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"Turbo" muffler on N/A car?(UPDATED PICS AND VIDEO!!!)

6K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  LUV2TURN 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I'd like to say hello first of all being new to the forum here and now a proud owner of an 02 Miata Gray SE :D but by my topic name you can guess my question. What would be wrong with putting a "turbo" muffler/exhaust on a N/A car? Because I would like to turbo my car in the future just right now. I can't because im 19 and just bought a car for 18gz so I gotta make payments etc.... I would like to get all the basics out of the way befor doing the turbo. Any help is much appericated and thanks in advanced.

Nick

Ok so here it is guys thanks for all the help!!
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n111/Nappyman21/Exhaust/?action=view&current=exhaust.flv<---VIDEO


 
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#2 ·
don't do it, its really not that necessary right now and if you *really* are planning on turbo in the future, just save your money NOW and use it toward the actual turbo system and get all the extras AFTER you actually have the turbo. Stock exhaust will work just fine for a while and will sound 100x quieter in the meantime.

Also, I can't count how many people I've known who would buy all these turbo goodies in prep for the turbo and eventually sell/wreck/or whatever to the car before (if ever) getting a turbo.

$18k for an '02? holy crap that thing better have less than 10k miles on it....
 
#3 ·
Keep one thing in mind too... a "Turbo muffler" has nothing to do with forced induction, it's a marketing term for an unpacked muffler (flowmaster knockoff) basically.

It's gonna sound like crap on a 4cyl, you'll really dislike the sound.
 
#4 ·
$18k for an 02? Did it come with solid gold seats?
 
#5 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Sadly it did not come with gold seats, long story short....my bro basically raped his car a beastly "Daewoo" snapped the timing belt and MUCH more so we were short a car so we borrowed my uncles yukon, my dad was driving our mini van at the time and his tranny went out...he just bought a 03 G35 4 Door, so now my bro had no car and i was looking to buy one. So for 18gz i bent over backwards and took it hard from CarMax =( because we needed another car and i was desperate to get rid of my beastly 103 HP Celica ST 5 Speed. (which my bro now drives)



So thank you carmax =D> =D> =D> way to steal my money
 
#9 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Sorry but i dissagre with most. We do custom exaust systems all day long, on all makes models. Yes even 4cyldr and by far the oversized turbo mufflers sound the best, for most applications. The NA ones are very raspy and poppy. One problem that sometimes pops up is ground clearence though. Because the size of the car if not instaled properly can or will drag or scrape. So keep that in mind. It also depends on the type of tubing you use also. Do your research, try to find soudclips.
 
#10 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

1st of all, yes my car is in excellent condition and it does have a warranty on it still so I can understand the pricing. but thank you chase for getting back to my original question. I'll look for some soundclips today once i have some free time off work.
 
#12 ·
I love my turbo muffler. I love the sound. and it performs well.
Are you running a N/A setup on your car? If so do could you get or do you have a sound clip of your exhaust? and what muffler are you running?
 
#13 ·
#14 ·
go for it. find out what suits you, but be warned, turbo mufflers are loud if you choose the wrong ones.

usually for cheaper setups, the pepboys cherry bomb is very quiet and is 2.5". the thrush ones are quite quiet as well and can be ordered the same. the more expensive ones that are good are the dynaflow ones. dynaflow however is the manufacturer of thrush, so therefore a cheaper yet still good buy would be the thrush setup. turbo muffler and resonator and you are set to go.

on the 1.6 miatas, we lose power going NA with a 2.5" setup. i'm not sure how a 2.5" setup would affect a 1.8 because of course you guys have more power.

TeRRy
 
#15 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

So what kind of sound / performance am I looking at if I went to a local muffler shop and had them do a straight midpipe w/ no resanator and I put on some type of JDM turbo muffler HKS/Apexi/ etc..
 
