# Stock muffler internals + projectness



## Village_Idiot (Oct 16, 2004)

*Okay, I'm sorry as most of my posts are this is long-winded and overly complicated -- SKIP WHAT YOU WANT, ENJOY WHAT YOU CAN!* Anyone who wants to see photos of the muffler opened up just scroll down and then check back tomorrow night for the completed project photos and the next day for a video. Photos explain better than words but since I ran out of cut-off wheels I'm typing instead of finishing this tonight like I planned to... : (
So as most of you probably have read in our 5,000 exhaust posts I welded up my own 3" exhaust awhile ago and I love it. A lot of people have commented that with a stock k04 that a 2.5" exhaust would be more efficient and reclaim lost low end torque due to such a large pipe. It's always been my understanding from what I have read and the professionals I have spoken to that the turbo-charger is the ONLY necessary source of back pressure on a turbo motor, however, I want to test the concept that 2.5" will regain more low-end torque...
I cannot do this with a dyno, I have never dynoed my car and doubt that I will until I do a custom big turbo kit. I know what the outcome will be and it won't be impressive at all to me or anybody else : ( I'm planning to do this with the "butt dyno" vag-com torque read out excel spreadsheet formulas and graphs. I've run this before on my car and have received pretty accurate results compared to what other TT's dyno at. I'll do a few other logs as well. I'm going to do my best to keep the conditions such as outside temperature, boost machine tuning, and ECU adaptation relatively even. I know this isn't going to be a 100% acurate scientific experiment but it's the best that I can do while not going overboard and spending money on things that aren't needed to show such a dumb specification - I pretty much just really want to see what my car feels like (and sounds) with a free-flowing 3" DP to 2.5" straight pipe and compare it to my current indulgence of 3" V8 sounding ghetto rigged monster machine : )
I've wanted to make another custom exhaust for awhile since I ordered a new ARC style welder that can give me cleaner and better penetrating welds. I also want to do a custom tip location in a similar style to an aftermarket VR Rado exhaust with a custom European rear bumper - all in 3" w/ a 4" slash cut tip of course... big smiles : ) : ) : ) -- welding is fun
So now I'm finally setting up the 2.5" project I've been talking about. Back in the day I had a 2.5" pipe welded in place of the stock resonator and the crushed triangle section on an otherwise stock exhaust. I had this done when I had a stock downpipe a few months later friends chipped in and bought me the 42DD 3" w/ test pipe and I welded up my own 3" cat-back shortly there after... I made about 4 different models, spent way more than I would have on a Blueflame. I had my first custom cat-back FALL OFF about 1/2 mile from my house actually. God what a learning experience : )
*Getting back to the project:*
*Performance constants:*
Giac 93
42DD 3" DP w/ test-pipe
Samco TIP
Forge 007P DV w/ yellow spring
Custom FMIC
Denso IK22 (Gapped .028) with less than 3k on em' - MAF & coils are also new within the last year
Modshack MOFO + 4bar + Boost Machine
K&N Filter w/ homemade insulated heat shield
Intake manifold phonetic spacer by new south performance
*Performance variables:*
>>>>>3" Exhaust: Retains 3" all the way through w/ 3" mandrel bends | 4" resonated tip | Magnaflow Turbo XL chambered muffler #13259 | 3-bolt 3" flange bolted straight to 42DD 3" DP 3-bolt flange | MIG welded (unexperienced at the time, I guess in the realm of things I'm still unexperienced now... just a lot more projects under my belt)
>>>>>3-bolt 3" flange to 2.5" 42DD conversion piece | stock 2.5" muffler clamp | 2.5" straight piping w/ two VERY small crush bends in it | Stock muffler body hollowed out | Stock mounts and tips
For people who want a cat-back exhaust and don't want to spend butt-loads of money this 2.5" setup is VERY easy to do in any garage. If you have a basic junk welder & some type of cutting tool you can make this and gain the sound and performance for just some time and patience. If you don't have the tools a muffler shop would be able to do this for about $100-$150 total. I had the silver pipe you see and my cat's deleted for $130... Cutting the muffler open and stripping it out from the bottom the welding it back together shouldn't cost much more over that... If you live in NY I'd be happy to help or refer you to a local shop...
*Muffler Photos:*
A photo with the 2.5" piping that the muffler shop welded up 3 years ago for $130...
So I cut a square out on the top of the muffler casing, found out there are two layers of metal, not one...

















