Bates Prototype Valvetronic Exhaust - Custom OEM Exhaust with Valves

[GT3 Tim]

I also think "no" on the swirl. Either polish it or just clean it up. It aint like it is readily observable anyways.

Hell, no matter what you do, the stock exhaust is pretty ugly.

[JCtx]

Definitely not swirled. And with all those big welds, polished is out of the question too (besides being too expensive as well), so that leaves BLACK as the best choice IMO. Just clean up the welds, and make sure the paint lasts. The bottom of the muffler is probably the only eyesore on this car, and you can take care of that . But cleaned up wouldn't look bad, as the welds would be hardly visible from the rear. You can offer a choice, as obviously black would add cost to the project. Thanks for asking for opinions.

[2008GT500]

ORIGNiAL:


This may be a dumb question, but what'd happen if you just cut off the absorption chamber and the other chambers?

[lucid]

Originally Posted by Subw00er

We may finish up tonight!

Any opinions on the finish - swirl vs buffed vs just cleaned up?

Whatever it takes to divert attention away from that beast and to the rest of the car. I would neither swirl it nor polish it.

[Andrew 912]

Polishing would be awesome, it looks clean! Please take pictures from different angles and Sound Clips at idle and rev 6500 rpm (outside and inside cabin sounds). So many people is trying to enhance their exhaust but they just don't want hear too loud and drone therefore this project will inspire so many people to get the perfect solutions. Thanks again for doing a great project. Just can wait to see the end result and sound clips!

[lugnut]

Personally I like the swirl. The Harley Screaming Eagle Fat Boy had some exposed swirl and it was a nice detail that you noticed when you got close to it.

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by 2008GT500

ORIGNiAL:
This may be a dumb question, but what'd happen if you just cut off the absorption chamber and the other chambers?

Do you mean just replace them with straight pipes? It would just be louder, and drone.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sam and I got together again tonight to work on the exhaust. This is our 5th day welding. We had high hopes of finishing but some tough welding kept that from happening.

This one of the valves that I took apart so that I could flip the flange. If you look close, you can see that I had to remove and slide the pin back that holds the butterfly valve flapper. This was necessary to rotate that pin 180 degrees. I also had to remove the two screws (not pictured) that hold the flange to the rest of the module (see the two cylinders there, the screws go through them). I used red loctite when reassembling. I noted that if I overtightened the flapper screw, the flapper became difficult to turn. I presume this is because it tweaks the rod just enough so that it bends and doesnt spin freely. I backed it back out a bit and hopefully it doesnt come off later.


This is a closeup shot of the head of the new welding tip Sam had to use. Notice that it is angled, and the sheath is clear so it helps visibility in tight spaces.


Just finishing up the inside pipes. Check out the neat lens flare!


These welds came out great. This is the driver's side.


..and the passenger side.


This is the bottom side of the exhaust tacked together and ready to weld. Not the gap on the bottom side (as pictured). Some messy bridging will have to happen there.


This is as far as we got tonight. This is the passenger side, bottom of the exhaust. Sam mentioned that welding these double walls in addition to the bridging makes it difficult to perfect the welds. He was pretty frustrated. He said that he backtracked the welds to avoid deformation, but some still occurred as it cooled. You have to also figure that there is a lot of stress on this metal as we did bend it backwards and tweak it from the OEM shape. Still it looks great to me!


For welding, all that is left to do is close the container up - one side on the bottom and two on the top. The hard part, really is done. Welding in those tight spaces inside the exhaust, basically blind was a total PITA!


Now I have to figure out how to grab 12V+ from the trunk area. I haven't ripped it apart yet to look how I can enter the trunk area from underneath. There must be a grommet or two there. If anyone has some pics or words to the wise, please forward them on.

[swamp2]

Battery is indeed in the trunk. Right hand side of trunk, just rotate the little plastic nut on the rear most vertical section and then rotate the vertical cover piece away from the "wall". Finally just lift the entire cover/tray assembly up and out. I have no idea if you can get switched power there but I suspect you can. It should only take a minute with a volt meter to find a switched power line to tap.

[Subw00er]

We decided to basically keep the same look as stock because I didnt want to mod the pipes exiting the exhaust (to widen them to allow for a larger tip). I should be able to just cut the OEM ones off and slide and weld these on. I cant wait to see these installed; they look great so far! Best part, they'll hide exhaust goo a lot better than the standard chrome and should look great against the rear carbon fiber diffuser..

[2008GT500]

Originally Posted by Subw00er

Do you mean just replace them with straight pipes? It would just be louder, and drone.

No leaving the pipes that are already there, just cutting away the absorption chambers.

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by 2008GT500

No leaving the pipes that are already there, just cutting away the absorption chambers.

You would have an exposed pipe with a bunch of holes in it.. that would be weird.

[gemini330zhp]

Originally Posted by Subw00er

I just got word that the black chrome tips are on their way to me from CYBA. Check them out:


We decided to basically keep the same look as stock because I didnt want to mod the pipes exiting the exhaust (to widen them to allow for a larger tip). I should be able to just cut the OEM ones off and slide and weld these on. I cant wait to see these installed; they look great so far! Best part, they'll hide exhaust goo a lot better than the standard chrome and should look great against the rear carbon fiber diffuser..

Will those tips be bigger than stock???

[gemini330zhp]

Wow your project is going well cant wait to hear you car when installed!!!

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by gemini330zhp

Will those tips be bigger than stock???

They do look slightly wider in the pic, but I think they should be very close to stock, if not exact. We'll see. I didnt want to make them bigger because I like the dimensions of the stock tips and also it would be a pain to clean in between them if they're wider. The other benefit is that they will fit nicely still inside the diffuser.

[2008GT500]

Thanks for answering that. I wasn't sure there were holes or not.

[swamp2]

I'm sure you have thought of it but consider the tip mounting position in case you want to add a difuser later.

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by swamp2

I'm sure you have thought of it but consider the tip mounting position in case you want to add a difuser later.

I use a diffuser now. Maybe I'll push them out a hair, but they are pretty even with the diffuser now.

[swamp2]

This sucker must be wrapped up by now. Pics - vids (especially vids!).

[Subw00er]

The CYBA tips came today. They look pretty good! Not sure when we're welding next.. In the meantime, I'm trying to get the switched power source sorted out for the wireless receiver.

[J08M3]

any updates?

[M2381]

MOAR plz

[Andrew 912]

Can't wait to see and hear the update! more updates please.....