Exhaust sacrilege

[WilBriK]

O.K. I'm going to risk offending some people with this suggestion, but here goes: I want a QUIET Viper.

Here's the problem. I want to do a Gen I sidepipe conversion to a Gen II, but I don't want the noise. What is the best way to have a quiet Gen II w/ sidepipes, while minimizing the inevitable performance hit?

To make it even more difficult, I plan to supercharge it.


Thanks!

 

[Bad_Byte]

Not sure but maybe you could buy a gen III and subtract II.

 

[schorvitz]

I went to a side exhaust conversion (ala myself) on my '96 GTS and am in a second stage of modifying it (ala MacedoMS).

The first conversion was:
1) Edelbrock Headers
2) Stock cats but opened up to 3" in 3" out
3) bullet mufflers

I started up the car in my garage and the f'n thing sounded like two Harley Davidsons riding next to each other! The major benefit is that I now have two massage chairs in the car at no added cost

After a while, the heat from the cats bubbled up my side sill paint and the exhaust tip melted the openings on the Autoform sills.


The new conversion:
1) Belanger Headers
2) Random Tech Cats
3) Massive head, cam, manifold mods
4) Jet-Hot coating on all exhaust parts (except cats)
5) Autoform metal rings (to protect side sill)

Haven't heard this yet 'cause the car is still at MacedoMS, but I'm sure it's gonna sound SCHWEEET.

I went side exhaust specifically because I knew I'd never super/turbo charge this car. If you do, you'll be deaf in a week. As a member of a garage band, I have a set of musician ear plugs and I wear them in the car for long drives.

If you want quiet then I suggest doing a SERIOUS engine modification. Swap out the V10 for a Honda or Toyota hybrid engine. You'll get better gas mileage and the car will be very quiet. Not sure how the super/turbo charging would work, though

 

[onerareviper]

I would give Corsa a call. They may be able to offer some advice, since they utilize sound cancellation technology. Possibly just sell you the mufflers, etc... They are straight though, so you will not lose performance. You will gain, if anything.... Now when you stomp on it, the car will still be loud. But cruising it will be more quiet than any other high-performance muffler. Other than that, I would call Summit or Jegs. They may offer some type of muffler than really quiets down exhaust tones. But you will sacrifice performance, more than likely.

 

[GTSnake]

To make it even more difficult, I plan to supercharge it.

You do realize that by making an exhaust quieter you add restriction, then by supercharging it you force more air into the engine. It's like stuffing 10lbs of sh/t into a 5lb bag. Your engine will be perpetually constipated.

 

[WilBriK]

"You do realize that by making an exhaust quieter you add restriction, then by supercharging it you force more air into the engine."

Yes, I know. I was also thinking about adding the side pipes but keeping the rear exhaust, as well. That should allow the engine to exhale with ease, and keep the side pipes relatively quiet.

I get the feeling that to pull this off it will be a highly customized exhaust job. Any headers out there that condense the exhaust from 3/2:1 instead of 5:1?

Could run the 2:1 out the side and the 3:1 out the rear.

 

[GTSnake]

That's actually a great idea. By having multiple exits you lower the backpressure and sound but keep the side pipe look. But are you going to have exhaust exits at the side AND the rear? That might look a little hokey.

My Belangers have a 3-2-1 set up.

 

[Mike 99ACR]

You will lose some HP but they make a bullit spiral (internally) muffler that is designed to minimize the sound. I had them on my car but removed them and re dynoed at 15 more hp. They did make the car quieter though.

 

[WilBriK]

"...are you going to have exhaust exits at the side AND the rear? That might look a little hokey."

Thought about that, too. If the exhaust in the rear is kept low-key, you would probably only be able to see one exhaust exit at a time, depending on the angle of the car. If not, I could just truncate the rear exhaust so it wasn't visible at all. In my head, I don't think it would look bad, but oftentimes what looks good in my head doesn't translate correctly into the rear world

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

I say you sell the Viper and buy a Vette, or a new Stang, or a Lincon, maybe even a nice new Cadilac. Yeah, that's the ticket! Performance, comfort, and a nice quiet ride!

AC

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Correction: Lincoln.

 

[GTSnake]

I think if you end the rear tips within the cavity of the stock rear muffler. Make downward pointing tips you can keep it out of view.

 

[treynor]

Actually, I'm with the original poster. My wife's SRT is nice and quiet (for a Viper anyway) and it still makes plenty of power. Sure, an open exhaust would make a bit more, but it's not worth the compromise to usability.

For the original question, have you considered getting a set of sidepipes / mufflers from a Gen-I and using them? I assume one could simply bolt them on downstream of the cats, and they did a good job muffling the exhaust volume, although the sound quality was less than inspired.

Alternatively, you could do a completely custom exhaust system patterned after the SRT, with a middle crossover and each bank exiting out of the opposite side. There would have to be a lot of routing work, however, and you'd have heat issues...

 

[cgmaster]

keep the rear exhaust and get the covers for the side exhaust. Get a chrome exhaust tip and weld it on to the stock exhaust without cutting the stock exhaust. This will make it look like it has side exhaust without the noise of the side exhaust.

Disclaimer
This is just one way I thought of to do this. I would not do this to my car because I think it would look silly having the rear exhaust and the side exhaust on the same car. But in real life this should work.