Intro

[DaveDee]

When choosing an exhaust system there’s now a great option to have valves included. These can be vacuum valves or 12V electrically operated solenoids, some operated by an RF transmitter (FOB style) for simple switching to others wire in to the ECU circuit to have an automated switching.
I can only speak of experience with Gintani systems, being a Distributor for their valves systems but there are now a number of vendors who now offer valves.
Info passed on is from personal experience combined with information from custom exhaust builders locally an overseas.
When valves are open the system has no restrictions and will be the deepest and loudest and will have the greatest flow, also at low RPM it will have the most drone. I’m told this is due to the slow speed of exhaust gases that start to stall in large open and unrestricted pipes and cause that resonant frequency and drone. This soon disappears as you get to the higher rev range and pitch increase as the RPM goes up and exhaust gas flow increases. At that time it’s sounding great and there is little or zero drone. The worst drone or boominess in our cars seems to be between 1500 RPM and 2000 RPM.
Closing the valves in some systems is going to restrict the gas flow outlet to 50% of open. This will change the pitch upwards (bass sound is reduced dramatically) and exhaust gas flow will increase substantially reducing stalling or slow flowing gases, subsequently having the same effect as increasing the RPM above the droney low RPM area.
Volume is reduced somewhat, but surprisingly not a lot, typically 2-3 dB. From outside the car there is some difference, but mainly in pitch. That deep throaty rumble at the lights that can draw the wrong attention is easily attenuated to a more subtle idle when needed.
Obviously restricting the exhaust gas flow will somewhat reduce performance, but at lower RPM and cruising around town that’s not going to be an issue
See your exhaust fitter about trying to source aftermarket valves they will solve your problems

[aussiem3]

Originally Posted by Dzenko

Confession...the install took place in Carlisle instead of Malaga. Change of venue was recommended by my mechanic due to hoist convenience. Sadly, i couldn't advice early enough so to have anyone attend.

I will post all my iPhone photos so forgive the quality and possible duplication.

Thus far I am of mixed opinion.
The power effect I haven't noticed. Nor am I sure that I should have. It is an catback install only and not a full exhaust.

Sound - exterior is beyond normal on how much more I like it. Sounds mean, and rough certainly not too loud. When you step on it, it gets beyond words.

Downfall.... you are doing sixty and my dct is revving between 1.5 and 2k, the cabin noise is unpleasantly noticeable. BIG BIG BIG no No no... This has meant that I need to revs higher than 2k so I am opening up more so then what I did before. Good luck to my fuel consumption. With that I increase risk of speeding... I need to find a way of overcoming that problem.

I think supersprint recommend this for a manual car, right now i think its because of the flexibility to stay out of 1.5k to 2k revs so to minimize cabin noise. I don't mind it, you know what they say if its too loud you are too old and I am not. However, it is at times unpleasant to hold a conversation with someone at that noise level. I need to take the WA boys for a spin so they can judge for themselves.

The install was done by the mechanic and myself. There wasn't too many things that could have gone wrong but I still have the odd suspension that had it been done professionally the cabin noise would be less painful.


Any thoughts on how I bring this down?
Should I get it looked at by RAMP?

Nothing could have gone wrong. It's a straightforward bolt on. I am sure both your mechanic and you would have taken best care when installing ... there is a drone even with the stock and MPE exhausts around the 2k rpm around the 60 km mark. You need to get out of that zone ASAP to avoid the drone. Given the aftermarket exhausts add that extra volume, that drone is even more noticeable. It's the case of managing it. You will get over it ... don't have regrets. Enjoy

[Dzenko]

Team,
Nevermind my photography skills. Finance is my profession but playing with paint was equally fun, NOT!

All Genuine BMW parts from ECS tunning.
Performance Carbon Front splitters - Installed these myself. Used two screws per splitter and clear silicone from Bunnings. This did the trick.
Front and side Chrome black grilles installed courtesy of Westcoast BMW. They did a fantastic job that took them 10 mins....Would have taken me hours because "if you don't find the right tools in this garage, you don't belong near a car". I didn't have the tools in my garage so rather than scratching the paint with a flat head screwdriver, I took it to them in hope that they will not scratch it. Good NEWS they didn't.

Exhaust I posted earlier. Job done with my mechanic. Still mixed about it.

PS the most challenging thing about this process was blanking out my number plate with PAINT.

What should I do next?
I am thinking performance BMW carbon spoiler... Maybe them performance BMW carbon mirror covers... The idea is that should i choose to on-sell this car the new owner is getting genuine parts so he/she shouldn't be opposing too much.

What else?

[Rajvosa]

beautiful bro! i reckon the boot spoiler would finish it off nicely.

get a sound clip of the exhaust

[MFKN3]

Looks great!!

[aussiem3]

[DAL344]

Like!!

[American Dave]

bloody helpful thanks DaveDee

Originally Posted by DaveDee

Guilty as charged MFKN3!!!.
It’s a good thread and very sensible comments, and I think as everyone agrees there are two distinct areas, how it sounds to you and how it performs.

