| Author |
Message |
dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16505
Location: Brookeville, MD
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Mofus
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2008
Posts: 369
Location: San Diego
|
 Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:43 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Someone here recommended the new (I think) Flowmaster Hushpower II. It's stainless to boot. I want a new muffler too because my van sounds like a rice rocket. I haven't heard from anyone who has installed one yet though.
_________________
'87 Syncro passenger w/ 2.2L Subaru
'10 Passat Wagon (keeps Mrs. Mofus away from my van) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16505
Location: Brookeville, MD
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16505
Location: Brookeville, MD
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Beygon
Samba Member
Joined: March 16, 2009
Posts: 100
Location: Dana Point Ca..
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| How about the one Kennedy uses or the one Leon uses, it's a little bigger than the one Kennedy sells. I have the one Leon puts on and it is much quieter than a stock VW. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mofus
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2008
Posts: 369
Location: San Diego
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
That must not be the one. I am looking for the quietest muffler possible. I don't need my van to sound like a high performance vehicle.
I currently use the aluminized muffler Tom Shiels sells. It's a nice muffler, but it's too loud for me. After my 2000 mile road trip my ears are still ringing.
_________________
'87 Syncro passenger w/ 2.2L Subaru
'10 Passat Wagon (keeps Mrs. Mofus away from my van) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Vunderbus
Samba Member
Joined: April 11, 2009
Posts: 18
Location: Bainbridge Island, WA
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
My advice is to stay away from the Small Car muffler and header. I have now had the cracks in my Small Car header welded several times and my welder told me he's never seen thinner wall stainless! My stainless Small Car muffler also failed in less than one year. I've switched to a stock muffler and found it to be tremendously more quiet than the Small Car muffler as well.
_________________
1990 Westfalia Subaru EJ2.5
2002 Eurovan MV Weekender
1997 Eurovan Camper
1980 Westfalia
1973 Baywindow
1970 Baywindow Riviera Camper |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
shepherdsond
Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2005
Posts: 439
Location: Bellingham, WA
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I have the Porsche muffler in my 2.2 syncro van (installed by the PO) and I would certainly not call it quiet, seems like good power, although I realy have nothing to compare it to... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whynotvw
Samba Member
Joined: May 04, 2004
Posts: 1322
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Vunderbus wrote: |
| My advice is to stay away from the Small Car muffler and header. I have now had the cracks in my Small Car header welded several times and my welder told me he's never seen thinner wall stainless! My stainless Small Car muffler also failed in less than one year. I've switched to a stock muffler and found it to be tremendously more quiet than the Small Car muffler as well. |
small car sucks, i try to stay away from them. couple of bad experiences with this company. i don't have any experience with the headers or mufflers with SM but with couple of other parts that i ordered.
a. first i ordered skid plate extensions. the person who took the order said i would get it in three to four days. well it took almost two weeks. when i called, the same guy said he went on vacation so he couldn't ship it out. i was like dude you could've asked your co-worker to ship it out or let me know you would ship them out when you came back from vacation. if he told me from the beginning that it would take two weeks then i would've been okay with that. worst of all, he started giving me attitude. WTF. 
b. Second i ordered their big brake kit , no instructions what so ever, i had to ask and research all the little details on my own. ( the dust cover has to be cut back about half inch and check the holes on the spacers to make sure they line up. How long would that have taken to include those simple instructions. ) then the spacer that came with the kit, the holes didn't line up and i wasted 45 Plus minutes trying to make that work. i had to get my dremel out to make the holes line up. their quality control sucks, the spacer hole would've taken less then 2 seconds to check.
so maybe others had better luck with SM but personally i think they suck.
never had issues like these with Go westy or Van cafe.
Last edited by whynotvw on Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RCB
Samba Member
Joined: September 05, 2005
Posts: 4143
Location: San Francisco-Bay Area
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Would Magnaflow manufacture one that would fit your Van ? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
a914622
Samba Member
Joined: July 29, 2004
Posts: 840
Location: Westend of HWY2 , Wash
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
I have the Hush II on my 2.5 suby. Its quieter than the smallcar. The key to the hush is to have about 18 inch of pipe after the muffler, then bend down at the end. At idle its super quiet, but over 4500 rpms it does have that suby scream.
The 911 muffler is a great way to go.
jcl
_________________
87 gl powerd buy 2.5subaru
75 914 getting 2.2t subaru scratch that SVX subaru |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ftp2leta
Samba Member
Joined: October 11, 2004
Posts: 3271
Location: Montreal
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
| whynotvw wrote: |
| Vunderbus wrote: |
| My advice is to stay away from the Small Car muffler and header. I have now had the cracks in my Small Car header welded several times and my welder told me he's never seen thinner wall stainless! My stainless Small Car muffler also failed in less than one year. I've switched to a stock muffler and found it to be tremendously more quiet than the Small Car muffler as well. |
small car sucks, i try to stay away from them. |
I would not agree that they "suck", this is a false statement and a hard one.
i have installed over 25 headers and only one had a crack (as far as i know).
Mine is 3 yo and 30k miles. It's Chinese made of course and you get what you pay for, we do our own lately and they cost 200$ more, and they are not even in SS (Aluminox). A US/Canada made SS headers would have a retail price of 700-800$. Are you ready to pay that?
Ben
_________________
Working with rust, grease, dirt and dust is a sad truth.
------------------------------------------------------
FI part for sale: http://www.benplace.com/parts_sale1.htm
My site: http://www.benplace.com/vw2.htm
Subi conversion: http://www.benplace.com/vanaru_eng.htm
Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/ftp2leta |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
insyncro
Banned
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 15086
Location: New York
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
| 911 muffler is best sound I have found thus far. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoeVanagon
Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2010
Posts: 61
Location: Vancouver Washington, USA
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
Dumb question, but has anybody tried stuffing a stock Subaru muffler under their van? That's as quiet as your likely to get, but I don't know what they look like or if they would even fit.