Next layer of metal off with a few more cuts revealed the fiberglass wrapped internals...









Some of the soft fibergass removed & the piping is revealed (I will measure tomorrow with a photo for official sizing but it's gotta be 2" and thats it sadly, it's OEM what did you expect! Well with the softer fiberglass off there is a tuffer black fiberglass weave over two of the pipes that are perforated tubing - left side piping center - right side piping top









Side view:









Another view:









Another:









Some of the black thicker/tuffer fiberglass removed to expose the preforated tubes:









The tools:
















The piece of plastic that got stuck in my inside fresh air fan behind the glovebox and has been making noise for weeks! This is the handle of a 7-11 black plastic bag that was sitting on the passenger floor. When the air is put on recirculating mode it pulls air from down there...








Tomorrow I will be picking up a sawsall from home depot to make gutting this muffler simpler. My plan is to make this a hollow box with no piping, walls or insulation in it at all. I will then weld on the two top pieces and bolt this onto my car for fun and logs. Also until I get all the stainless piping & new exhaust tip and welder to build my new 3" cat-back. If this setup doesn't decrease performance I will be rockin' it until Spring when I can be warm and weld instead of freezing! If somebody wants this 2.5" setup that is local to me I'm sure we could arrange something. --- Not to give myself too much credit, IDK if anyone would want a used/modded by a retard stock setup.
I plan to have this completed and on my car tomorrow night, as always I will have many photos and a lot to say! Skip what you don't want to read/see and enjoy the rest http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif Tomorrow I get to drive the VR rado' and pick KickiGTI (Greg, my best friend) up from the airport. The car sounds like a F1 Ferrari with the 2.5" setup we welded up and I can't wait to tear it all around town! Here's a photo of the exhaust tip I was talking about, I plan on doing something similar to how this is exposed except on the opposite side since that will flow better with my setup... I then plan to either smooth the bumper out or create some kind of actual rear diffuser... It's just gotta be stylish in a way and make me smile! - I kinda dig how it sticks out of the bumper a bit and you can see it on an angle, I plan to do it below the passenger tail-light facing more to the side than the back, on a diagonal really.... This is a bad angle of the exhaust tip but Rado guys know what I'm talking about







.








Car photos cause I'm happy right now...
Custom Doug's Garage GT2876R RSX Type S - Dyno'd 340whp/262wtq @ 12psi - God this rear wing horrible. He has bought a CF hatch and plans to do a CF roof too. I was never a fan of the hood till he told me that part...

















Susage's S5 in my driveway. What a gift. KW V2's | custom cat-back | HRE staggered wheels...

























My old black tail-lights before they got ruined : (









My old beetle, long gone....









Local 328IS:









Okay I'm done, I guess. For now. I love photos


_Modified by Village_Idiot at 9:48 PM 1-4-2009_


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## l88m22vette (Mar 2, 2006)

*Re: Stock muffler internals + projectness (Village_Idiot)*

That S5







*drool* I also like the RSX http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## Krissrock (Sep 10, 2005)

*Re: Stock muffler internals + projectness (l88m22vette)*

nice S5 http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif, and RSX...Kudo's to your friends. 
and nice job on that exhaust dismantle. It's a shame they bottle it up so much...Probably would sound quite nice w/o all that in there. Get some sounds clips if you can


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## Village_Idiot (Oct 16, 2004)

*FV-QR*

mattyboom - S5 man... He's had it at a few shows too including 2003's WF & H20!
Going to have plenty of movies/graphs/sound clips of both exhausts for comparison. I'm a media whore....
Speaking of:
My doggie:








moire 22 come


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## stjacket (Apr 26, 2007)

*Re: FV-QR (Village_Idiot)*

















aprs is very close to this btw.


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## stevemannn (Apr 17, 2008)

*Re: FV-QR (stjacket)*

there was a guy at my old job that used to come through with his r32\
he had the baffels taken out and runs it like that.
sounds really fu(kin good id go for it i think youll like it


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## fijitt (Mar 1, 2007)

*Re: FV-QR (stjacket)*


_Quote, originally posted by *stjacket* »_
















aprs is very close to this btw.

how hard would it be to stick a drill bit or something down the tail pipes and open up the 90 degree turns inside the muffler... so with out opening it like you have?


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## sergio396 (Apr 4, 2008)

wooowww nice car, the audi s5!!


