Looks like my last post about the muffler and exhaust has drawn some interest..
I’ve been asked for more info about the muffler. Well here is the skinny:
Since the entire tubing is all stainless (this stuff was pricey) I figured the muffler should be stainless also. The tubing is all 2.75″ and the muffler is stainless too. This bad boy came from Speedway Motors and is called a “bullet muffler” (CLICK HERE for more info). They have several options on finish. Mine is the “non-polished” version.
Something to keep in mind: as nice as this muffler is, it is not quite enough to tame the Ecotec. When the VVT kicks in, the Ecotec really starts to wail. That is why we are running the Supertrapp tips at the end of the pipe. Speaking about the Supertrapps, I have been experimenting with the number of discs. With Supertrapps, the more discs you add the less restrictive the exhaust is, at the expense of noise. With less discs, it gets more muffled but backpressure increases. Right now, I am using 12 discs – six on each tip – and this puts one hell of a smile on my face past 4500 revs. I’ve ordered more stainless discs and plan to add at least two more per side. We shall see how they turn out.
You mentioned that I would have interference with the exhaust manifold in a TR4A. Is that with the HHR manifold, or with the stock Sky/Solstice manifold?
There is not enough room in the engine compartment of the TR4 and TR6 to use the stock exhaust. We looked at the original exhaust used in the Sky/Solstice and the thing is just too big and the fender gets in the way. Using a front wheel drive manifold poses a similar problem. I have a 2.2 Ecotec from a Cobalt (with the 5 speed gearbox) that I bought for a future project. The header on that engine is mounted towards the front of the car (since the engine sits sideways). In the FWD configuration, the collector points outward and again, if this is used in a TR the fender will get in the way.
This is not to say that by relocating the engine and/or some creative body work you can’t make this thing work. In our situation we did not feel like cutting the fenders. I remember a couple of years ago seeing somebody in a TR6 with an inline six from a BMW. They used pretty much all stock stuff, and the fenders were all hacked up to make room for the intake and exhaust. This is just not the proper way to do things. Cutting up fenders is just not an elegant solution.