Not-too-noisy exhaust options

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Tim
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Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Tim »

Apologies for the cross posting, but not many here read the Australian forum, and vice versa. My 'economy' set of 3 into 1 extractors cracked through last night, for the second time, luckily I had joined the bottom section on with springs, so it didn't hit the road.

Now I want to replace it, and seeing as I'm going to be under there mucking around, I'm thinking about trying to sort out the whole exhaust system. I'm after something a bit quieter, without sapping too much power. My engine is a 1330 with a mild cam, standard head, and Minisport alloy inlet manifold. The current exhaust system is some kind of free-flow muffler on a bit of 1 3/4" pipe, with the above mentioned cheapo extractors. Its not insanely loud, but its very tiring on a long trip, and my kids usually wear ear muffs when they travel with me. I'm over the boy racer thing and would prefer something a bit quieter. Any suggestions? I've been thinking about a full maniflow system from the UK. Probably their LM001 3 into 1 extractors, with a 1 3/4" twin box exhaust, or maybe a twin box RC40. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tim
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Nigel(no top)Sykes
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

I can vouch for the maniflow setup, a bit steep on price but really nice . Just make sure if you do use it to order the fitting kit and tell them it's a later Australian model
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Dean
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Dean »

Nigel(no top)Sykes wrote:I can vouch for the maniflow setup, a bit steep on price but really nice . Just make sure if you do use it to order the fitting kit and tell them it's a later Australian model
Tim's isn't the later type though Nigel.
I don't know how you'll go with the Maniflow Tim, you''ll probably need to modify it to fit (but I guess you already knew that).
I have fitted their system to 2 Mokes now and I wasn't as impressed the second time round even though they were the same 998 engine with identical ancillaries. I used the single box on both and it does now sound too noisy for me on my current Moke (I was happy with the 1st one but I was younger then). I think that's to do with the lack of power I appear to have on the current Moke (you don't mind the noise if you get something to show for it).
Dean
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Tim
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Tim »

Maniflow now list some Moke stuff online, but they say to contact them with details of the year model to make sure you get the right combination of bits.

Tim
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Richard King
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Richard King »

Hi Tim
I have the Maniflow down pipe (which required adjustment as its fitted to a 1986 1275cc) with two box RC40.
It has a nice deep sound but its not too loud in fact at speed of 40 or so there is more wind noise than exhaust
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richard
Nigel(no top)Sykes
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

Dean and Tim,
Sorry, I forgot the apostrophe ! I meant to say the later, Australian model. As opposed to an English type :D BUT...... When I first got mine it came with the extra bend section ( the piece to avoid the remote housing) when I tried fitting the exhaust there was no way it would line up, the loop had to either hang down giving about 1/2" of ground clearance or the exhaust ran off at a weird angle.
When I emailed them about it they said they'd sent the wrong loop piece ! Once they had swapped my piece for one of the correct shape and it all went together perfectly. The only hiccup being that I'd not ordered their fitting kit and as the system is a centre exit type there was nothing to hold it at the back of the rear subframe ( an A+ clutch mounting sorted that though)
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Nigel(no top)Sykes »

And no. I don't think it's too noisy, what with the wind noise, other car noise and passenger noise the exhaust is the least of my worries
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spider
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by spider »

Well, not to ruffle any feather here, however, I have had the 'experience' of fitting over a dozen Maniflow Extractors (Exhaust Manifolds), the first few a while back back now where bent up OK and once in actually fitted and pointed in the right direction, however since then, I've had many sets that just simply weren't right and took some considerable time and effort to sort. Apart from those issues, they are god awful things to try to fit and even worse if they ever have to be removed. Much of this is because they are basically one piece from the manifold face on the head to under the floor, you need to remove the engine steadies and let off the RH Engine mount. From a performance side of things, they are good, yes, but no better than many of the locally (Aust) made sets, which I have to say, I've had no trouble fitting and have a slip joint behind the engine just to make life easy in that dept.

So for me, Maniflows, never again, god awful things. I wouldn't even give a set to the mother-in-law for Christmas.

Ian (shorty68) has Maniflows and that is why he couldn't get a stock air filter on his engine, he had to resort to some silly things to achieve that. In the end, he did get his stock air filter to fit, but only after ditching the Maniflows!

If you are after LCB's, I'd suggest these;-

http://www.mgspareparts.com.au/index.ph ... nch-detail

You'll find you'll have plenty of clearance to the Inlet Manifold too, so less heat transfer there.

As you know, I run a decent blue printed but otherwise stock 1275 as does my wife, these are what are fitted to both of these Mokes;-

http://www.mgspareparts.com.au/index.ph ... 098-detail

(as a side note, I can actually buy the Maniflows cheaper than I can these, but no Maniflows here!)

Mainly to improve the bottom end performance (they will drive in top gear from 15 kph), not that they are any slouch at the other end, my own will nudge 140 (due to the Cyclopac Air Filter) and the wife's will pull the pre-metric ton.

The RC40's are good muffler and for a sports note type muffler are reasonably quiet, I have these on nearly all the Minis, but for me, I feel they are just a little too loud for a Moke, probably be OK for a few days, but not for the weeks on end that I tend to do. I don't actually know what brand / type of muffler I have, it looks like a Hot Dog (of yesteryear) but is infact a true muffler and seems to flow rather well (I did look over the flow figures for it and wasn't too bad). I can hardly hear the exhaust at all.

If you do run with the RC40, you'll probably need to bring it out the side as I thing they are just too long to sensibly fit 'straight' in a rear subframe (hope that makes sence).

One other tip, regardless of what brand of Extractor you end up running with, DON'T use those stupid brackets that they all give you with them that fasten to the side of the gearbox, all they do is ruin an otherwise good gearbox case.
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Tim
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Tim »

Thanks very much everyone for the advice.