In many ways how it sounds is one of the more important aspects as it is a permanent and ongoing sensation, performance you get used to and it becomes the norm, but a factor often overlooked is what the exhaust sounds like inside the car compared to outside the car. This is a really big factor in choosing the right system, you could say the better it sounds from the outside the harder it is to live with on the inside. What might be awesome on the track is not ideal for sneaking home late at night

Just for the record I've had the following set ups and these are my own experiences
First got the car: it was supplied with

Remus sport This was really too loud and droney so…. Within a week…

Stock exhaust as a place holder. I didn’t find any significant difference in power levels from the Remus to stock in terms of power, but started the search for an exhaust to love

Eisenmann Sport.
This was a really good quality build with a nice deep tone but only about 3dB louder than stock. For many this is a good setup and a good daily drive, but as you get used to the exhaust you tend to want a bit more volume. MFKN3 and I did a comparison vid between the sport and the race which indicated the differences in volume with virtually identical tones. Mild drone around the 2K RPM

Eisenmann Race
This was a deep, throaty and muscle car sounding exhaust on the outside that turns heads but the drone was too much for many as a daily drive/family car MFKN3 got the Challenge Engineering sport X-pipe at the same time with his Eiesnmann Race and I remember he called me just after fitting it and saying how it broke the sound barrier! A few days later we confirmed that, it was one of the loudest systems I’ve heard and is to date. It also changed the tone from a deep throaty tone to a very sharp, aggressive, almost angry tone

Fitting an aftermarket X pipe will dramatically change the volume and tone of the exhaust, the OE x-pipe has 2 x 400 CPSI primary cats, 2 x 200 CPSI secondary cats and an effective resonator set.

The Eisenmann race went back to the sport on mine as it had far too much cabin drone for my liking at around that 1500-2000 RPM mark. On mine it was still the OE x pipe.

Akrapovic Evolution In search for the perfect exhaust I got one of these after reading so many reports on the quality. There is absolutely no doubt at all about the quality and fitment of this exhaust system, and the way it’s shipped. A real work of art. This was the first full system I put on the car so I was expecting big performance gains. The car already had an Evolve tune but I was not aware of this at the time of purchase. The Evo design had both an X crossing and at the front an H join. This joint was a slip on join with no clamping.

This is where I have to split the exhaust into two areas as it was my first full exhaust. On the sound side it was totally drone free and had an unusual sound. I felt it sounded more like a V6 than an 8, was quite sophisticated and very “Euro” but the sound was not for me. There was a constant leaky sound coming from the H joint. Under full noise from outside on a track day, others commented on how good it sounded, but it never really did anything for me after the initial install. I did like it at first but went off the sound very quickly as it just did not have that deep muscle car V8 sound. That’s not to say it’s not good, I just didn’t like it, my wife did like it and it does suit daily driving well. It comes with 100 CPSI HF cats and stinks a bit, and very much doubt it would pass any emissions testing.

Performance wise I didn’t notice a huge difference but it was improved a little and until the Dealership flashed over the tune one service I didn’t realise the benefits of a tune I’d been enjoying. Stock was terrible, the X pipe really needs that tune to even out the performance, so I ended up getting an ESS tune on the old direct flash which brought the car back to a much better feeling, smoother and more driveable.

Gintani Valved Sport with Gintani X-pipe with HFC/Quad Resonated/back to stock X-pipe with Primary cat delete

After hearing Ben’s AW M3 with a the Gintani Race and primary cat delete I could not get on line fast enough and order a system, but I was worried about it being too loud so I went for the sport valved with the X-pipe. In exhaust terms the valves are one of the most practical and useful options and with the press of a remote can turn the car from a reasonable street volume with little to mild drone to a full on monster. The Gintani sport is not an inherently loud exhaust but add it to an X pipe and the volume goes up at least double and it’s a higher pitch than OE X pipe. I really enjoyed this system and by this time had got to know the guys at Gintani and had taken on a dealership, so I had to “sample” the variants. Because the Gintani X pipe is joined at the front there are (like some others) options. I then tried replacing the front HF Cats (200 CPSI) with the resonated front pipes. Louder again and raspier and for the first time noticeable performance gain on its own. MFKN3 and I had around the same set ups bar the cats, and he told me one he found it hard to keep up on the main straight at QR after I did the cat delete. It also sounds so much better without cats. After supercharging the car it sounded so aggressive I thought it was time to tone it back a bit, so the stock X pipe went back on with a primary cat delete. Honestly at the time I first drove it I thought I’d left the handbrake on, such a difference but the fines for full catless are so high it’s not worth the risk of being caught, and it smells so much getting caught is ineveitable. Got used to it and the stock X pipe with primary cat delete returned a really deep, throaty sound at less than half the volume

I sold the X pipe to one of our members who coupled it with an Akra slip on and it sounded totally different to the Akra Evo or Akra cat back, was quite loud, deeper than the Akra Evo and quite raspy. He loved it and it sounded good on the track, and he was happy with the gains after getting one of Mike Benvo’s (BPM Sport) tunes. Hybrid systems like this are hard to predict but they can be interesting. This was a good result and most importantly a very happy owner

