DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Some more progress....

My silencer/muffler has had a hole in it for about 6 months now - gradually getting worse and unrepairable.

A few weeks ago, after fishing round on the various forums I ordered an M&K 1in/1out muffler. I'd read good stuff about them - excellent sound, very well made, bit more performance, and the guy making them appears to be helpful. What swung it for me was that is't also quite a lot lighter than the stock muffler.

I initially ordered it off pelican. They charged more for postage than the other site listed on M&K's own site (http://www.mkexhaust.com/) but the ordering process was good. A week later and Pelican said firstly the post was going up by another $100 and they wanted additional verification to process my order. I cancelled and went to the other supplier. It still took a long time to come - about 3 weeks in all, but it arrived last Friday.

Conveniently it came whilst the car was in zentrum havingt he troublesome oil pipe replaced (this pipe may have been the cause of all my engine trouble...)

Zentrum said if I got the muffler to them they'd fit it.

I got a call Friday afternoon from Mike at Zentrum saying they'd fitted the exhaust and the good news was it sounded awsome. the bad news was that the bumper wouldn't fit over it and they'd have to cut it.

The previous (OE) muffler was at an angle which showed up once the backdating was done and this new one was also at an angle:-



My first thought was to straighten it up by applying upwards pressure on the left hand side pipe. I did a bit of this which helped to make it more level but this in turn brought about more problems. My moving it up it meant the muffler fouled the bumper even more.

I left it with Mike on Friday evening and basically told him to cut it until it fitted. He phoned me at 8pm Friday evening to say he'd got it on and it didn't look loo bad. I was grateful for the extra hours he put in, as he was due to go on holiday the next morning.

I picked up the car on the Saturday morning. It looked OK, but not brill (nothing to do with Mike but all to do with me backdating i suppose).

I drove it around and after a while smelled a familiar fibreglass burning smell. I checked it out and it has started to discolour the bumper and turn it black. When I looked close part of the bumper had split ( a small part) and part of it was resting on the muffler itself.

Last night I did some further emergency surgery, and cut out everything that was touching the muffler. I didn't have time to take the bumper off the car so the cut could have been tidier.

I can't make my mind up about the muffler in terms of looks - it's not level and it's not neat. It's also not that bad. As a bare minimum I'm going to take the bumper off and straighten up that cut between the overriders so that it is a straight line. I will also tidy up the bit where I did my drastic surgery. Finally I'll clean up the muffler where it's got fibreglass burn marks on it

I'm contemplating taking it to a custome exhaust manufacturer (any ideas?) and getting them to make a new middle-pipe (or whatever it's called) but bent and shaped so it would put the muffler behind the rear bumper, so only the pipe could be seen. Would there be issues on tuning the length of the exhaust pipe in relation to that?

Alternatively I've thought of just getting a life and not stressing about it. It looks a bit 'outlaw' I suppose which I like, and even though it's not level it don't look too bad. I'd welcome opinions either way.

Turning to the exhaust itself, it's effin brill. At tickover there is a more meaningful burble than before, but not ridiculous. the car is my daily drive so I was keen it wouldn't be wearing on me. When driving along on a light throttle - say under 3K revs, I really don't notice it's there. If I lift off there is more of a bassy boom than was there before which I don't really like but again it's not really too bad.

When you put your foot down though, it really comes into it's own - there's firstly a lovely racy harsh sound that starts to come into it, underlaid with that ferocious burble - very animalistic - a definite snarl. I've also noticed a definite improvement in performance, although not consistently - I would say I get more poke lower down the rev range, but no change above 5K revs.

It sounds awsome!

Here's some pics

Bumper pre-surgery


'Normal' view from the rear:-


Close-up at the side showing problem if I just try and raise the muffler:-


Close-up at the rear showing latest hatchet-surgery (to be tidied up)


Cheers

Mark

that exhaust looks phat

I presume you have done the research but I know that the pre-impact bumper cars have longer exhaust stuts etc. the difficulty you have is that it has the external looks of a pre 74 but (some of the metalwork) retaining evidence of an impact bumper car.

There is a chap who can weld you an exhaust to your requirements but I dont have his details at hand- will pm you if I can lay my hands on them.

