• Making your cars sound better?
    14 replies, posted
So my first car is a '93 Celica ST184 WRC Trophy edition (which is face-lifted but otherwise regular SX model with bucket seats and cruise control), and it's powered by a 2.2L -4. [img]http://i.imgur.com/TkQSTYD.jpg[/img] The exhaust is really quiet, and the car doesn't sound anywhere near as fast as it looks. (Not implying that it's actually fast...) I don't know much (if anything) about this, so I need advice. I want it to sound meaner, but in a dignified manner. I sure as hell don't want some big-ass noisy ugly tin can dangling from it's arse like so many kid's shitty hatchbacks running around the suburbs making deep fart noises. When I was changing plugs I started it with the air filter disconnected and noticed it sounded better. Would anyone recommend changing it for a pod filter or is that a stupid idea? It's not common that I drive on dirt roads but on the off chance I do go down one I don't want my engine to clog up and die. Should I just go for a different muffler? Also, if you've swapped mufflers/filters, please share. Recordings are also good.
Usually there's some air baffles inside the air filter box and the intake to the airfilter box itself. Cut out those baffles with a dremel-like tool. And for the love of god, stay away from pretty much [B]ANY[/B] "pod" airfilter, they're absolute [B]SHIT[/B] at filtering out fine fragments that's in the intake air, compared to the stock filter.
Having the catalitic converter cut out can give a more powerful sound while not being abonoxiously loud, I did it with my 2000 camaro and it sounds rad now but only on start up for a bit because the computer changes the fuel map because of the O2 sensor by the cat. Cuttting the cat out is cheap, might be illigal depending on where you live and if you have emmisions there. As far as intake noise goes I've never been a fan of those big chrome tubes with the conical filter on it, the black plastic ones arnt bad because they dont stick out as much, the better ones come with a little box that seals to the top of the hood. You shouldnt need to worry about getting anything in the engine, most filters do a pretty good job. Back to exhaust, you can change the system out to a larger tubing (2" to 2.5") but keep the stock muffler and that could improve sound, I've never heard of it being done but its an idea. A new exhaust manifold/header can increase performance and sound too, not by a whole lot but it'll do something. I don't know of any good mufflers for inline 4's, could try magnaflows.
You can replace your exhaust manifold with an aftermarket header, those make your car sound louder/better. Also increases your hp and fuel mileage by a little bit :v:
A true CAI helps. No idea how your intake works, but mine has a big panel filter right at the manifold inside a big torque box. Originally, after that box it was routed to behind the front headlight. It had tons of sound reducing things in it. I took all that out, except the original box and filter, and ran a tube from the box to my fender. Gives a decent power increase, along with a nice growl when getting on the gas. As far as my exhaust, i just poked a small hole in my second cat and put a tip from a different OEM muffler on. The combo looks much better and sounds pretty decent, added a little more growl to the stock exhaust. I used to run straightpipe, which sounded very good combined with my Boxer, but it was pretty loud
Just get a decent drop in mesh filter from K&N or AEM. It'll give a little performance boost and it should rev a little free-er (did on my sentra.) Pod filters can actually hurt performance and are shit at filtering compared to the stock air box. Universal mufflers by good brands like Borla and Magnaflow are pretty sweet. I had a 3in out magnaflow on my Sentra and it was kind of quiet but sounded like sex at low speeds. You can get good universal mufflers anywhere from $100 to $300. Just make sure you order a muffler with the correct or close to correct inlet size. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9qxt264JF0[/media] It's hard for me to find any 2.2 celicas with exhaust clips :v: Shitty video but this was my sentra [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YArWijoJvtQ[/media] [url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CCG082/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url] Cost $50 for a local muffler shop to chop off the old muffler and replace it. Cost $40 for a shop in my college town to replace my RX-7's [editline]27th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=FordLord;41212097]A true CAI helps. No idea how your intake works, but mine has a big panel filter right at the manifold inside a big torque box. Originally, after that box it was routed to behind the front headlight. It had tons of sound reducing things in it. I took all that out, except the original box and filter, and ran a tube from the box to my fender. Gives a decent power increase, along with a nice growl when getting on the gas. As far as my exhaust, i just poked a small hole in my second cat and put a tip from a different OEM muffler on. The combo looks much better and sounds pretty decent, added a little more growl to the stock exhaust. I used to run straightpipe, which sounded very good combined with my Boxer, but it was pretty loud[/QUOTE] Besides having equal length headers is there any way a boxer won't sound good?
