quiet and loud exhaust V2.0

OK, been working on this for some time. It is actually for another project but it works good enough I decided to share. Went through some other versions that sucked very bad. This one is actually working out very nice. If I were to do it again there is little that I would change. In fact about all I would change is the transition between the collector and the bypass should angle a little better and not be so perpendicular. A little wiring change for the compressor cycling as well.

OK, what you are looking at is a nice quiet stock replacment muffler for a Dodge Dakota (or was it a Durango?) Anyway it is for a factory V8 and is quiet. That is good 95% of the time. But there is a little trick. That pipe you see is a bypass around the muffler. Uses a big, cheap ebay wastegate. 50mm in this case. All it does is open a second route around the muffler. Does not close off the muffler, it can still flow. But it just offers a secondary way around the muffler for both flow and sound.

There is a small compressor from an air ride system from some junkyard car. 30 PSI oil pressure warning light switch wired to a relay to cycle the compressor. A MAC valve (search cheap ARB solenoid replacments).

The compressor has a little resivior and the oil pressure switch (cap was drilled and tapped to go from the propritary fitting to normal pipe fittings) to keep 30 PSI, waste gate is rated for something like 15 PSI. Putting 30 PSI makes it open all the way. Power the solenoid, wastegate opens fully, good sound. Release and it is civilized to not bother the neighbors as you leave at 5AM.

Best part, no drone! Even with 3½" full length exhaust. Before it droned no matter what I did to the exhaust. With that big of a pipe it is to be expected. But somehow this does not. Even with the bypass open, it still does not drone. It has a good sound with the bypass opened, I can hear it reverberating off block walls as I drive past. closed, makes for a perfect civilized sleeper. All for about the cost of an aftermarket "performance" muffler. Just takes a little longer and more thought to install. Not for the normal brain dead hotrodder who buys all there stuff from catalogs.

Wow! that's pretty awesome, kinda big but thats a good show of ingenuity and functionality. Great Job! when are you going to produce them;D

Wow, that's cool. What catalog did you say you ordered it from.;D

Nice thinking outside the box.

Pretty cool! How come you did not use a cable actuated bypass valve like on hotrod side dump bypasses?

yeah seems like a simpler and cheaper version for people like me (not so technically challenged and broke) would be to replace the solenoid with a cable trigger cutout, bought from a catalog ;D

When you get time can you give us some overall measurements? Thanks ;D

FASTERDAMITT said:

Pretty cool! How come you did not use a cable actuated bypass valve like on hotrod side dump bypasses?

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Cables sieze
Cables have routing issues
Cables are difficult to actuate eletrically
The valves are only set up for 2" tube
The valves tend to leak.
Cables look like crap hanging off the bottom of the dash
I have enough issues getting the heater control cables to work on the Bronco
If I do this right I can hook it to the throttle so it opens when you mash it, closes when you lift, can't do that with a cable

This waste gate has a good stiff spring that seals a poppet valve nice and tight. It is designed to work in nasty hot exhaust systems of turbocharged engines.

The modern hotrod style cutouts are stupid expensive. They mount eletric motors to the exhaust system. I have turned chrome exhaust tips neat colors of brown and purple from the heat at the tip. The Aluminium collector gasket I took off the Bronco when I removed the headers had been so hot that it was starting to drip out (but still sealed). The stainless hoseclamps holding the heatshield on the Bronco's flowmaster have been discolored from heat. I drive stuff hard, exhaust systems get VERY hot. What is a plastic motor attached to the exhaust sytem going to do? For someone who wants a show car it probably will be just fine. Same person who has chrome headers and wants them to stay shiny. Besides those little plastic gear reduction motors are slow. They take several seconds to open and close. I can cycle mine several time before the electric ones finish opening. I can open mine, accelerate through an intersection and have it closed as I approach cruising speeds before an electric version even has a chance of opening fully

As for packaging, it doesn't have to be as long as what you see there. I built this as a drop in the middle of 2 existing pipes that have already had a few expermental mufflers in there. Hence the 2.0 on this title. Do something like an X-pipe with one side going to a quiet muffler and the other to the wastegate. From there run duel exhaust, one side with a muffler, the other without. The options exist, it's a matter of thinking of how to work the idea into the vehicle.

Also, the wastegate is really fast. I can cycle the button quickly and get just a second of loud exhaust and go quiet again.

And what motor are you quiting down....

PAPITT said:

And what motor are you quiting down....

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The stroker in the sleeper Ranger;D

this is cool can we hear it?

Only when I push the button

I really don't have a good way to get a sound clip. The digital camera is too old to take sound bits.

I really liked the idea, but didn't quite understand the reasoning for your Bronco. Now I know it's for a sleeper street rod, I can really appreciate the beauty of it. Well done.

I really like this idea too!!!! We need sound!

Its not for his bronco. Its for his Ranger pickup with a 302 if I remember correctly.

how is that dakota muffler for quiet? Does it reduce the bronco to modern 'civilized' levels, i.e. virtually no exhaust noise?

It is for the stroked 5.0 in the ranger. As for the Dakota muffler, yes it is nice and modern car quiet. 2½" in and out but looking inside it is smaller inside then what the nippes are.

I was sharing as I know people that like there broncos to have some sound to them at times. You can do this to keep it nice and quiet (so you can actually hear your spotter), but when you want to do that hill climb and you want to hear that V8 working, you can open it up. Or when ever you want to make some noise like passing that little rice burner that was holding you up in traffic.

As the muffler and wastegate are assambled for the Ranger, it would probably be a little too long to fit in a Bronco. But you can rearrange the parts to fit what ever envelope you have to work with. Wastegate on the side of the muffler instead of behind it for example. Or a thought I had would be to put it on the drivers side, then dump it out a second pipe.

This would be real easy if you run OBA already.

It is for those of us that are beyond just making a noisy truck all the time, but still like the sound every once in a while.