Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 28

Thread: Exhaust upgrade. Muffler or Resonator swap

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Malaysia
    Country
    Malaysia
    Posts
    37
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts

    Exhaust upgrade. Muffler or Resonator swap

    Hye guys, i want upgrade my exhaust system to bring out the bassy growling sound but not extremely loud, i have no idea wheter to swap the resonator or my muffler. Im on tight budget now so it would be either one. It would be nice if i can maintain my mpg or increase a bit of my performance.



  2. #2
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,699
    Thanks
    2,582
    Thanked 2,537 Times in 1,471 Posts
    Check out this thread for some ideas...

    Need exhaust muffler system ideas!! Post videos!?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Malaysia
    Country
    Malaysia
    Posts
    37
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts
    Those thread still not convince me yet. So the rule is to keep the same muffler id and keep the stock reso? If i were to do a resonator delete,will it result in power loss?

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    maryland, usa
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    214
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 50 Times in 35 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by dgiarazza View Post
    Those thread still not convince me yet. So the rule is to keep the same muffler id and keep the stock reso? If i were to do a resonator delete,will it result in power loss?
    If you are looking for "sound" and want to keep the car relatively stock performance wise (no tuning, no messing about with ecu's and such) then stick to stock pipe size.

    As a starter I chopped off the rear resonator. On these cars the muffler is in the middle of the car and resonator on the rear. Removing the resonator keeps it quiet but gives a bit more grunt when full throttle. Still not noticeable compared to other stock cars that already sound that way.

    I was gonna do a full exhaust upgrade custom made by me, but I broke my back (literally) and the spine damage has stopped me from walking. Hopefully I heal.

    However, as a basis for info. I'll restate what I have in other threads.

    If you are looking for sound, stick to stock pipe size. You can replace the muffler with something like a cherry bomb glasspack or other brands of similar design (in pipe diameter same as out diameter). If that doesn't suit your taste, simply move the muffler to the rear where it belongs and pick a standard tuner muffler or classic box muffler.

    If you plan do some some light tuning later on, with things such as intake, and messing with air/fuel ratios, you can go up to about 1.75" maybe 2" in pipe diameter.... Only go 2.25-2.5" pipe if you plan to boost (turbo or supercharge, which both right now require custom setups as there are no kits).

    Summit Racing has a literal eff ton of mufflers and resonators to chose from when deciding on a custom exhaust. There is always the choice of going to a muffler shop and have a conversation with them on what brand to chose from if you don't feel up to the task of buying your own.

    If I remember correctly, stock size is 1.5" or about that size.

  5. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to namco For This Useful Post:

    dgiarazza (06-22-2017),MetroMPG (05-18-2017)

  6. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    360
    Thanks
    194
    Thanked 139 Times in 84 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by namco View Post
    If you are looking for "sound" and want to keep the car relatively stock performance wise (no tuning, no messing about with ecu's and such) then stick to stock pipe size.

    As a starter I chopped off the rear resonator. On these cars the muffler is in the middle of the car and resonator on the rear. Removing the resonator keeps it quiet but gives a bit more grunt when full throttle. Still not noticeable compared to other stock cars that already sound that way.

    I was gonna do a full exhaust upgrade custom made by me, but I broke my back (literally) and the spine damage has stopped me from walking. Hopefully I heal.

    However, as a basis for info. I'll restate what I have in other threads.

    If you are looking for sound, stick to stock pipe size. You can replace the muffler with something like a cherry bomb glasspack or other brands of similar design (in pipe diameter same as out diameter). If that doesn't suit your taste, simply move the muffler to the rear where it belongs and pick a standard tuner muffler or classic box muffler.

    If you plan do some some light tuning later on, with things such as intake, and messing with air/fuel ratios, you can go up to about 1.75" maybe 2" in pipe diameter.... Only go 2.25-2.5" pipe if you plan to boost (turbo or supercharge, which both right now require custom setups as there are no kits).

    Summit Racing has a literal eff ton of mufflers and resonators to chose from when deciding on a custom exhaust. There is always the choice of going to a muffler shop and have a conversation with them on what brand to chose from if you don't feel up to the task of buying your own.

    If I remember correctly, stock size is 1.5" or about that size.
    Did deleting the resonator cause any drone issues? Did the tone change or just slightly more volume?

  7. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    maryland, usa
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    214
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 50 Times in 35 Posts
    no, deleting the res, its still stupid quiet, just gives a little grumble/throat to the sound of the exhaust. if you had no idea what a mirage sounded like stock, you would think it was stock because its not loud at all. no drone. its smooth.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7VfORj7Ps0

    Found this on youtube. Just a bit more grumble to the exhaust. More throaty sound. Still balls quiet. Stock audio/radio can easily be heard over this kind of mod.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to23C8Lu-QI

    apparently, the same guy also changed out oem muffler to a borla, which you can tell is louder.

  8. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to namco For This Useful Post:

    dgiarazza (06-22-2017),gone.a (05-18-2017),MetroMPG (05-18-2017)

  9. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Malaysia
    Country
    Malaysia
    Posts
    37
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts
    Hey namco, thanks alot for the replies. Hope you will get better soon and complete your exhaust upgrade. Im looking forward on your exhaust setup in the future. I will take your advice as reference, might be changing my exhaust at the end of this year, it's a slow progress for now bcos of my coilover upgrade last month.

  10. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    maryland, usa
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    214
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 50 Times in 35 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by dgiarazza View Post
    Hey namco, thanks alot for the replies. Hope you will get better soon and complete your exhaust upgrade. Im looking forward on your exhaust setup in the future. I will take your advice as reference, might be changing my exhaust at the end of this year, it's a slow progress for now bcos of my coilover upgrade last month.
    Thanks man, had a little progress but not much, hoping I can walk again.

