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GT1986

Sound generator, worth removing?

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Hi all. Seen a few threads but none really answered with the sort of direct answer I was hoping to read. Is it pretty common practice to remove the sound generator after a new exhaust / manifold? Wondering how many do this and after thoughts from those that have.  I'm pretty sure I can no longer hear mine over the other sounds of the car now following the work but if it helps with quieting road noise and vibration down etc that will be a big plus. Tried the old cigarette plug trick but can't say made any difference so wondering if full removal actually makes any difference at all to cabin noise? Thanks. Gary 

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Hello,

I've not removed mine but have been in one that has had it removed and I could certainly tell the difference. I plugged mine up for now, need to get round to buying the hose that deletes it before I remove it though.

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I got rid of mine when installing a new intake. The intake makes some noise too, so blanking the plug didn't make a lot of difference. I'm not sure how different it is on a stock intake. 

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Gains deleting soundtube: quieter cabin, including less road noise passed inside; some dislike "artificialness" of noise it produces; very slight weight gain and cleaner underbonnet space; no (bad) impact on performance (unlike deletion of resonators on intake too).

Cons: i prefer to have that extra noise. When tried to plug it off for test sake, even if it was just subjective feel, but car (with stock exhaust) felt more dull and lifeless, slower (even if just by placebo, as performance by dyno tests is same), so i ended up even going opposite way, installed trd soundtube changer (it costs cheap. In case if i want revert car 100% back to stock, decided to get trd's instead of gutting insides of stock angled plastic piece connecting soundtube to cabin) that made soundtube effect even louder; while some may dislike that soundtube "artificial" intake noise, with stock exhaust it's better then nothing, and much much cheaper then aftermarket exhaust; also unlike aftermarket exhaust, car still stays quiet from outside, it's inside cabin noise that is louder, good for keeping good relationships with neighbors yet hear that extra oumph when flooring :).

I'd say - worth deleting/plugging off if one has aftermarket catback of better tone and louder, but with 100% stock exhaust imho better leave it.

Which is best to you yourself can be easily found out. Just reuse cig-lighter plug cap from glovebox for plugging it off and decide for yourself after some driving, if you want it on or not. No money spent, easy/simply/quickly done, easy to revert. Also can be done temporary, eg. for less tiredness in long trips on autobahns for hours, even while keeping not plugged for generic daily driving. If one prefers by subjective feel during test how car/engine sounds with it plugged off in test drive, then one can go step further and remove soundtube alltogether (as mentioned above, for very slight weight gain and more & cleaner space under bonnet).

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Thanks all, and thanks church for the brill detail. It will be coming out after reading these. End cap ordered. I'm pretty confident removal can only be a positive to me now due to the other work done. 

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On 28/09/2018 at 1:38 AM, GT1986 said:

Thanks all, and thanks church for the brill detail. It will be coming out after reading these. End cap ordered. I'm pretty confident removal can only be a positive to me now due to the other work done. 

cap came off a windscreen additive bottle.

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On 27/09/2018 at 10:40 PM, br0wny said:

Blanking it off was the best thing I've done to the car yet! Will eventually get an intake hose 

Im with you dumb addition 

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Quite an old thread, but informative. I didn't know about this bizarre contraption. It might be worthwhile to experiment with a set of caps with little holes of different sizes. Maybe the sound can be improved? 🤔

By the way, this is a great provision for nitrous oxide injection! 😁😂

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As alternative for same purpose in bmw-s there is played back engine noise on car's stereo. Also fake sound and probably a bit overcomplified setup (as played back noise needs to be generated according to detected throttle position), but it's pro that it doesn't increase also road noise passed in. As for modding, i already mentioned set of three interchangeable plastic angled tubes "TRD sound changer", from IIRC one passing most sound, one .. don't recall, more or less then stock, and one compeltely closed off. A bit too expensive for few plastic peaces though. And only loudness is changed, to not that big extent at that. To really change also tone or something like that, most probably it's way more difficult task (for example to change shape/size/volume of resonator or alike). Or one can get what closed off from trd sound changer does with plugging soundtube in cabin off, one with most extra noise from set - with removing with pliers foam insert from inside of stock angled tube for more noise passed.

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I could quite easily have a few plugs machined to perform some testing. That'll be in spring I guess, as right now it's too wet and cold outside. 😬

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As i've mentioned above, just to test how noise changes without it - plug with "free cap" from glovebox lighter port. I guess, 2 min box if one does first time and has to search a bit where exactly under carpet port in cabin is. No need to machine or buy something. Nothing will be different noise wise from that vs complete sound tube delete. Just more space/tidier under bonnet space and whatever little weight reduction removing few light plastic pieces may bring.

BTW, in some builds i've also seen that soundtube port in firewall reused to pass some custom wiring through. For example for custom ecu for engine swaps or other electrical hardware.

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Machining a few caps, from material that's available anyway, takes little time. I like to experiment, you know. ☺️

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It's been quite a while, but I finally capped the generator tube. The car now sounds lifeless. I tried it for 80 miles. I'm gonna remove the cap and maybe try one with a small hole in it, as written before.

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It's strange really because I absolutely love the sound. It's not fake, like some cars, and with a performance panel filter, the sound is great between 5-7k rpm. 

 

 

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I quite liked the sound gen too. From the factory you get the audio experience that you need and deserve from a sports car while still being very environment friendly ( noise pollution ) and why would you want to announce your presence to the world when you can go under the radar.

Otherwise you need supporting mods like a loud exhaust to hear it and there are costs and consequences to that.


Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

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I liked the sound generator on a stock car. It gave a nice bit of feedback, especially when blipping the throttle. 

But I found that when my manifold was changed, it seemed to be less effective, so I ended up removing it all. I have kept it all in the garage so it can be refitted at any time. 

 

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