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Triumph TR6 - exhaust systems

Hey Guys; When I first drove my Tr6, it had some kind of earsplitting exhaust system on it that was absolutely brutal. The dealer then replaced that with some sort of Japanese(Isuspect) muffler that you can't even hear. Any suggestions on something that has that nice Triumph sound without inducing migraines? How about the stainless, stock set sold by TRF? I'd really hate to have to replace it again so any suggestions are greatly appreciate.
Joel

Joel - When I restored my TR3A from 1987 to 1990, I decided to put in a stainless steel exhaust system. I bought one made in England by Falcon. At the time I ordered about $3500.00 worth of parts from Cox and Buckles (today they operate as Moss Europe) and it was all coming in one shipment. The new stainless system is a little quieter than an original one, but before the stainless one, I used to have to put a new mild steel one in every 15,000 miles.

Over the past 12 summers, I've driven more than 70,000 miles and the stainless system that I paid £75.00 in England has saved me hundreds of dollars. One of the best investments I ever made. Over that period, I got a few dents in the bottom side of the rear-most muffler (there are two in line) from scraping it on things but it is still intact and like new.

Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A
Don Elliott

Joel....
I had the Falcon SS system on my 74 B, and was very pleased with it. It was a little quieter than what I remember the new (in 74) stock system being. We ran over a large rock on vacation last year, & I really believe if we had anything less, it would have ripped the front muffler wide open. We hit with enough force to raise the car up about two inches while doing 35 mph. Just put a dent in it. One of the other TR6 drivers here in Boise has the Falcon system, and tho a little quieter, still has a nice tone. IMHO, good all the way around unless you like to make a lotta noise! You might also check the SS Sport system available through Rimmer Bros. Might be a little louder, but good quality, and (WOW) twin mufflers out the rear!
Rod
Rod Nichols

The Falcon Sport system is good bit louder than the "normal" system. The stock TR6 has a nice sound while still being reasonably quite. For a car that is a "keeper" and if I wanted something close to stock sound level wise, I'd go with the Falcon system in the stock system configuration as opposed to the Sport system. For my own "keeper," I went with the Falcon Sport system route as it is not used as a driver and loud doesn't bother me for the usage the car gets. If the car isn't a keeper, then go with the mild steel system.
SteveP

Hi Joel

From what I hear from the people who know, an identical stainless system will sound a little 'brassier' than it's mild steel equivalent. This is more due to the properties of the steel than to the muffler(s) used. If you drive the car long enough to properly heat the whole system, a good mild steel system should last for many years in sunny Ca. If you only drive it short distances and it doesn't get a chance to heat up, you will get condensation sitting in the muffler and it will very quickly rust out. Little old ladies going 'to the shops and back' can have holes in theirs in as little as 18 months.

Possibly the best of both worlds would be to use mild steel pipework with a good quality stainless muffler?

You may consider getting the muffler hand made as it can be built to be more free-flowing than stock and can really pack in the mineral wool insulation. As this does most of the work and is the bit that goes first, it could be worth spending a few extra bucks on it.
All TR's benefit from the ability to breathe better and a system with less back-pressure will give you better power, fuel economy etc. However the more free flowing the system, the noisier it tends to be.

I have a custom made full stainless system with straight-through twin mufflers. It has a sexy rumble at idle which increases as you load the engine. Driving sedately, it purrs and is quiet and inoffensive - put the pedal to the floor and it sounds like a sports car!! (too loud for the wife - but hey - you're only old once!!) One thing that I have noticed is that the noise in the cockpit is louder than it is outside - it think that this is to do with the aerodynamics (what are they?!!) which tends to bring the sound 'back' with the rest of the air that blows the back of your head!

Another thing you could consider is to get flanged & bolted joints which make future removal for working on the car a breeze, and are virtually leakproof.

Hope this helps.
Roger H

I have read that if you have a mild steel muffler in order to make it last longer is to drill a couple of holes ~1/8" to allow the condensation to drip out on those short hops when the car sits idle. These holes will be small enough so that it won't make much increase noise.

I have a Falcon SS system and certainly has a harsher sound than the mild steel stock mufflers. I find it noisier but when you rev the engine at higher RPM it certainly sounds sweet.

Not sure if I agree with Roger's suggestion of using mild steel pipes. Experience says (even with modern cars) that it is always the pipes and flanges that rust out before the muffler does. Most modern cars have a 2 piece system and everytime I get a leak in the system it is the pipes to the muffler or the ones leading and exiting the resonator. The nice thing about the TR's is that you can replace each section. My other problem using mild steel for pipes is that if you ever wanted to disasemble it (eg. taking out the diff) it will never come apart as over time they will be rusted together.

Although not an automotive engineer, I understand that some back pressure is needed for the engine to run effeciently. And reducing back pressure not necessarly translates into more power as the intake needs to be improved...in order to blow better you also need to suck better. The phenomenon of all the Rice Rockets with those drain sewer pipe size exhaust has not translated into any significant acceleration times...though they certainly sound faster.
Steven

Small holes drilled into a steel exhaust will soon become big holes! Don't do that!
Brent B

Thanks for the info guys. Still trying to understand why anyone would splice two into one for a one in one out muffler. Maybe it's all he had laying around. Anyway. My car is most definitely a keeper. May even be buried in it. Think I'll go stock SS and run it forever.
Joel

Hi,

I discussed that matter in the past. For me Stebro is the best ( CDN made ) and very popular in the 70's. It is avaliabble custon made at
http://www.stebro.net/stwc.htm


with falcon SS front down pipes its a perfect fit and sound. But stay away from Monza pacesetter...
Cheers, JGC
Jean G. Catford

This thread was discussed between 04/02/2003 and 09/02/2003

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