Another VE Exhaust Thread

[monstar]

monster where do you buy a ROTO-Fab CAI? Not is Aussie?????

Either through rotofab direct via web or Harrop is distributor in Vic. Overwhelmingly the most popular choice for G8 / SS / Camaro in the US.

 

[Stuart123]

Thanks guys.
Dime time - contacted autofashion today. Will be popping down tomorrow for a chat with them. They seem promising, and that video was a good insight. Finally understand why I see lots of systems that only have half the tips carboned up

Monster - rightyo. A bit of what you say is confusing to me, but your conclusions are spot on. If I can get away without changing the catback and still get some good power/torque gains then I would be very impressed. Would be less noise and less cash. I do appreciate your info and you seem to be very knowledgable, but I will run what you have said passed the guys at auto fashion tomorrow. I'd prefer the shop that does the work to confirm what you say before I dive in, I hope you understand I don't mean any disrespect by this.

Thanks abba - I half expected you to reply haha. Have read a lot of your posts already. My initial thoughts were the manta system would be too loud for me which is why I hadn't contacted you.

 

[dimetime]

Hope the guys down at C and A can show you a few systems to get a good idea about what to expect, i myself was looking and asking around a few months ago and found no one could match the price unless they were using xforce!

 

[Asmodai78]

I got a quiet Manta system from NAAF and must say it sounds great, really easy to install your self (took me about 2hrs as I took my time) the only issue I have with it is when AFM kicks in while cruising, the drone resinates through out the entire car, mind you I do have a sportwagon which doesn't help so I put the original rear mufflers back on, no more drone but its back to being factory quiet. So I have 2 options I can go with 1) put the Manta rear mufflers back on and get AFM turned off with another tune which could be expensive or 2) with the Manta mufflers on get some Helmholtz chambers made up and welded on to remove the drone.

 

[monstar]

So I have 2 options I can go with 1) put the Manta rear mufflers back on and get AFM turned off with another tune which could be expensive or 2) with the Manta mufflers on get some Helmholtz chambers made up and welded on to remove the drone.

A third option is by far the best in your case, slip on a set of HSV bimodal mufflers and Forza controller, for less than $450 you are in complete control of the situation.
Helmholtz (1/4 wave resi) can target the drone really well but to drop the noise from wild to mild nothing beats bimodals.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Apparently Harrop are the Roto-Fab distributor here.

 

[NZ-GTR]

Just to add to the confusion, I have gone down the pathway that NAAF often talks about; which is trying all sorts of combinations on the car, before finally buying a full set up. All tested with my trusty butt dyno

First I put on a set of hsv try y's. They increased the torque and feel of the car marginally, but did not make a huge difference to the note.

Next I added hsv bimodels that run off the low pressure in the plenum and plumbed them in with air lines, these worked great for quiet and gave a decent note when the loud pedal was punched, down side was they didn't sound old school enough for me.

Next a set of difilippo 2.5 cat back came up on trademe for a great price, so I grabbed those and fitted them. Butt dyno said the torque improved quite significantly over the 2 1/4 pipes and she started to sound like a v8. My friend said it was like the difference between decaf and proper coffee. They did give a slight drone under 1500 revs, but lovely and quiet at cruising speeds.

Next step was a pair of 1 7/8 4 - 1 difilippo headers came up at a good price so I grabbed them and had to buy cats at full price which is horrendous in Nz. I have fitted all this up. The difference is amazing, she cruises quietly at all speeds without drone, sounds super tough at idle (sounds like a fast paced heart beat at the lights) and if I give her a footfull you can hear her two streets away, each day is like getting into a race car.

The moral of the story is as NAAF says, you can go and buy sections of exhaust and keep chopping and changing only to find a full system will sound better, go better and be cheaper in the long term.

Only other point I would touch on, is the long tube headers give a far better driving experience as you use more of the rev curve without the engine sounding like it's straining under load.

 

[blackve76]

Hello,
Have been lurking on these forums for a long time now picking up lots of useful information. Thank you all for that. Finally decided i need to make a post of my own though.

Relevant info - My car is a 2011 SSV manual Sportwagon. I don't want a loud exhaust. I don't want to be 'that' guy waking the neighbours up when i get home late. Pretty much decided i want to go headers and back. Not sure what you call this? an engineback system? lol. Also will be getting an OTR and then a tune. If its useful, i'm mainly after daily driving increases, eg under 4k rpm.
However, no matter how much i read about exhausts i cannot make my mind up what exhaust system to get. At the moment i am leaning towards a 2.5' Difilippo system.
I have been to Walkinshaw/HPF in dandenong, but i was surprised they did not have a similar system i could listen to.

If any of you guys have a similar setup already installed and are in the SE suburbs, i would love you to take me for a spin in your car so i can hear what it sounds like. Would be happy to pay you for your time.

Also, i am still open to suggestions. If someone has a different system on their sportwagon that is not too loud i would be interested to hear it.

Cheers,
Stu.

Most wagon owners complain about the drone, what about a VF 2 bi modal system for a wagon??? add some nice headers and cats should be nice

 

[Asmodai78]

Has anyone got a photo or diagram of the Bi-modal set up that's been retro fitted, id like to see how its done before I go ahead and attempt it

 

[Stuart123]

Ok so i drove over to C and A Autofashion. Unfortunately they were having problems and didn't have the car ready as expected to listen to. The guy initially was pretty aggressive, but calmed down once he realised i wasn't concerned. **** happens sometimes aye. They do seem to know what they are doing though, and by the looks of it have PLENTY of work so they are doing something right.

Having a speak with them, they thought that a good option for me would be to get the OTR and tune along with some HSV headers and cats that they remove from stock HSV's when upgrading them. This would be quite a cheap alternative (all up under 2k). Will keep my current catback so not any extra noise. However, they guess i will only get to about 240rwkw. Not quite the 260-280rwkw i would like, but seems like a decent compromise.

Monster - Given this is basically the same idea as you recommended i'm starting to gain faith in you
So another question for you, this means i'm paying ~$500 for HSV headers/cats installed. In your opinion still worth going to the pacemakers? Considering they will cost me minimum $1700 (doubling the overall cost). Also as far as i know the HSV headers are tri-y like the pacemakers.
One thing that is pushing me to just spend the money on decent extractors/cats is so in the future if i do decide to do the catback, they wont need changing again.
However, the guys are C and A Autofashion didn't think there would be any benefit in anything better than HSV headers/cats, so i may have to find another shop if i want to go down this route. Not sure if they will spend the time getting the maximum out of a tune if they don't believe it would work in the first place.

Guess i'll go have another chat to HPF also.

Just seen the last 2 posts
-NZ-GTR if i wasn't too concerned about noise i would definitely just be doing a full system. Noise is the only thing holding me back. 2 streets away sounds like noise, lol.
No one i have found yet will let me hop in their car while they drive yet. Not even any performance shops have any cars available for this, which only makes me suspicious that they know i will find it too loud. Another thing to add is Autofashion says they will not gaurentee a 2.5' Difilippo system won't drone in a wagon, says sometimes it just there and sometimes its not.

Blackve - A bimodal system off a vf 2 wagon, sounds like a decent idea. I'll investigate that idea more. Cheers.


Regards,
Stu