[Node]

As some of you may have read on LotusTalk, I'm not only upgrading my Spyder but also rebuilding an Elise.

I managed to find someone selling two exhausts on the Lotus forum. Since I'm tired of the drone of my chopped up ebay special in my MR2 I decided to put the quiet Elise exhaust on my Spyder..... with a twist. I'll be installing a Helmholtz resonator to make the engine even more super quiet at highway speeds. But, it wont just be a resonator. The tuned chamber will also be an electronic cutout.

The cutout will be controlled by my FIC-6 and a pair of time delay relays. Basically throttle position will determine when the car gets loud. This will give me the benifits of both worlds. A subdued sounding Elise exhaust (kinda restrictive) and a screaming 2ZZ turbo open dump under boost.

My progress so far is... All parts are in. I have removed the turbo downpipe. I already lopped the Elise compression fitting off of the muffler, measured the hangers and cut them to fit the MR2. Test fit the muffler behind the bumper in the spot I want. Welded on the muffler V-band flange.

Here's some pics of the bits (one courtesy of the seller). Note that this will all be painted BBQ wrinkle black before the final install.

Lotus muffler, and yes it fits.

Prior to cleaning up my weld with a wire brush and tacking on the new hanger support.

The dump tube / resonator. Crappy Chinese electronics will go in the trash.

 

[phattires]

Well ... that's not the prettiest muff I've seen but should be quiet . I would think the exhaust dump would be better on just a toggle .... I would think there would be times you want WOT but it still to be somewhat quiet .

Where did you find that hanger rod ..... at the bottom of a clear mountain stream ? lol

 

[Node]

Hah! The Lotus muffler appears to be cheap alloy. But the hangers are mild steel. Believe it or not this muffler only has something like 4k miles on it. I bought some new hangers but I think the wire wheel and paint should keep things looking clean.

The last exhaust was stainless and super shiny. Nobody noticed even at cars and coffee.

When would you want WOT to not be loud? BTW full throttle on this build is over 300HP. That's a lot of back pressure in a 2.5" baffled exhaust system.

 

[phattires]

When would you want WOT to not be loud? BTW full throttle on this build is over 300HP. That's a lot of back pressure in a 2.5" baffled exhaust system.

I live in a small town where the highway runs threw the center of town . On the way out I sometimes like to give it a rip and don't really need to draw attention to myself .... I really don't want to be that guy. Ramps in the city ...

And for the record I prefer more of a tuned exhaust rather than just loud . Yes I understand you're doing it more for performance so go ahead and be loud !!! lol

 

[Node]

Tuned? Not much resonant tuning you can to with a turbo (after the turbine) other than just open things up.

I'm not in a small town but I want the car near silent in my neighborhood. For some reason people equate noise with speed. SUVs can drive 60mph in the 25mph zone in front of my house and nobody cares. I drive through at 20mph with an open downpipe and Karen shouts at me to slow down.

A dissable / pause button may make sense and it's super easy to do.

 

[phattires]

Tuned? Not much resonant tuning you can to with a turbo (after the turbine) other than just open things up.

I'm not in a small town but I want the car near silent in my neighborhood. For some reason people equate noise with speed. SUVs can drive 60mph in the 25mph zone in front of my house and nobody cares. I drive through at 20mph with an open downpipe and Karen shouts at me to slow down.

A dissable / pause button may make sense and it's super easy to do.

We have a Debbie ..... Karen's cousin !!! lol I hear ya about the suvs .....

A disable button should work .

 

[AbandonMidship!]

SUVs can drive 60mph in the 25mph zone in front of my house and nobody cares. I drive through at 20mph with an open downpipe and Karen shouts at me to slow down.

Story of my life. Always being yelled at to slow down when I’m just cruising through a neighborhood in both of my cars at 25 MPH. My mr2 with HKS muffler and my V8 Jeep with a spin tech muffler and a turndown. Meanwhile somebody in their Kia Sorento can scream through the neighborhood at 50 MPH and no one bats an eye.


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[pwnzor]

Story of my life. Always being yelled at to slow down when I’m just cruising through a neighborhood

My neighbors used to love this at 9pm when I'd leave for work and again at 6am when I'd get home.

 

[Node]

Love the rim mounted rotor. That pipe looks a bit warm though.

 

[Node]

Progress is slow. I managed to knock over my Argon tank. Busted the guage so I ended up welding with no gas for a bit. Hence the ugly brown crud on the surface when I welded the bung on.

This is my new downpipe. Still needs a few bends welded on but there will only be one 90* after the turbo before the electric cutout. The cutout will be before the catalist so if the turbo oil blowby issue is solved I'll have a Helmholtz resonator, race cat, baffled quiet muffler. It should be very quiet at cruse.

 

[AbandonMidship!]

I managed to knock over my Argon tank. Busted the guage so I ended up welding with no gas for a bit.

Lucky you didn’t bust the fitting off the tank and create a rocket ship!


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[Node]

Fixed my rocketship regulator and welded some more. Looks like I'll have to come back and grind down what I previously welded with low shield gas. You can really tell the difference. The 90 with the vband was welded after I fixed the regulator.

 

[Node]

Ok well, all welding is done. It turns out the MR2 has two bolt holes in the rear uprights that are the perfect height to bolt some hanger doughnuts to. It's like this exhaust was built for the car!

Dont believe me? Take a look! Some adjustment needed to level out the hangers.

 

[pwnzor]

 

[Node]

A little more touch up work and adjustment but it sounds quite good even without the dump tube open.

FYI I will be fitting three identical larger exhaust tips to fill out the cutout from my previous exhaust.

 

[Node]

Aaaaand another shot. I think I need to raise the left side slightly.

 

[phattires]

FYI I will be fitting three identical larger exhaust tips to fill out the cutout from my previous exhaust.

What's up with 3 tips .... but I do agree you need bigger tip / tips

 

[Node]

Two for the lotus exhaust, one underneath those two for the dump tube. I dont want the dump tube exit under the car as it is now. I'll be adding a diffuser so I need the bypass to exit out the back too.

 

[FormInFunction]

Going for that Type-R exhaust look? For sure going against convention is difficult, I definitely acknowledge that but I always thought they messed up by having different sized tips.

 

[Node]

Not really. I could possibly offset the muffler and put the cutout on one side for the "Civic" look. I was thinking more of something like this (inserting mad MS Paint skills) but with black tips. I think it will go well with the black badges on the car already.