Gintani Race Valved with OE X pipe and primary cat delete
This is my current setup and I like it the best, once again at the behest of my wife, (she’s amazing  I should test all systems that I sell and to that end I sold the valved sport to a member and put the valved race on our car. It is the valves once again that save the day, the Gintani race with the stock X-pipe and primary cat delete is loud but not over the top. It is very deep and throaty and has a very aggressive sound. Closing the valves on a race system makes a big difference, the pitch increases a little and the deep boomey sound changes to a raspier more pitched sound. Very little cabin drone valves closed, to quite a lot of drone open and at low RPM. Cruising on the highway with the valves open all you hear is a deep purring sound, no drone at all after 2000 RPM, valves closed on the highway it’s like stock… but its loud outside and sounds awesome.

X-pipe will definitely make good gains but the sound levels go up dramatically and are hard to control. The exception was the Arkra Evo which is not too loud.

I've heard other exhaust systems I really like the sound of but have not experienced, eg the Borla

Honestly I’m not wanting to talk or sound like a Vendor here but wanted to share my own experience as a daily driver. Would I use an X pipe again? Probably not, full catless is just too risky and the gains from a primary cat delete on stock are good enough for most with good gains and nicer sound.

M Performance Exhaust
After a visit to Perth where I had the good fortune and great time to meet up with some of you guys I experienced the M performance as a passenger and heard it from outside the car. Once again a totally different sound, totally drone free but more a raspier higher tone, but nice. These cars also had the primary cat delete.

Just about every system I’ve seen and used has been really good quality and something you would be happy to put on the car. Appearance was different on all with the Eiesnmann and M Performance having larger canisters than the others with smaller individual mufflers.

Whatever you choose try and go for a run first, because you might love the sound outside and can’t live with the cabin sound. Videos can be deceptive. There are plenty of us here to share and even if means spending $200 on an interstate return flight to hear your perspective system it’s money well spent
.
One of the best (and most expensive) solutions is to get a valved system, that way you have the best of both worlds. There are a few brands now doing valves…..
To finish this particularly long post...
As Dirty Harry once said “opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and everyone thinks the other person’s stinks”

[American Dave]

excellent thread and beautiful car

[Dzenko]

Many thanks.

[Dzenko]

Hey,

Just wondering if there are any takers of my superprint exhaust out there?

assessing interest at the moment.

[aussiem3]

Originally Posted by Dzenko

Hey,

Just wondering if there are any takers of my superprint exhaust out there?

assessing interest at the moment.

Why the change of heart Dzenan? The system is hardly broken and I am sure the best is yet to come. Unless you want my MPE



Just kidding

[Dzenko]

I want to see if there are any takers at 2500 so that I can buy an akra to see what the fuss is about

[aussiem3]

Originally Posted by Dzenko

I want to see if there are any takers at 2500 so that I can buy an akra to see what the fuss is about

It's going to be an expensive fuss. I heard a full akra evo system on a fire-orange ///3, and I thought it was way too much for a DD.

[Dzenko]

Originally Posted by aussiem3

It's going to be an expensive fuss. I heard a full akra evo system on a fire-orange ///3, and I thought it was way too much for a DD.

Yeh you could be right. I think a member has one on an e90.

[boostED82]

Originally Posted by Dzenko

Yeh you could be right. I think a member has one on an e90.

Yep. Its exxy. But I love it! I also got the ESS ECU and DCT flash tune for it. I'm aiming to get to the next coffee meet. You can have a listen and check it out before forking out $$$.

[Dzenko]

Originally Posted by boostED82

Yep. Its exxy. But I love it! I also got the ESS ECU and DCT flash tune for it. I'm aiming to get to the next coffee meet. You can have a listen and check it out before forking out $$$.

I been meaning to catch up with you buddy!!!
Must take me for a spin

[DAL344]

Dzenko - Another option would be to talk to Reagan or Adrian @ RAMP & see if they can valve the SuperSprint set-up. They fabricate whole systems so if the set-up is right to valve they will be able to help. Just a thought

[aussiem3]

Originally Posted by DAL344

Dzenko - Another option would be to talk to Reagan or Adrian @ RAMP & see if they can valve the SuperSprint set-up. They fabricate whole systems so if the set-up is right to valve they will be able to help. Just a thought

Good thinking

[Dzenko]

I would be wrong to say that I am unsatisfied with the supersprint. It's loud enough when I step on it and its just right for me when I drive normally. Valve on it would be nice but it isn't that loud to make it a necessity.

It was more so from a curiosity point of view that I wanted an akra.
Everyone is raving about it.
Guess I will see Eddy's on Saturday.
Anyways, who does paint-less dent repairs?
I have two very minor dints on both side of my car that i would like out.

[boostED82]

Shane De Lacy [Delete-A-Dent] 0417 332 933 - he is mobile and comes out to you

[Dzenko]

Originally Posted by boostED82

Shane De Lacy [Delete-A-Dent] 0417 332 933 - he is mobile and comes out to you

if you don't mind sharing, do you know what he charges?

Thanks