Btw, did you backdate your heater system?

I noticed it at zentrum- looking good as ever!


Best regards,


Bert

Sorry to have to say it but somebody needs to. IMHO that muffler just doesn't look right. Drooping like that spoils the whole line of the rear view. Shame because the whole project has been an insiration thus far.

Sorry..................

Bob

Fair enough Bob and no offence taken. I'd obviously far rather just have one discreet pipe sticking out as well. Looking at real RS's though it's surprising how much of the muffler is visible below the rear bumper

Bert - if you can give me the guy's name I'd be interested in following it up. I've got someone at work giving me a name as well. BTW I haven't backdated the heater yet - currently fishing around for the ducting bracket to bypass the heater ducts.

I think if someone could mount the back box in the right position so that it doesn't foul the rear, then they could make up the pipe that joins onto it with suitable bends - sounds easy doesn't it?

Cheers

Mark

Thanks Mark. It isn't the fact that part of the muffler is exposed - I see nothing wrong in that - it's just (my opinion only) the fact that it isn't square to the ground.

Bob

Fair comment and thanks Bob.

Of course another option might be to lower the other side!

Sorted it,

the other night I took the bumper off, and levelled the cut along the rear of the bumper and tidied upt he other cuts on it.

I then ground off one of the brackets that was fixed on the back of th heater pipe (which was forcing the muffler out into the bumper) and then also carefully shaped the heater pipe so that it had an indentation shaped like the muffler.

I carefully shaped it with a 4lb lump hammer and a strong follow-through action.

Worked well - the muffler sits further away from that bumper now and there is enough leeway for me to make the exhaust level.

I reckon it's level enough at the moment (not as obvious as it sounds - the car itself isn't level so I wanted to level it with the car)

Excuse the poor pic



I also took some wet'n dry paper to the muffler - removed weld marks and rust lines. I'm thinking of dulling up that polished tip as well using the same stuff

Mark

Mark

Looking good, watch it when you go round a corner hard or hit bumps or parking ramps that sucka might hit the tarmac. The exhaust I had made for 912e hung down like that initially and often dragged into the gravel.

Though the suspension on that would be pretty soft compared to yours.

Thanks Nige,

I do have occasional problems with severe bumps but this isn't any lower than what I had before so I'm fine with it.

Sounds wicked though!

Would recommend it for your new purchase as soon as funds allow

will be looking around soonish, not sure if the current exhaust will last through winter

OK - onc e my current oil leak problems are sorted then you'll have to hear it and I can have a look at your new baby

its a date sweatheart

Further update. Although pleased in many respects with the M&K muffler I felt it tweaked part of the rev range at the expense of other parts (surges and flaccid spots), and could occasionally be boomy.

For Christmas I got a Steve Wong chip - fitted it the other day.

It is abso-sodding-lutely brilliant. It's like having the engine back freshly rebuilt (but run-in) but with about 10% extra grunt across the whole rev range. It's revving beautifully again, low speed pickup is marvellous, and the rev limiter has been raised to 6850.

Very very pleased with it - I know Dynosoar has got on in the beast and that he's very pleased wth it, but it's surprised me what a change it's made to drivablity. The delivery seems to be seamless again all the way up to the redline.

As a pleasant side effect the exhaust doesn't sound so boomy now - no idea why that would be, and may be psychological. I really feel power has now overtaken grip so am having to re-adjust how much I'm using (although the roads are a bit damp at the moment)

Suspension and brakes next, I feel....

sladey wrote:I'm contemplating taking it to a custome exhaust manufacturer (any ideas?)

Sorry this is late but if you still need a good pipe bender try this guy

BTB Exhausts Ltd.
Unit 3-5 The Beaver Centre
Woodford Halse
Daventry
Northants
NN11 3DP

Telephone: +44 (0) 1327 261797
Facsimile: +44 (0) 1327 263577
E-mail: sales@btbexhausts.f9.co.uk

http://www.racecar.co.uk/btb/

There's not much he can't do plus he's got cnc bending kit which means less cutting and shutting.
No connection - I've just watched him work.
(He rallies a Lotus Carlton - big balls)

Thanks for that mate - might be a bit far for me to go though