This article was first published in 2005.
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In the first part of this series (see The Low-Cost High-Flow Exhaust - Part One) we looked at designing a cost-effective high-flow
exhaust suitable for moderately powerful cars. Well, now it’s time to put our
design into practice – come and see the exhaust fabrication, on-road results and
the cost rundown!
Turbo Dump Pipe
The dump pipe we chose for our Nissan 180SX is a second-hand stainless steel
job with a single ‘big mouth’ entry leading into a 3 inch pipe. This particular
dump pipe was fabricated by the same company doing our exhaust installation –
Exhaust Technology in Adelaide .
Prior to installation, the mounting flange of our new dump pipe was ground
back to remove some minor surface corrosion (this smoothing helps achieve an effective
seal against the turbine flange). Oxygen sensor safe sealant was also used to
ensure there are no exhaust leaks.
A two-bolt flange can be found at the base of our second-hand dump pipe. This
connects to a newly fabricated 3 inch pipe that extends rearward to the area of
the cat converter. The newly fabricated pipe comprises a single 90 degree
mandrel bend.
Cat Converter
The cat converter we’re using was pulled from a Ford XR6 Turbo. The XR6T cat
is relatively unusual in having a single 3 inch inlet and twin 2 ¼ inch outlet
pipes.
For fitment to our 180SX, the factory inlet and outlet pipes were cut from the
cat converter. This allows the fitter to fabricate new inlet and outlet pipes
which are correctly angled to suit the car.
The XR6T cat is mounted in the virtually same position as the original part
and is welded to the 3 inch pipe from the dump pipe.
Dual Pipes and Resonators
Our 180SX exhaust uses twin 2 inch pipes from the cat converter leading into
twin resonators before merging into a single larger diameter pipe. Twin 2 inch
pipes might seem relatively small, but they do offer similar cross-sectional
area to a single 3 inch pipe.
From the back of the cat converter, a pair of 2 inch pipes were bent into the
required shape using a press bend machine. Care was taken to ensure the
cross-sectional area of the pipes was maintained as much as possible. These twin
2 inch pipes terminate at a pair of centrally mounted resonators.
The resonators we selected are pulled from a Toyota Soarer V8. These are
nicely built straight-through stainless resonators with 2 inch inlet and outlet
fittings. This photo shows the resonators being cut from the original Soarer
pipework.
The 180SX doesn’t offer a lot of under-car space so the twin resonators are
mounted closely alongside each other and close to the tailshaft tunnel (to
maintain ground clearance). It’s a squeezie fit.
Merge Pipe
Unfortunately, we were unable to extend twin pipes all the way to the end of
the system; we couldn’t find a cheap twin inlet muffler that makes use of the
available space. Instead, we decided to merge the twin pipes into a single 3
inch pipe (which makes sourcing a suitable muffler much easier).
A search through Exhaust Technology’s used stock pile uncovered this - a
Redback high-performance Y-pipe, which we believe is intended for a V8 Holden.
The Y-pipe has twin 2 ¼ inch mandrel bent pipes merging into a single 2 ½ inch
outlet.
The Redback Y-pipe proved extremely useful in our application. It provided us
with a smooth 2 into 1 pipe junction as well as some nice mandrel bends, which
we couldn’t resist reworking to suit the 180SX. This photo shows the reworked
Redback mandrel bent pipes welded to the back of the resonators and the 2 into 1
junction. Note that the single outlet of the junction was flared from 2 ½ to 3
inch to suit our chosen muffler.
Rear Muffler
The muffler we selected for the 180SX is a second-hand 3 inch Trust unit with
straight-through internals. This muffler makes full use of the space available
beneath the car and was checked to be in good condition.
As seen here, this particular muffler also came with a mandrel bent entry
pipe and mounting flange already attached. These make installation quicker and
easier compared to a bare muffler.
The muffler was hoisted into position beneath the car and a 3 inch pipe was
fabricated to join it to the outlet of the 2 into 1 junction. A single 3 inch
mandrel bend was used for this section.
And that’s it.
Bung on some hangers, whack on a coat of paint and the exhaust is
finished.
The Completed Exhaust
This photo shows the main section of our newly constructed 180SX exhaust.
With a fresh coat of black paint it doesn’t look much like an aftermarket
creation - if anything, it resembles a factory BMW M3 exhaust...
So let’s recap the components that we used.
Starting at the front, you’ll find a second-hand ‘big mouth’ stainless dump
pipe, an ex-XR6 Turbo cat converter, a pair of resonators from a V8 Soarer, a
merge pipe constructed from a used Redback Y-pipe and a second-hand 3 inch Trust
muffler. The only new parts used in the system is a pair of 3 inch mandrel
bends, some press bent sections of 2 inch pipe, a couple of flanges and some new
hangers.
