long-gone 152 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 9 minutes ago, Willtl said: Lauren - why are you getting through so many exhausts? Is it down to your particular usage or that Milltek exhausts only have a limited life? I had my Alfa 156 from new for 13 years and 80,000 miles, all on the original exhaust! Heh. I suspect all on different cars. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ade 517 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 6 minutes ago, LordGrover said: Heh. I suspect all on different cars. Weld failures more likely! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 20 minutes ago, Ade said: If you can wait a few months, I'm getting a custom cat back made. 70mm piping and 3 massive silencers with halmholtz resonators. It should be very very quiet on an N/A car. Will post something when its completed. I'm not planning on pouring more money into this, the current chain of events have left me feeling a bit bitter so it is going to come down to sorting out what I've got at minimum expense or sticking with stock and hope that one day I can sell the Milltek. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ade 517 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 What I would do @Willtl is try the resonated pipe. If that still too loud then get an exhaust fab to weld i na bigger silencer. Might cost £150 to do that though. Also have you tried blocking the sound generator? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike 458 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 Non-res shouldn't drone as Lauren says, I ran it for 6 months or so and many long journeys on the motorway, unless you're accelerating you don't hear it. Even with the TD manifold, unless I'm doing high revs I don't hear it at a constant throttle.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rich 378 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 I switched from non-res to res due to drone and overall noice levels. I do have a decat manifold though, without I think it would be a lot more acceptable. I didn't get drone when cruising, but if the engine was loaded at fairly low revs (2-3k) it would drone a bit. Very noticeable leaving the M56 at J7, the road goes up a hill which is 50 limited and in 6th would be really annoying. Overall noise is lower with the resonated pipe, but it still sounds like a Milltek. There's not really any rasp at high revs now. A new resonated centre pipe will set you back around £200. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdstrike 186 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 Strictly speaking the resonator's job is to dampen specific wavelengths of exhaust sound. In other words it is intended to reduce particular frequencies (while also dropping the total amplitude a bit). It's possible for an unresonated exhaust to not drone if the lengths and exhaust temperature are right, but resonators are often there to prevent drone. Exhausts do coke up after a month or two of use, which changes the sound, but doesn't necessarily quieten them. A better muffler would reduce total volume (but perhaps not eliminate the drone), while a well chosen resonated pipe would hopefully remove the specific noise that irritates, while leaving some vulgar noise for fun. That would be my choice in this case anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 1 hour ago, Ade said: Also have you tried blocking the sound generator? No, not tried that. I do quite like it though as I can pretend I have some mega sports car. Maybe I'll look into that if the resonated pipe still doesn't give me what I want. Thanks all for your views, think I'll get the Milltek put back on with a new resonated pipe and keep my fingers crossed that I'm not throwing away another £300. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bfranklyn86 52 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 4 hours ago, Ade said: If you can wait a few months, I'm getting a custom cat back made. 70mm piping and 3 massive silencers with halmholtz resonators. It should be very very quiet on an N/A car. Will post something when its completed. Which company are you getting to do this for you, Ade? I would be quite interested in this kind of thing to compliment the decat manifolds I'm looking at. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ade 517 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 19 minutes ago, Bfranklyn86 said: Which company are you getting to do this for you, Ade? I would be quite interested in this kind of thing to compliment the decat manifolds I'm looking at. Hayward and Scott - car goes in mid November. If you like I can talk to Ian about doing both cars? might be discounted. PM me if interested. Cheers 1 Willtl reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bfranklyn86 52 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 PM'd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lauren 2259 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 9 hours ago, Willtl said: Lauren - why are you getting through so many exhausts? Is it down to your particular usage or that Milltek exhausts only have a limited life? I had my Alfa 156 from new for 13 years and 80,000 miles, all on the original exhaust! The first three cracked on the weld to the backbox. Replaced under warranty. The HFC will not help, so that is a factor. I've still got my primary cat so it's perfectly acceptable in that respect. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
STEVO9000 54 Report post Posted October 7, 2016 I'm on my 3rd Milltek, and I've got a HFC in place so it definitely doesn't make a difference. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foulsmell 120 Report post Posted October 15, 2016 23 minutes ago, Foulsmell said: I've got the resonated version. No real drone on the motorway and it's neighbour friendly etc. I've got a higher final drive too and still good for the MW. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Does it still have a nice sound on start up and idle? Yeah nice deep sound. Plenty of clips on YouTube. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted November 25, 2016 Got my car booked in to have the Milltek refitted on Wednesday but this time with the resonated centre pipe. Be keeping everything crossed that I'll be getting headache free motoring. If anyone is interested, I got the following stats from Milltek regarding volume levels: Stock Exhaust = 83.5 decibels Milltek resonated system = 87.2 decibels Milltek non-resonated = 90.5 What would be a perfect result would be the nicer Milltek sound on idle and under acceleration but no difference from the stock exhaust when cruising. I can dream.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foulsmell 120 Report post Posted November 25, 2016 Got my car booked in to have the Milltek refitted on Wednesday but this time with the resonated centre pipe. Be keeping everything crossed that I'll be getting headache free motoring. If anyone is interested, I got the following stats from Milltek regarding volume levels: Stock Exhaust = 83.5 decibels Milltek resonated system = 87.2 decibels Milltek non-resonated = 90.5 What would be a perfect result would be the nicer Milltek sound on idle and under acceleration but no difference from the stock exhaust when cruising. I can dream.... I think you should be fine. I got some sound deadening foam from eBay and lined the boot and under the rear seats. Was to reduce the road noise but it's an option for you to tone it down further if you sill find it irritating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 On 25 November 2016 at 8:53 PM, Foulsmell said: I think you should be fine. I got some sound deadening foam from eBay and lined the boot and under the rear seats. Was to reduce the road noise but it's an option for you to tone it down further if you sill find it irritating. Picked up the car earlier, drove a short distance home (about 1.5 miles) and my head doesn't feel quite right. I'm going on a 25 mile round trip later and will see how that feels, but things are not looking good at the moment. Was sorting out the sound deadening foam a difficult job? (my DIY skills are very poor, think Homer Simpson). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foulsmell 120 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Yeah was very easy. Just pull back the grey carpet wherever you want and spray glue the foam to the exposed metal body. I think a trip to the doctors might be of more use! Surely it isn't that loud or droney. ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 5 minutes ago, Foulsmell said: I think a trip to the doctors might be of more use! Surely it isn't that loud or droney. ? I agree, very odd. I have a diesel Dodge Journey which is pretty noisy but I have no problems with that at all. My wife has helpfully suggested it might be psychological, but I have a similar problem when flying and also when I had a TVR last year (although that was significantly louder). Did you find that the foam has made much difference? Not sure what I'm going to do yet, will ride this out for a while doing nothing further, but like to plan ahead! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bfranklyn86 52 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Headaches when flying are often caused by blocked/infected sinuses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foulsmell 120 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Are the tips out past the body enough? It did make a difference. More foam = less noise. The noise from the tyres drowns out the exhaust note whilst cruising I find. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Headaches when flying are often caused by blocked/infected sinuses. I've had this for about 20 years if this is the case. Wouldn't a blocked sinus clear itself in that time? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willtl 54 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Are the tips out past the body enough? It did make a difference. More foam = less noise. The noise from the tyres drowns out the exhaust note whilst cruising I find. The tips stick out by about 1-2 cm by the look of it. Is that the norm? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul 442 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Sounds normal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Foulsmell 120 Report post Posted November 30, 2016 Yep. Normal. No chance for the sound to reverb on the body work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
