Muffler Options?

[RobLav]

Any ideas for inexpensive small mufflers? I have a small bullet type (forget the manufacturer) that I put on my old Kawasaki 600 bike, but it was loud as all he**.

Hate to spend the bucks for a Coast type - am looking at aftermarket bike types. Has to be narrow to fit through a bunch of stuff. Any ideas?

[sidney]

It may be worth the call to the Coast guys. I bought one of "last years models" from them for about half their published price. They also mentioned that there are specials for customers that get returned from time to time.

[Brands]

I would thoroughly recomend a coast muffler - I had one from a bike and it lasted two test days before it fell apart. My coast muffler is lighter, better made and more suited to a car application. Well worth the money.

[RobLav]

Allright - Coast it is. I had one on my RF99...

[ghickman]

Allright - Coast it is. I had one on my RF99...

Rob
I use a Coast Fab muffler on my FB also. Just a word of warning, the "STOCK" packing they use is junk...it will turn into a molten ball after about 2 hours of use. Coast sells a STAINLESS STEEL woven packing that resembles lathe turnings to pack it with. This packing costs about as much as the muffler itself. Other option is White Industries sells Ceramic packing and repack it after about every 2-3 hours of use or you'll get a muffler violation like we did this weekend at Thunderhill.

Gary Hickman
Edge F1000 #76

[Rennie Clayton]

A tad on the ugly side, but nothing beats Quiet Horsepower for performance (both HP and noise reduction). We use a large Phase 9 muffler on our FA, and have no trouble meeting sound at full chat, even at a place like Laguna Seca on an overcast day.

http://quiethorsepower.com/mufflers.html


Cheers,
Rennie

[Stan Clayton]

While at Thunderhill yesterday I was speaking with Dustin Wright of Phoenix race cars. Their new FB car had two Coast mufflers in-series, the small and the medium ones, and the car could not meet the 103 dB limit. We used to run the large Coast on our FA, but it would not meet sound at several tracks, so we switched to the large Quiet HP on our FA. I also run QHP's medium size Phase 9 on my Zink-SuperVee CSR, and it reads right at 100 dB at Thunderhill and Sears Point.

[RobLav]

Thanks guys - that thing sure is ugly! But a cone is what is needed to muffle sound. I'll look closer. That info about Dustin's car is really helpful.

[Stan Clayton]

Well, certainly beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

That said, QHP now offers their mufflers with exterior ceramic coating, which I think is a good idea.

Anyway, here is one mounted on an FE (for a test).

[kmt63]

my vote goes to the qhp muffler as well.we have used them in dsr for a few years and they make power and last for a long time.i think the cone shape one looks good.like a real race car muffler.

[RobLav]

OK - Great - and thanks for the info and the pic Stan.

The FE pic looks more like what I would do. Aero speaking, do you want the diverging air as it goes around the muffler directly underneath the rear wing? Wouldn't the air accelerate more (as well as get heated) by the muffler? if that FE muffler was placed a bit further aft?

If I decide to buy one, I'd like to know the best place to locate it.

[Stan Clayton]

Rob, the FE does not have a diffuser, which skews the aero results a bit, but I'd still want it spaced a bit more from the wing. Plus, there are rear overhand limits to deal with. In the end, I think I'd want to mock it up in several different positions to ensure I was getting it in the right place. Stan

[Brett Lane]

Just playing devil's advocate a little here, and I'm sure it's been considered, but what about two 2 into one headers and a muffler/tailpipe on each side. Would horsepower and torque considerations be much different than the current header designs? That, and the space required.

Just wondering, and I guess this would be the place to ask weird questions.

Brett

[RussMcB]

OK - Great - and thanks for the info and the pic Stan.

The FE pic looks more like what I would do. Aero speaking, do you want the diverging air as it goes around the muffler directly underneath the rear wing? Wouldn't the air accelerate more (as well as get heated) by the muffler? if that FE muffler was placed a bit further aft?

If I decide to buy one, I'd like to know the best place to locate it.

Rob, for my RF94 conversion project, finding room for things was always a challenge. I got a good deal on a Coast muffler from Matt @ Phoenix. It fit best before the rear suspension. Not ideal, but I didn't want it hanging out the back. I have a hard time imagining where I would be able to fit the cone muffler. Of course, your car may be completely different.

[RobLav]

Brett - my headers are a seriously altered Tr-Y system from PeterD (was exit right with longer headers - now exit left with shorter header primaries). So no balance bar or twin mufflers.

Russ - I hear ya.... where's the room? I'm calling QuietHP in a few minutes. I like the concept of using a cone in the muffler since the hot gases must expand before exiting the system. Makes more sense to me. But I've been so careful of the aero issues from the build start - a shame to put a big muffler there - but LRP and NHMS have lower sound thresholds than they used to, and it will only get lower over time.

[stainlesssteel08]

I've seen a few F1000s that are using the mufflers that the 1000cc mini sprints are using (www.viperpipes.com). I've been told you have to use the 14 inch model to meet sound requirements.

[Wright D]

Ahhh..these are the same parts that S & S used to make here in Phoenix. I heard that Viper bought all the tooling and jigs from S & S.

I used to work for Peter D and am familiar will all of his headers, and can say, that for sure you would have to modify one heavily to make it fit.

The mufflers from viper (if the same as the S & S units) are pretty heavy, probably 2 times the weight of a coast fab one. And are also made using mild steel with and aluminum can. We used to melt the inner core, and the aluminum can....we treated them as a disposable items dirt track racing....

I would stick with either the Quiet HP or the Coast Fab part for Road Racing.

[stainlesssteel08]

You have a good memory. I also remember several years ago when we were seeing some of the S&S cores and cans melting. We haven't seen that in a few years now. Not sure if it has something to do with how the engines were being tuned at the time. I know at the time, some of the issue was that raw fuel was laying in the bottom of the mufflers because they were running so rich. We've personally been running a Viper on a 1000cc mini sprint for two years now without a problem and the speed shop my dad run's has sold many, many more without issue, including a handful to F1000 competitors.

Viper didn't purchase any of the jigs or fixturing from S&S. To the best of my knowledge, most of it was sold to a guy in NC who never really did anything with it. While the Viper headers and mufflers are similar to the S&S stuff, not exactly the same - a few improvements. After dyno testing several mufflers (however not Coast or the Quiet muffler you spoke of) we found the S&S design performed best.