A Look at the Standard
Exhaust
Our testing in the first part of this series revealed the factory 180SX
exhaust was causing 9.3 psi backpressure. So, out of curiosity, let’s take a
look at what causes this restriction...
Starting at the front, the standard cast iron dump pipe has a lot of internal
lumps and bumps (which cause turbulence) and a relatively small 2 ¼ inch
outlet.
The first section of exhaust after the dump pipe connects to the cat
converter. This pipe is just over 2 inches in diameter and flares into the 2 ¼ inch
cat converter. Interestingly, the cat converter is mounted a long way downstream
of the turbine – completely different to, say, a Subaru WRX with its cat
converter mounted very close to the turbine.
From the cat converter, the next section of pipe is just over 2 inches in diameter
and leads into a centre resonator. The entry and exit pipes from the resonator
step down to exactly 2 inches.
The final section of pipe takes gasses to the rear muffler and is just over 2
inches in diameter. Again, like the resonator, the muffler entry reduces to just 2
inches. At the rear there are twin muffler outlets measuring approximately 1 ½
inches.
Overall, the 180SX system is very similar to the S15 200SX exhaust – the
biggest flow impediments are its small pipe diameter, heavy press bends, a
baffle-type rear muffler and a cat converter with a relatively small core
cross-section.
In short, there’s plenty of room for improvement – as indicated by our
initial backpressure measurement.
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Before and After Results
So what improvement came from our custom 180SX exhaust?
Well, in standard form, we measured 9.3 psi exhaust backpressure at full
power and the car (with an automatic transmission) managed to accelerate from 0
-100 km/h in around 8.4 seconds. Tailpipe noise was 60db(A) at idle and around
65db(A) when free-revved to 4000 rpm. These tailpipe noise figures were taken
with the SPL meter held at 45 degrees from the tailpipe at a distance of 50cm.
Now let’s look at the new exhaust’s credentials.
With the custom exhaust bolted to the back of the turbo we saw a maximum
backpressure of just 2.5 psi – a reduction of 73 percent! Not surprisingly, the
car now has much improved response and torque in normal driving conditions and
is tremendously quicker at wide-open throttle. This is reflected in a monumental
0 – 100 km/h improvement – this time has tumbled from around 8.4 to 7.6
seconds!
Note that this incredible performance gain was achieved through a combination
of reduced backpressure and a resulting increase in boost pressure. Turbo boost
pressure now builds faster, reaches a higher peak and holds a higher value to
the reline. Peak boost has increased from 10 psi to 12.5 psi and at the redline
(7000 rpm) there’s 7 psi instead of 6 psi as previously. Certainly, this
across-the-board boost increase is a major factor in the recorded performance
improvement.
However, tailpipe noise has increased. The system is quieter than the majority
of turbo-back performance exhausts but is still obviously an aftermarket
development. Fortunately, there are no annoying resonances (which can be a
problem in auto trans cars) and the note is nice and deep. In terms of SPL, we
recorded 63dB(A) at the tailpipe with the engine idling and 88dB(A) when revved
to 4000 rpm. In caparison, a full-length 3 inch exhaust we fitted to a Subaru
WRX achieved the same noise level at idle but was considerably louder when
revved.
And you may be wondering if the new ‘split pipe’ exhaust is heavier than the
standard system.
Interestingly, it isn’t. The factory exhaust (from dump pipe to rear muffler)
tips the scales at 24.5kg and the new system manages to undercut it by 1kg. We
were expecting the new system to be slightly heavier due to its bigger cat
converter and more intricate pipe arrangement. However, this isn’t enough to
(literally) outweigh the factory cast iron dump pipe and extensive heat
shielding.
Cost
So how much did this low-cost high-flow exhaust set us back?
Well, we shelled out AUD$480 in total – AUD$100 for the cat
converter and AUD$380 for the rest of the components and labour. However, we
would have saved about AUD$80 if we had sourced the XR6T cat converter from
Exhaust Technology – they typically have a couple lying around which can be
picked up for much less than we paid.
We should again point out that the second-hand XR6T cat converter is
brilliant from a cost and flow point of view – but its twin outlet pipes
requires a relatively complex (and costly) pipe system. A full-length twin pipe
arrangement is relatively time consuming to build and can be very difficult to
fit in cars with limited undercarriage space. Keep this in mind if you decide to
follow in our footsteps.
Our 180SX’s exhaust has achieved a 73 percent backpressure reduction with a
tremendous on-road performance improvement, a mild noise increase and offers the
scope to generate around 180kW while maintaining very low backpressure (and,
realistically, it would be fine for applications around 200kW).
At a price of AUD$400 to AUD$480, we reckon this system comfortably lives up
to our “low-cost high-flow exhaust” label. Sure beats spending AUD$1000+...
Contact:
Exhaust Technology
+61 8 8272 7500
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