_________________
Joe Vanagon
1990 Carat with EJ25 SOHC |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
insyncro
Banned
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 15086
Location: New York
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Judging by the sound of most Subarus I hear on the road....not likely. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Volksaholic
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005
Posts: 1771
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
| whynotvw wrote: |
| Vunderbus wrote: |
| My advice is to stay away from the Small Car muffler and header. I have now had the cracks in my Small Car header welded several times and my welder told me he's never seen thinner wall stainless! My stainless Small Car muffler also failed in less than one year. I've switched to a stock muffler and found it to be tremendously more quiet than the Small Car muffler as well. |
small car sucks, i try to stay away from them. |
I agree with Ben.. this comment "sucks". If you're going to trash a company, you could at least provide some specifics as to why you feel that way. I've had a few problems with SC workmanship, but overall I was very pleased with the fit & finish of my adapter plate, flywheel, mounts, and other odds and ends. Brian and Mao have also been very responsive and helpful with both pre-purchase questions and installation questions. That's better than I can say about a lot of better staffed companies.
I've got the SC headers and muffler... it's a little rumbly for my taste, but I don't find it too horrible. Quiet it's not. I'm concerned after reading about all the cracking and fitment problems that I may have trouble down the road, but so far so good (I've only been driving my conversion since July). To me the value of a stainless exhaust system is that it should last the lifetime (or nearly so) of the van... otherwise why not just go with steel and replace it every few years? I'm hoping mine stays together, but I don't think I'd buy another header system from them without a written lifetime replacement warranty... if thier exhaust system is really "the last you'll ever need to buy" (or whatever they say on their site) then they've got nothing to lose by guaranteeing it for life.
One complaint I had about their exhaust system is the hardware they shipped with it. I torqued everything up, then decided I wanted to try rotating the cat. When I started removing bolts I found one that acted like it was cross threaded. I ended up twisting it to the point of breaking to get it off, and I was really puzzled at how I managed to cross thread it... I haven't cross threaded or stripped threads since probably high school or shortly thereafter... that's 30 years. I chalked it up to "user error" until I had another one behave the same way. At this point I hadn't even run the van/heat cycled the bolts... I have NEVER had that problem with nuts & bolts before, and I still don't know what the deal is but I'm sure it's crappy hardware and not "user error."
I only share this as a "buyer beware"... SC is not a bad company and they have some good products but for me the jury is still out on their stainless headers and hardware, which casts a bad light on the muffler too.
Paul
_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Vanagon Nut
Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2008
Posts: 10379
Location: Sunshine Coast B.C.
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
I'm running a 2.1 WBX "Quiet Flow" Walker. It is quiet. Especially at/around idle. It gets louder under load (makes sense) but possibly louder than a Suby setup since my exhaust system is likely shorter over all.
It started cracking at inlet though. BUT.... likely due to the way I originally hung it (Has since changed) and because there is no bracing at inlet. (original WBX muffler has this??). This lack of bracing may have exacerbated things. I welded it cracks. No more cracking.
Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
1988 West DIY 50º ABA
VE7TBN |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Volksaholic
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005
Posts: 1771
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
BTW: Bob Stevens went with a "Dodge V8" muffler on his 3.0 Subie conversion. I haven't heard it yet, but as I recall he liked the sound. I can't recall if he still had the SC muffler on when I last heard the van, but at that point it sounded loud to me. It was probably not louder than mine... I hadn't fired mine up yet... but that was the pre-Dodge muffler sound. Maybe if he sees this he can give a review, or you could ask on the SubaruVanagon Yahoo group 'cause he's pretty active over there.
Paul
_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition, 2001 Subaru EJ251 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Christopher Schimke
Samba Member
Joined: August 03, 2005
Posts: 5391
Location: PNW
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Volksaholic wrote: |
One complaint I had about their exhaust system is the hardware they shipped with it. I torqued everything up, then decided I wanted to try rotating the cat. When I started removing bolts I found one that acted like it was cross threaded. I ended up twisting it to the point of breaking to get it off, and I was really puzzled at how I managed to cross thread it... I haven't cross threaded or stripped threads since probably high school or shortly thereafter... that's 30 years. I chalked it up to "user error" until I had another one behave the same way. At this point I hadn't even run the van/heat cycled the bolts... I have NEVER had that problem with nuts & bolts before, and I still don't know what the deal is but I'm sure it's crappy hardware and not "user error."
|
What you experienced here is call galling. It is a condition created when the thin chromium oxide coating is literally sheared off of the surface of the stainless while under pressure/friction from the male and female threads rubbing together. This same pressure/friction forces the sheared off chromium oxide bits into the surrounding surface where it basically cold welds itself together. In an exhaust situation, the only preventative measure you can take (other than switching to standard steel fasteners) is to use high-temp anti-seize on each and every bolt/nut. This condition can also exist when combining stainless steel and mild steel fasteners such as a mild steel threaded stud with a stainless nut.
_________________
"Sometimes you have to build a box to think outside of." - Bruce (not Springsteen)
*Custom wheel hardware for Audi/VW, Porsche and Mercedes wheels - Urethane Suspension Bushings*
T3Technique.com or contact me at [email protected] |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
I've read lots of stories about cracking small car headers and poor fit.
Mine is a '97 EJ22. The header fit so perfectly that if I didn't hold it on it would fall right off. It is a single port exhaust motor. I'm sure this makes a difference. I have their stainless muffler also. Its good quality, but not as quiet as I'd like. The headers are thin material.
If it weren't for companies like Kennedy and Small Car we wouldn't be swapping subarus into our vans. don't forget that.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
