Slim,

With the new exhaust and CAI you should get the SI tune and then see what you car has at the track. Mine is totally stock and I ran a 14.9 2 weeks ago. There's a dyno shop in Cinci that I've used a few times when I owned Miata's where it would be good for us to compare our cars. Your modified vs. my stock. ;-) This would be a great way to see how much difference your mild mods can really make. If your interested in such a thing let me know?

 

Any update on the sound clip? I am very interested in how it sounds.

 

" With the new exhaust and CAI you should get the SI tune and then see what you car has at the track. Mine is totally stock and I ran a 14.9 2 weeks ago. There's a dyno shop in Cinci that I've used a few times when I owned Miata's where it would be good for us to compare our cars. Your modified vs. my stock ;-) This would be a great way to see how much difference your mild mods can really make. If your interested in such a thing let me know?"

Heck yes, I'd be really interested in a dyno run. I wish I'd had a chance to get to the track to get a baseline run or two before I installed the intake and exhaust. I just got impatient !
I am going to get out to Edgewater for a "tune and test" night in the next few weeks to learn how to launch this thing.

Update on the Magnaflow system...

It has mellowed somewhat. I also cut a sheet of "dynomat" type insulation to fit under the luggage area panel. That has helped the low end noise and the floor of the cargo area never gets hot now. No more "toasty groceries" sitting right above the muffler.

Unexpected bonus...gas mileage improved about 1.5 M.P.G. !

In mostly city and in-town short trip freeway driving I was getting about 22.5 M.P.G. now it's almost 24 M.P.G. This is pretty hard driving now. Lots of fast acceleration and the like.
I'd project highway mileage to be about 28 M.P.G. If I can keep my foot out of it that is...

This thing just wants to go 80 mph whenever it can. No tickets yet but I'm really alert since the new exhaust is in place. I check my "six o'clock" a lot now since that's where the noise seems to be projected.

When I blast through a tunnel or overpass it's really sounding Badass now !

Let me know more about the dyno shop. I'm going to wait on the S.I. tune until I get more miles on the car in case there are any warranty related ECU "reflashes" needed.

Happy Trails,

Cincinnati Slim

 

Slim,

Ok, let me check their rates and I will get back to you. Hey, I know of a great shop here in Lexington, KY that has an in ground dyno as another option... would you be willing to drive down here?

I don't blame you on the SI ECU upgrade, I'm planning on it but not right now.

 

Yea Man,

Check their rates and keep me posted.

I'm just about to hit my first three thousand miles on this baby so it's really just breaking in now. I get my first oil change free at Wullenweber's where I bought the car. I'll probably take advantage of that in the next couple of weeks. I'm getting better and better with the sort of weird shifter on this car. It actually a "semi" cable operated shifter. Side to side motions are transmitted via cable; Up-down, i.e. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 action is via more normal rod link which has a big rubbery iso-link biscuit thingy. Probably makes bending a shift fork unlikely but makes for a weird springy feel. Really easy to blow a fast 2-3 shift !

Requires a very different touch than a Hurst shifter in a Muscle car...

Requires a little finesse and timing rather than ham fisted slammin' and bangin'. I am getting better. I think it's more wrist action than using the entire arm.

I'll make it to the strip in the next few weeks. Want to get out there before it gets too hot and humid so I can run some decent numbers.

Slim

 

Your right about the shifter, it does suck! Out of 6 total runs at the drag-strip, I missed the 2-3 shift half the time... I also missed it yesterday having a little fun with a Mini Cooper S on the way home. I wonder if there's a fix to the spongy feel? If this could be improved the car would be much better... my old Saturn SL2 had a better shifter.

 

I found a copy of the service manual somewhere and downloaded it.

It's like 2,300 pages !

But it's very good and full of info w/good diagrams and exploded views.

There is a isolation link on the shift rod that causes the springy/spongy feeling. It this could be made of a maybe urethane or even replaced altogether the shift fell would improve greatly.

If anybody concocts a shifter upgrade I'd buy one in an instant !

Me and about 20,000 other Crossfire manual transmission drivers...

I bet there's a few M-B SLK owners who would like a better shifter to !

Slim

 

Hey Slim,

I'm assuming that we're in the same neck of the woods. I'm in the Liberty Township/West Chester area.

I'd love to hear the Magniflow on your XF. I'd be fitting one onto a 2005 Limited Roadster.

What worries me in the increased interior noise level. The car is sweet with the current exhaust on a long trip. Just took it up to Cleveland and back for the Reds game. Nice ride.

Any thoughts on the interior noise?

KenB.

 

KenB,

I'm an old hot-rodder so I'm pretty used to listening to motor/exhaust noise but I'll be honest with you man, you might find the low frequency drone a little tiresome on long trips.

Especially if you have an automatic; 1,800 - 2,200 in top gear under load like going up a long grade at 55-60 mph sounds like the low note of a giant Oboe or Baritone Sax. Now a convert might be better than the coupe because of the shape of the inside i.e. separate trunk vs. big hatchback cavity. But if low pitched engine noise annoys you, you may want to take a pass on this system...

Slim

 

here's the actual exhaust diagram from: http://magnaflow.com

 

slim,

do you think that the exhaust will cause the paint on the bumper to warp/melt over time? looking at your pics, it looks like the tips stick out about 2 in. further than the stock (right under the bumper, without any heat shield), and as hot as my stock one gets, i don't want to take the chance of warped paint over time.

 

Greetings,

Since the Magniflow system has a slip joint before the "y" section there is about 1 1/2 possible variation in how far the tips project. You are limited by the rubber loops used hang the muffler. I pushed it out as far as possible to get the hot gas and noise out from under the car. The Magnaflow tips are double wall and air cooled. They actually don't get as hot as the factory single walled versions. It's the hot exhaust gas that you want out and away from the car. The tips do get hot but not as hot as the exhaust itself.

Slim

 

i know you said you'd post sound clips, but how does the exhaust sound when you first start the car/rev the engine?

 

any update on the sound clips?

 

I hooked up with Jim my audio guy Friday afternoon before work.

We used a Sennheiser short Shotgun mic and dropped it out the hatch to about four inches away from the Exhaust. The shut hatch pressed the cord into the weather strip and secured the dangling mic perfectly. I took a little piece of foam with a mic sized hole in it and ran the Sennheiser through that so it wouldn't bump and bang on the rear fascia. Jim rode "shotgun" with a Sound Devices pro audio recorder w/48K .wav file setting. We started in a large parking garage, drove out onto Mehring Way along the river. I ran it pretty hard through the gears up to forth about three times, turned around and drove back taking it really easy. Recorded maybe seven or eight minutes of audio so I still have some editing and compressing to do.

Here's a web/tech question. Instead of some third-party host website, can I post .wav or MP3 files to the member's gallery area ?

Thanks,

Slim

 

i personally would like to down load it to hear a few times instead of being limited to web play only hosts.

 

Even though it's a "third party site", I would recommend photobucket.com. Just upload it as a "video". It's free and I have had nothing but good luck with them.

 

Anyone know if the part # is the same for the SRT-6 ?
How does it sound on an SRT-6 ?
(Magnaflow doesn't say.)
Thanks.

 

It is not the same for the SRT6.
The exhaust system on the SRT6 is an AMG system that's about $1,400.
Can't do much better than that.

Magnaflow/Borla, etc. do not make exhausts for the SRT6 at this point.

 

It's easy enough to just upload stuff to YouTube. I just loaded a clip of my Avenger's exhaust today and it was painless.

(if ya wanna hear it http://youtube.com/watch?v=CFwqVjMOCpI)