caterpill

iTrader: (11)

I noticed that both the Apex'i N1 and the HKS Hi-Power/Carbon-Ti/Full Titanium mufflers all have 3" inlet, but have a little "reducer" welded inside the muffler itself right before the tip. It kinda looks like a funnel shape, with the small end stuck inside the muffler, say a few inches, and by eyeballing it I could guess it is a 2.5" at the innermost part with a short section, flaring out to just about 3" or a little less at the opening before the tip.... It looks something like this if you were to look at a cutaway of the muffler, except only the inside of the actual pipe, not the whole thing, and not to scale.(not as drastic)

Note: I am not talking about the silencer that sits in the tip, but something oddly simliar that is welded inside the muffler.

.__________
.\___
. ___
./_________

Exhaust flowing this way <-----------
I don't recall how long the one in the Apex'i Turbo can was, but I think it might have been longer.

My question is ... Is this an important part of the muffler's design, or merely to soften the exhaust note a little? It seems like it could act as some type of resonance device, but otherwise it just seems like a restriction. (Isn't the muffler's packing supposed to do the work of absorbing sound waves? After all, these turbo mufflers are pretty fat, i'm sure they have enough packing...) I always remembered that when you associate an exhaust system with piping diameter, the whole exhaust system is only as good as the smallest diameter pipe in the whole system. With this little thing in there, it kinda seems like it kills flow. But honestly, despite people saying 3" doesn't make a difference, this little thing in there simulates my curiosity.

Does anyone recall how much power you get with the HKS or Apex'i N1 systems? I remember a friend of mine telling me that the N1 made the most power, but was loud. So, if these mufflers make power even with that thing, I shouldn't be worried at all.

Can anyone else confirm this thing in the muffler? I have the HKS Carbon-Ti, but it was not bought as a whole cat-back system, so maybe it's just mine. If anyone could, please take a peek inside your muffler and let me know if what i'm talking about is there.

I'm thinking all the Apex'i N1's and the HKS Hi-power cans have this thing inside. My car was running a full catless straight pipe exhaust system, and now with the HKS it is very deep, and very quiet, even being catless and having no resonators.. If this is not an integral part of the system, I might be able to get away taking it out. After all, it looks like it is welded "just enough" to hold it in, with three short sections of weld and not all the way around. I just don't want the exhaust to sound like $hit after.

If anyone has any info, thought, opinions etc...

Feel free to chime in.

Thanks...

Dan

Ex-ricer

iTrader: (2)

Just my .02, but I don't think something that trivial would harm flow. If what your talking about, is what I think your talking about, I think it's only there for looks. Ya'know? So it's not all ghettofied.

caterpill

iTrader: (11)

Whoa, old post. I forgot about it, but I did get that piece out.

My exhaust got louder and deeper. The little "flap flap flap" noise at idle disappeared, being replaced with "rung rung rung". (lol) IIRC the three stupid welds are hard to get at since they are so deep.

I did get to look at the Apex'i N1 muffler up close, and it looks like those have it too; except those mufflers have one that is 2x as long and welded all the way around :-X It could be why some STi owners complain of a power loss when going with the Apex N1 system ..


Just a little FYI, for anyone who likes to tweak their stuff when they dont have anything to do.

TurnWRX

iTrader: (3)

u sure u weren't talking about the Apex GT Spec instead of the N1? The GT Spec is 3 in piping and N1 is 2.5 in piping.

caterpill

iTrader: (11)

Hmm .. well not too sure about that, when I looked at the Apex'N1 Turbo, it seemed really big inside, but the pipe got slightly bigger after the inlet. So if anything the inlet is 2.5, but i'm not sure.


I just know that there is a little "thing" inside. And I have no clue what it does.