3" downpipe and exhaust in my vanagon

[allsierra123]

any idea if this would be on the vanagon to run without a muffler. My plan is to just right angle and run it out under the back of the van right behind the driver side wheel? will I need a muffler? I do have sound proofing in the floors of the van already.

[arb]

With a turbo diesel ? :-) Will not be TOO loud. If NA, you'll need a muffler if you don't want tickets.

[allsierra123]

yes a turbo diesel. Forgot to mention that. I was just curious because it will have a lot less exhaust than most on here are running maybe 3 feet total.

[allsierra123]

that what I was curious out just how loud could it be. I have heard a few samurai's with the straight pipe setup but they were rock crawling just barely above idle so I couldn't really tell how loud they really were at idle they weren't bad at all. a few people made reference to semi trucks but surely it wont be that loud.

[arb]

I was not going to have a muffler on my 1.6L turbo I'm putting in the Caravan, given the long distance the 2" pipe will offer some muffling, but my wife asked about noise and I said it would be on par with those Harley's with the mufflers "modified" - so I have a nice new low resistance muffler to go on it. $26 I think it was.

[allsierra123]

Well I will see what the smallest one I can get is. Basicly my biggest gripe with the exhaust on the vanagon was how it ran across the whole back of the van and took up space. I was hoping with this to keep it to a minimum.

[arb]

Here's the one I think I got - for a 5.8L engine, so low restriction for my 1.6L-
http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=FLT&MfrPartNumber=50050FLT&PartType=15&PTSet=A

[Luckypabst]

It'll sound great! I had someone comment that mine sounded like a Freightliner with 2-1/4" straight out the back. Dumping to the side will seem louder to you in the driver's seat but will get less ooze on the back of the van (I'll be turning mine out to the side in the not too distant future).

Chris

[blackdogvan]

Out either side can be a bit loud when driving beside concrete dividers, for a while i ran a 4" freightliner stack on its side tucked up behind the bumper. Looked badass & made a sound like a 3406 cat! Deep bass and turbo symphony!! Even a sweet turbine whistle at idle. But after 4 years of that I got tired of the noise & now run this, straight 2.5" to a glasspack & 2.5" stainless the rest with a kick at the end. Still sounds pretty good but with a much lower decibel level. Across the back still but pretty compact with the glasspack.

If you don't want to go across the back but want a muffler look into how the exhaust was run on the south african 5cyl. I think one of the cleanest exhaust setups is Stephan's Auto Haus 1.8t syncro.



Look at all that clearance...

[vanagonturbo]

The flex joint on my vanagon broke last year and i just fixed it about 3 months ago. 2.5" turbo back witha Borla. It was very quiet before it broke. after it broke I had about 3' total of exhaust tubing from the turbo towards the rear of the van. It was not very loud at all and I never heard any complaint from the cops or anyone else. The only reason I fixed it was because I ´had put a very heavy tailpipe on the broken flex joint to hold it down so it would not exit exhaust toward the paint on the rear bulkhead and that thing looked like it was going to fall off soon.

[witoke]

Since you asked the question: I have an appointment at an exhaust shop next week to have a 2.75 inch exhaust made up. I was planning on a 'u' bend to the back, 90 degree to go in the same position as stock to exit on the passenger side. No muffler at first as a trial. If you get there first let me know how loud it is. I figure to add a glasspack if it's too much.

This is all part of my plan to cool the van down a bit. I have re-located battery to the rear seat and added an oil cooler at the front, with an in-line thermostat.  Saab intercooler is on the way. That will be going in the left pillar with a fan with the stock air filter most likely to be re-located to the left pillar.

This was a fresh 1.6td rebuild that would easily see 1600 degrees EGT, pre-turbo on a hill. Before I hooked the gauge up all I could see was that after a highway drive the temps would go crazy. Took me a while to figure out why it was overheating. My frantic posts were on this topic about 2 months ago. I have probably fried the engine in 5000 miles. I have the last oil load out to filter to see if there are lots of shiny bits in it. Compressions good, runs okay but makes a lot of rattly noise until it warms up, sounds like piston slap in an old 2-stroke.

[witoke]

Well it is now done: relocated the battery under the rear seat in a marine battery box, with #1 cable, added the oil cooler if front of the radiator with 3/8" hoses and a separate in-line oil thermostat (from Empi) and have had a 2.5 inch exhaust pipe with a simple, glass pack muffler installed.

I went with 2.5 simply because the shop would have had to order 2.75 and I felt 3 inches would be too big for the space since I may have to run an IC pipe down there as well. The van does seem to build boost and speed faster. It really does feel like there has been a restriction removed. Go figure.

EGT's are quite a bit lower at low throttle settings; they barely register at 700F just cruising around. With the stock pipe and muffler they would sit at 800-ish in town. I now have to work pretty hard to get them up to 1200/1250  whereas before the temps would spike almost instantaneously to 1250 under load. Mind you it is a cool day today and that does make some difference.

Noise? Maybe it's a little louder inside the van but the difference is barely discernible to me. I plan to add some soundproofing anyway since there is so much engine and road noise at highway speeds in my camper. It doesn't sound bad from right next too the outlet either, though you do get a little whistling sound from the turbo when you back off the throttle.  

The oil cooler was essential for engine survival, the bigger exhaust to try to get EGT's down. It works and is well worth it IMHO. In NM we actually do not have any vehicle sound level statutes so it doesn't matter how loud it is from the legal standpoint but even from a social standpoint it seems a very reasonable noise level.

Next is the Saab IC to be mounted in the drivers side vent well with a fan, exhausting out under the van. Thinking I am going to have to relocate the air filter to the passenger side but we'll see once I get it all lined up. Fun, fun, fun. Then I have to tear out the dash to replace the heater fan. Aaagh, I hate that fiddly job.

[Baxter]

I'm running a 2.5" straight through system on my T3.



The noisiest bit is the induction noise, it sounds lovely though.

The standard T3 TD exhaust has a disc welded into the perforated sleeve inside the silencer, this means that the gas hits the disc and has to go through the wadding in the box.
These systems I sell have a larger bore than stock and do not have the disc fitted so they flow much better.
the exhaust note is unobtrusive, the only issue with mine is the induction noise, but I am running a K&N Apollo plumbed into the factory induction stack and baffle in the rear pillar.

[Baxter]

[img=http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29533]Plenty more pictures[/img]

[allsierra123]

Looks very nice.