[QUOTE=Llamaboy9;41212222] Besides having equal length headers is there any way a boxer won't sound good?[/QUOTE] My Boxer currently has the factory equal length on it, but my engine is one of the ones with single port heads. Even with the equal length, it ends up sounding like its partly unequal. Imagine it as maybe half way between a Honda sound and a true UEL header Boxer sound. Its pretty interesting really. Eventually i plan on swapping in an ej251 (dual port heads) and then doing an unequal length header, since id need a different header anyways
The reason other cars sound "good" is because they usually have a modified engine or completely different one. You can start with an aftermarket cat-back system that isn't a large fart can. A reasonable one made by HKS, Apexi, even Greddy makes a bunch for Japanese cars specifically. IMO dude, don't bother with that Celica. Not a lot of aftermarket and few engine options. Have a muffler shop install a prebuilt cat back like I mentioned or have them weld a custom exhaust with a nice muffler and call it a day. You don't need to waste money on a cold air intake with a cone filter if you're not going to tune the ecu on the dyno. Its not going to do anything but waste money
Those Celicas use the 5S-FE engine right? 90's toyota 4banger engines are awesome and make great noise if you have the right setup. I can tell you know that BERK and Magnaflow exhausts sound the best on Celicas and MR2's, at least in my personal opinion. It isn't a GT-Four, but it's still a pretty rare model in the US. You could easily do a 3S-GTE swap and with the turbo you'd get tons of power in a fun AWD cousin of the MR2. It's a great car, just needs a little elbow grease to get it where you want.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;41219275]Those Celicas use the 5S-FE engine right? 90's toyota 4banger engines are awesome and make great noise if you have the right setup. I can tell you know that BERK and Magnaflow exhausts sound the best on Celicas and MR2's, at least in my personal opinion. It isn't a GT-Four, but it's still a pretty rare model in the US. You could easily do a 3S-GTE swap and with the turbo you'd get tons of power in a fun AWD cousin of the MR2. It's a great car, just needs a little elbow grease to get it where you want.[/QUOTE] Can't use a turbo because of provisional license laws in Australia (have to wait a year and a half :( ). It's not worth swapping engines because this one is only FWD. There's a whole lotta different models between different countries so it can get confusing, especially when this one is called a "WRC Trophy Edition" that was only released in Australia and is basically the same as an SX with different badging. [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/macca_1972/ST184WRCEditionAdA.jpg[/img] Got to love those "rally bred" interior extras...
CAI and New Muffler. I'll take a video of what I've done with the accord recently tomorrow If I have time. (Have board meetings and stuff) 4 Banger into what most people think is a 6 cylinder under the hood, or some even thinking it's an 8 driving down the high way. (drop v8 into accord, that'd be interesting)
SRI's are pretty much just for the added noise and weight reduction/clutter reduction. They usually don't add any sort of power unless the intake is incredibly restrictive or the filter is completely clogged. Intake noise is generally the best noise a 4 cylinder will ever make. The first thing to do that will ruin your exhaust note and add rasp to your exhaust will be to remove your cat, the restrictive nature of the cat muffles the noise in a way which gives it a deeper tone. The only way to clean up the exhaust note after removing the cat will be to add a incredibly long resonator which is generally required to be 18" or more inches. This smooths out the rasp but will not remove the loud high exhaust note. When picking out a muffler remember that any straight through design has a 100% chance of adding exhaust drone compared to stock. There simply is no muffler which is designed to be straight through and you will not hear when cruising constantly. Of course this is pretty much up to personal opinion, everyone has different tolerance to NVH. I'm very sensitive to background noise and have a very low level of comprehension of speech over ambient noise so I couldn't stand my daily to be loud.
So I took a bunch of plastic bits out of the air box, then went for a lap of the block. I gave it a squirt and the resulting sound had me grinning from ear to ear and laughing maniacally - and it was free. Thanks FP <3
If hes I Australia removing the cat is a $45, 000 fine. Per cat. (So if your car has more then one. Mine has three.)
do this [img]http://puu.sh/3udfY.jpg[/img] :v:
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