe" in such a manner so as not to change her looks, remain serviceable, and be of a quality befitting of my gal. After several failed ideas we took a piece of stainless steel and fabricated a collar in which the fluted insert could be fit into position and then Tig welded. We machined the collar with an internal step so that from the outside of the gal; meaning looking at the tips up close and personal you do not see the end of the fluted piece instead what you see is a nice stainless steel lip that extends into the "H-Pipe" 5/16". Then we machined it for a 10-32 button-head socket cap screw to insure that once in position it would remain. Now FYI the machined stainless steel collar fits very snugly as it slides into the "H-Pipe" so the securing screw will do very little work. Even as snug as the fit is the baffles are relatively easy to remove as I had them in and out several times during the fit confirmation process.
Once the pieces were completed and dry fit into position the securing holes were drilled in the "H-Pipe", the fluted barrels were wrapped with OEM glass pack material and the "wholla" they slipped into position as if there from day one.
I can share that she still has the heart and voice of a lion however the results of the process are exactly as expected; the extreme bite is gone and an unexpected (at least for me because I know that many like the following) benefit is that the deceleration cackling was significant reduced.
In closing did I ever consider taking the Stainless Works exhauist off; "NO" as it is a simply wonderful looking and sounding system however similar to the mounting hardware tweak that I designed I simply fouind myself wanting a slight noise tweak too
Takes care
Shadowman
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