    On that note, everything car related is on hold since I can't work/no income. But once I heal (if) and I start hustling again for that cash, the mirage is gonna get a lot of serious upgrades, most of it will be custom built by me, like turbo manifold, exhaust, etc.

  11. #9
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Malaysia
    Country
    Malaysia
    Posts
    37
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts
    Yes, please make the turbo manifold become a reality! Btw if i were to remove the resonator and just go with the muffler in the middle, will there any performance drop? Did i just reduce the backpreassure by doing so?

  12. #10
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    maryland, usa
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    214
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 50 Times in 35 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by dgiarazza View Post
    Yes, please make the turbo manifold become a reality! Btw if i were to remove the resonator and just go with the muffler in the middle, will there any performance drop? Did i just reduce the backpreassure by doing so?
    Back pressure as currently used on many online forums is false. You actually DON'T want back pressure, as the engines are not designed to have push back. Sure, some older engines required it to help close the valves due to poor engineering, that is not the case in any of today's cars.

    The real term would be pressure wave. Think of an engine pulse after one cylinder cycles. It opens the exhaust valve and lets out a little fart/toot (lol). When the valve closes, there is a opposite pressure wave behind it. Think of the actual exhaust gases as positive and the blank empty space behind it a negative wave. The idea is that negative wave of pressure will help pull the next positive wave out of the engine making it more efficient.

    HOWEVER, this can only be tuned perfectly within a small range of RPM. As an engine revs, things change, so you never have it tuned perfectly for the whole rpm range. This is where "economy" should come to mind. The most efficient area is tuned/chosen by the manufacturer for gas mileage. However, "economy" is not a term used in conjunction with "performance" so if you are seeking performance, this really doesn't matter.

    The only way to really cause an issue with performance in this sense, is an exhaust pipe that is too long, too short, too small, or too large. The factory exhaust is like 1.4/1.5 inches or there about. As long as you don't go smaller, or too much larger, you wont have an issue. If you are staying naturally aspirated, 1.75 to 2" is all you need. If you plan to turbo, 2" to 2.25" is all you need. Any larger and its going to cause a performance loss. As far as length, the stock length from front to rear stock is fine. Can't really go longer, but shorter could potentially cause issues. In the muscle car world, even if you run just headers, its said best to run 18" of pipe after the header as an extra bonus to ensure the best possible outcome for performance. However, we are not in the muscle car world, so ignore it, and keep the exhaust length normal, front to rear.

    This is one of the reasons why I refused to believe an exhaust reduces performance from the one company that sells headers and has been shown on these forums. They didn't state what exhaust size they used, how they made it, etc. All they said is "headers = performance boost, exhaust = performance loss" which is literally bull****. I digress. Most likely they used 3" exhaust which is WAY to big for this tiny little motor. Even then, 2.25 or 2.5 being naturally aspirated (no boost) is too big. Seeing as most "universal" mufflers considered to have both performance and "sound" are all about 2.25 or larger. Which means that company !@#$ed up big time.

    The exhaust, goes header, catalytic converter, resonator 1, muffler, resonator 2 (at least in the US). I removed resonator 2 (at the rear, just cut it off and let the pipe shoot down towards the ground) and it gives it some grunt, but still relatively stock. In fact, when I told people I removed that resonator, they didn't believe me, because it still sounded stock compared to other cars.

    As far as performance drop, I didn't notice any drop at all. The biggest issue for this engine is the intake. So far that is the biggest choke point of all. If you notice, the little air box has a tiny 1" intake snorkel, which is WAY to small to supply that engine (once again, tuned for "economy"). If you were to install a custom intake, matching the throttle body diameter, this would give you the biggest naturally aspirated performance boost.

    In my own tests stock, the car tops out at 100mph regardless of rpm range left. I have I think a few 1000 rpm left before redline if I remember correctly and it just would not accelerate. It wasn't bouncing off the rev limiter, and it wasn't being held back by a speed limit kind of limitation. A part of our highway has a good downhill portion, so doing 100 going downhill I got it to 104mph, but once leveling out it dropped back to 100. That extra 4mph came from gliding downhill. The engine cannot properly breathe on the top end.

    HOWEVER, if you change the intake, the characteristics of the engine will change as well. I can almost guarantee that you will lose the bottom end of the this motor. It doesn't have much power as it, but around 3000-5000 rpm it feels really nice stock. Changing the intake will feed the upper rpm range allowing the car to go over 100mph. However, there might be a limitation in feeding fuel as well, which I am not sure about because I never got a chance to get into tuning the car in any way shape or form. If there is limitation in fuel delivery, things like larger injectors, fuel pump, fuel regulator, etc, will need to be installed to increase top end. Those things will already be needed for a turbo setup. Luckily, 350z injectors apparently fit bolt on, meaning any injectors you buy that match a 350z will fit the mirage (including aftermarket). HOWEVER, I only read about this, and didn't get a chance to test it out myself. IF I could, I would have gone to a scrap yard, found a crashed 350z, and snagged 1 injector to check. If it turns out to be 100% true, you could literally buy a set of injectors for a 350z and use them for the turbo setup. And since we are a 3 cylinder vs the 350z 6 cylinder, you would have a matched set of 6, meaning if one dies, you have 3 backups that you don't have to worry about getting flowed the same because they are already setup to flow the exact same which is dope imho albeit expensive.

    Hope all this helps lol.

    For those who hate to read, stock exhaust 1.5. If naturally aspirated, don't go over 2", if turbo, don't go over 2.25. This will ensure you don't go too large robbing power. Its akin to putting a 5" exhaust on a subaru, its just retarded and will lose power. Now a diesel, that is a different story for 5" exhausts lol.



Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •