two more day dreams

[vrex]

i was reading the R&T article about the Lexus LFA, in it they describe how toyota actually pipes engine sounds into the car. why cant i do this? so i need to figure out where i would be able to put some penetrations in the chassis. this of course initially made me cringe, weakening the chassis will never be a good move. but i think, if i penetrated to the engine bay in a straight shot, just some small diameter pipe, then welded it into place, say down by the rear seat footwells, and added a high quality seal, i could control when i hear the sound. again, day dream, just chime in with thoughts. seriously though, i feel like everyone else gets a much better ear full than i do, i want to hear my baby sing!

this one is more serious; ive been contemplating an exhaust system. instead of going to the PSE system or the hacked PSE, id like to maintain the quieter dba of the fully stock system, then incorporate some solenoids that open a dump pipe, see the link

dump pipes

this would go after the cat, and of course there would be 2 of them. im a little concerned about heat being dumped right there under the bumper, but on second thought, there is alot of heat generated down there and the bumper hasnt melted so i guess it cant be that bad so long as the exhaust is pointing fairly straight down. this raises my only other concern which is ground clearance, but i think that is a matter of orienting the pipe correctly. as well, a piece of pipe can be used to extend the exhaust away a little bit if need be, without hampering flow.

please consider this carefully, i have a friend who tig welds offering to help me out, but i want to do some proper preliminary planning here. i plan on doing headers (hopefully those suncoast headers!) so the need to keep her quiet around town becomes a little more of a priority, hence the desire to use a solution such as i presented.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[wvicary]

Is this a serious post?

[rrspikemarty]

i was reading the R&T article about the Lexus LFA, in it they describe how toyota actually pipes engine sounds into the car. why cant i do this? so i need to figure out where i would be able to put some penetrations in the chassis. this of course initially made me cringe, weakening the chassis will never be a good move. but i think, if i penetrated to the engine bay in a straight shot, just some small diameter pipe, then welded it into place, say down by the rear seat footwells, and added a high quality seal, i could control when i hear the sound. again, day dream, just chime in with thoughts. seriously though, i feel like everyone else gets a much better ear full than i do, i want to hear my baby sing!

this one is more serious; ive been contemplating an exhaust system. instead of going to the PSE system or the hacked PSE, id like to maintain the quieter dba of the fully stock system, then incorporate some solenoids that open a dump pipe, see the link

dump pipes

this would go after the cat, and of course there would be 2 of them. im a little concerned about heat being dumped right there under the bumper, but on second thought, there is alot of heat generated down there and the bumper hasnt melted so i guess it cant be that bad so long as the exhaust is pointing fairly straight down. this raises my only other concern which is ground clearance, but i think that is a matter of orienting the pipe correctly. as well, a piece of pipe can be used to extend the exhaust away a little bit if need be, without hampering flow.

please consider this carefully, i have a friend who tig welds offering to help me out, but i want to do some proper preliminary planning here. i plan on doing headers (hopefully those suncoast headers!) so the need to keep her quiet around town becomes a little more of a priority, hence the desire to use a solution such as i presented.

Thanks for your thoughts!

i would buy a CD with engine sounds on it. set the CD player to shuffle/random, and you will be a happy camper :huh:

[Gary H]

LOL, he did say it was a dream :D

With regards to the 'dump pipes' - the Tequipment 986 Sports Exhaust has Actuators that automatically divert to the bypass pipes at 4K I think...

[vrex]

piping in some engine bay acoustics? total day dream, but i would love to hear the motor at WOT beyond what i do hear. someone standing curbside while i pass at WOT is def. getting a better note than i am.

as far as the dump pipes go, ive examined pics of the PSE system, and read as much as i could on them. the actuator doesnt seem to divert sound around the muffler altogether, it diverts exhaust around the sound baffles in the muffler through a pipe that goes essentially in and out, but still through the muffler. dumping just after the cat will reduce length of travel (no velocity drop). that would essentially offer the purest sound, best velocity, and still maintain some environmentally friendliness by being post cat. i imagine it will be something like the muffler bypass pipes ive seen from various vendors. thats ideal because it is still post cat, and offers weight savings, but seriously, i live in a neighborhood and i get home late. a neighbor's son has a straight piped STi, and it is LOUD even when going slow. i dont want to do that to my neighbors. so, this seems like a reasonable solution, if it can be done.

[Pacific996]

Your best bet would be going with some race headers. Or using an exhaust system selling as a noise maker. You wont regrett the race headers for performance. What some of my sport bike guys do is shorten the mufflers can which increases noise. Changing the back preasure changes the tuning aspect of the engine so with your car I don't advise it. I've found california people are stuck with very few options for exhaust and fueling a car with performance products. Just try a race exhaust system and you should be happy.

[RF5BPilot]

If all you want to do is hear your engine better, a microphone in the engine compartment fed through your stereo would let you do it without chasis mods.

Add a little equalizer, and you can refine the tone to sound just the way you want. Big and throaty--no problem. Add a small mixer and you could vary how much it dominates any music you play. You might end up moving the mic around so it picks up the sound at the best point for what you want to hear. It may end up best coming from being bolted/screwed to the engine at some point rather than picking up what comes through the air.

Pleases you and the neighbors (no greater noise outside) and no cutting. No CO in the cockpit.

Do it right and I bet you've got a product to sell.