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## Village_Idiot (Oct 16, 2004)

*Re: FV-QR (fijitt)*


_Quote, originally posted by *fijitt* »_
how hard would it be to stick a drill bit or something down the tail pipes and open up the 90 degree turns inside the muffler... so with out opening it like you have?

It's pretty deep, I don't think possible at all. What you could do is cut two small holes in the perfect place and just chop those 90 degree turns with a sawsall... It's kind of a pain to work in there though. I guess you could get one of those 1" 2 foot long cement drill bit's from home depot and try out your theory though. Just look at the photos though and see if you think you can get a drill bit down that far... The exhaust pipes might be 2.5" pipes but the connection to the muffler is only 2"
*Update: * STILL haven't driven my car







- 
*Monday night:* after i got my friend from the airport, got the whole muffler stripped out. I bought a sawsall and used 6" metal blades and my bosch electric cut-off wheel - I think that uses 2.5" blades. Well anyway got that all stripped out, cut the pipes down to the metal. I took photos - I'll post them later. The primary is 2.5" while the two secondaries are 2" each. Combined that's 4" of volume so whatever... If I put a 3" lead up to this stock muffler I could have a VERY LOUD and very stock looking 3" cat-back! Well anyhoo I ran out of welding wire on my MIG Monday @ 1:30am so I hit the sack and finished the sixth season of the soprano's out of sheer boredom and it was free. What a horrible TV show and what a bad last few episodes...
* Tuesday night: *I tried to go to Midas to get this thing welded up well and just get it done for $20 bucks. My gas-less MIG really wasn't cutting it, it was melting right through the metal at the lowest setting. I didn't think that would happen... So yea Midas blew me off, I ended up going to home depot and eventually sears and bought more MIG flux cored wire and a new Clarke ARC stick welder and a lot of welding sticks since they were cheap. I got a floor model with 20% off. Good deal whatever. So I spent 2 hours learning how to stick weld for the first time ever and it wasn't all that complicated. Honestly I was guessing at first and learned that way but now I found a lot of you tube and online tutorials so I was on the right track but now I'm definitely in the fast lane... I'd say the square cut-out is 25% re-connected. I have to cut the sections I MIG'd and stick weld them since it's giving me a much more solid connection with less mess. The photos will show what I'm talking about...
*Tonight: *I'm planning on finishing but I was planning on finishing Monday too so we will see what happens...


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## Z3r0 (Sep 24, 2006)

just wondering if there was a reason you cut where you did and not along the seem where I think it may have been easier to weld up when the project was completed


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## fijitt (Mar 1, 2007)

i dont think he planned on ever using it again... more of a dissection than anything. 
a much appreciated dissection at that.


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## DnA-TT (Oct 21, 2003)

*Re: FV-QR (stjacket)*


_Quote, originally posted by *stjacket* »_








aprs is very close to this btw.

How do you know? Pics...


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## Village_Idiot (Oct 16, 2004)

*FV-QR*

Yea I didn't cut the seam because I didn't feel like doing that much work. Thinking about it now I should have it would have made it much easier to weld back up. That was a 3 day welding project!
So it's welded up and on my car again... It's loud but not boomy like a 3" straight pipe. I took videos last night and I will get more tonight, My car is still adapating to it so don't expect any data results yet... I'll have photos soon. I guarantee it's the loudest stock muffler car you will ever hear!


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## Village_Idiot (Oct 16, 2004)

*Re: FV-QR (Village_Idiot)*

dyno results= http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4207540


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## exboy99 (May 14, 2002)

*Re: FV-QR (Village_Idiot)*

what a great post.
make note. you cannot have too many photos!
I'm sort of local to you.
I'm on LI also, in Stony Brook. HOLLA!


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## Vdub 2.0 (Jan 8, 2008)

*Re: Stock muffler internals + projectness (Village_Idiot)*

any way you could show me your custom fmic set up? and how much it cost you


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## Vdub 2.0 (Jan 8, 2008)

*Re: Stock muffler internals + projectness (Village_Idiot)*

oo yeah and do you have your video of this


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## Vdub 2.0 (Jan 8, 2008)

*Re: FV-QR (fijitt)*

anyone have a sound clip of this


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## Polski Ogier (Dec 18, 2007)

*Re: Stock muffler internals + projectness (Village_Idiot)*

So did you just take out the fiberglass and throw this exhaust back on the car essentially?


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