Richard I like the sound of that sound.

Nigel, Maniflow's website now stresses that you need to contact them to get the right bits, it was probably after people like you complained that they didn't know what they were on about.

Spider, thanks for that considered response. Interestingly the MG spare parts 3 into 1 looks exactly like my current one. I wondered what I had. The only difference is that mine wasn't originally black, it was plated in something shiny (like zinc) which burnt off leaving white ash, as soon as I drove it out of the workshop. The thing that attracts me to the maniflow is that its a complete system, designed to fit (assuming of course that it does actually fit). My current exhaust was put together by some monkey at the local exhaust place, using bits of the supplied 3 into one and a few dodgy sections of pipe, welded together. Its not exactly a quality job.

Following your comments I re-read Shorty68's story. As far as I can tell he was using a Minisport heated inlet manifold with the maniflow, and it was OK until he tried to fit an original filter. This suggests that they Minisport manifold and the maniflow fit together OK. I don't have any problem fitting an original filter with my Minisport manifold, so I think that side of things should be OK.

I understand what you're saying about the Maniflow being difficult to fit, the sliding coupling does make it much easier, but I've always found that they end up leaking. Without any way to clamp and seal the separate bits together the exhaust eventually finds its way out, then starts widening the gap. Don't worry, I never bolt them to the dif or gearbox. These days I tend to hang the from the subframe using something flexible. Coild springs seem to work OK, or a couple of clutch driving straps.

Anyway, I still haven't made a decision. I welded the existing one back together again last night, so I'll put it back on for now, but it won't last long. I was thinking about putting a flexible joint in, clutch judder is the enemy of exhausts.

Tim
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spider
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by spider »

MG haven't been stocking those for all that long, a couple of years and by the sounds of things, yours is a bit older than that! I'd guess yours are quite likely Perrys, which went the way of the dodo about 10 years back. They were quite a good set up, but like anything, don't last for ever.

Fair enough on wanting a complete gasket to tailpipe kit, as long as it fits! Hopefully it will for you, right out of the box.

I hear what you say regarding the slip joints, but I've only found that an issue if the engine mounts and steadies are crook. You can get a clamp in there if you want to, no issue, but I've never found the need. No different to a stock exhaust set up, only these don't break the flange off the pipe! Be mindful that the Maniflows will leak at the joint too, just as easy and for the same reasons.

Yes, Ian's set up fitted OK (Maniflows and the Mini Spares Manifold), but there was no way on god's earth he could get a stock Inlet Manifold in there, which was what he wanted so he could fit a stock Inlet Manifold. The Mini Spares one (and supsequent adaptors to get the 1-1/4" carb on) made the whole affair sit too high.
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Dean
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Re: Not-too-noisy exhaust options

Post by Dean »

Something I will say about my current Maniflow, it was fairly easy to fit but there are a couple of things to note.

As some of you may remember, Maniflow took my Moke (1980 998cc Cali) in to their workshop and custom made a single box system as there was no off the shelf option available at that time (2002?). As there were plenty of people asking what systems they could fit at the time, I suggested to Maniflow that they should keep a pattern of my system so others could then buy a suitable Moke system off the shelf and have it posted to them for DIY installs. A great idea I thought at the time. The system they fitted was great and I couldn't of been happier with it. It transformed the performance of my 998 Californian. People used to think it was a 1275 as it easily beat other 998's and kept up with the geunuine 1275's (it also had a 1275 badge on the grille. That fooled them!). It could suddenly climb long hills with ease and overtaking on motorways was suddenly an easy option.
When I moved over here and acquired my first Oz Moke, I already knew what exhaust/inlet option I was fitting and had soon ordered an identical system to what they had fitted to my UK Moke. The difference was that they had fitted the first kit, I was fitting the second one and I then noticed some problems.

Firstly, although the Moke I have here is the same year as my UK based one, there was a subtle difference. Under the floor, on my UK Moke, there were two brackets about 2 inches in length that hang down to secure the remote gearchange. The custom Maniflow pipe was designed to sweep round these brackets and the remote box and it did this with little room to spare. As soon as I put my head under my Oz based Moke, I noticed that the brackets were different and had grown to more than 10 inches in length. They also have extra captive nuts fitted and I suspect were something to do with the ill-fated, future 4WD plans. It then dawned on me that my custom pipe would not fit round this longer bracket.
I eventually opted to cut these brackets down to the smaller size (which also involved a trip to the local A+E :roll: ). So problem 1 was overcome.

Problem 2: This was one that I was expecting as they mentioned it after they fitted the first system for me. To make it all fit lengthways, you have to cut a small piece of pipe off the end of the exhaust manifold. It's only about an inch (I still have the piece so can supply the actual size if anyone needs it) and is easy to cut being soft steel. Each car may be slightly different so start cutting a small piece first. It is a bit of a pain lining the rear box up in the subframe but I did eventually get it fitted.

Problem 3: When I had stopped bleeding and started fitting the other parts, I discovered that I couldn't get my K&N conical air filter to clear the bulkhead using the Maniflow inlet. I found this odd as this was an identical part to what was on my UK Moke. After emailing Maniflow a few times, they told me that they machine each manifold to suit each application. I found this hard to believe to be honest with you especially when everyone else sells a stock alloy unit. I had an old Mini Spares inlet and that fitted perfectly with the conical filter (and the standard filter). As Maniflow couldn't help me unless I supplied them with various measurements, I went with the Mini Spares manifold and the Maniflow one is now deep in the parts bin somewhere.

So, after all that, it was a lot better that the stock peashooter but it just doesn't seem to have the same grunt as my first experience (sound familiar? :lol: ). Maybe it is just a question of a proper tune-up.
Dean
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