#16 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Well what is your current setup? If i were running an NA setup on my 1.6 i would do High flow CAT, Resonator, APEXi N1 turbo Uni.
ASpec makes some nice Universals also. I dont have any sound clips though. #-o If you try it Straight piped with no resonator just remember you can always go back and just have one put in. I highly suggest paying a little extre and tell them to flange the muffler right before the can. That way if your setup up changes it will be easy to transfer the exhaust. GOOD LUCK... Please update us ASAP with pics. Take your time youll find the right setup for you and your car.
 
#17 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Yeah, I was just on the phone with my uncle his buddy owns a Merlin Muffler right out by my house. So I'm gonna take a trip down there and figure everything out and discuss it with him. If any one has clips / videos of a N/A car (NB 1.8 Perferably) with a turbo setup exhaust I would much appericate that.
 
#18 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Don't rush into things. Save up, take your time and shop around. Do what you like, and not for others.

Congrats on the NB, no matter what you paid for it. The fun and experience you'll have in your new Miata will compensate.
 
#19 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Don't rush into things. Save up, take your time and shop around. Do what you like, and not for others.

Congrats on the NB, no matter what you paid for it. The fun and experience you'll have in your new Miata will compensate.
Yeah, I paid $23k for my Mazdaspeed Protege like a damn fool. He's not the only one.
 
#20 ·
Keep one thing in mind too... a "Turbo muffler" has nothing to do with forced induction, it's a marketing term for an unpacked muffler (flowmaster knockoff) basically.

It's gonna sound like crap on a 4cyl, you'll really dislike the sound.
it seems like a few of you are thinking "turbo" muffler like dynomax i think the original poster is talking about a Turbo based system like the flyin miata turbo or enthuza M1 turbo racer http://www.enthuzacar.com/m1turbo.asp still a straight through but larger piping, and a lot louder,


so nappy, the turbo system will sound similar to its N/A counterpart but siginificantly louder, the reason is the turbo system is counting on the actuall turbo muffling alot of the sound. it wont sound bad but unless you like really loud noises i suggest you at least get a resonated midpipe. and keep your cat
like me im runing 2.5" "cat"(or lack of) back to a borla boomer muffler, good for turbo, but loud as hell, i go to wot at 5k+ rpm and it really announces that its there,

but if you want my honest opinion, and coming from experiance, most crush bent custom exhaust sound like ass, im not sayin all but most. between the turbulance from the crush bend and the "tinnyness" of the aluminized steel tubing you get alot of buzz mixed in,
stainless piping is alot more resistant to that echoing tinny sound, and the mandral bends will make you a hell of alot happier when you finally get that turbo, (and at least a good 2-3 extra hp) and by the time you spend about $255 for an HKS hipower universal muffler, whatever for piping and $50 for labor to put it on(what my shop charged me), its not really that much of a price differance to the enthuza, borla, etc usually going for 330-350 where you are getting mandral bends, stanless piping and actual research and development to make garunteed horsepower

actaully right now im trying to get rid of my system for about half that but am also spending the extra to import something JDM
 
#21 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

I'd like to thank everyone for the help, tips, and advice. My uncle is going to be talking to his friend (who own merlin muffler) tonight so he'll let me know whats up and HOPEFULLY i can get in there towards the end of this week and hook everything up. Ill post pics and ill get video and put it on youtube and post eveything up for you guys once im all setup. Again all the help was much appericated.
 
#23 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Carmax FTL :( but I literally NEEDED a car because we were short cars at my house it was one hell of a crazy month and not bragging but i can make my payments no problem so im not too worried about it. Also at Carmax thou, they had an 03 with 11,000 miles on it for the same price, but wanted the 02 with 37k because it was the SE so...w/e i guess lol
 
#24 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Carmax FTL :( but I literally NEEDED a car because we were short cars at my house it was one hell of a crazy month and not bragging but i can make my payments no problem so im not too worried about it. Also at Carmax thou, they had an 03 with 11,000 miles on it for the same price, but wanted the 02 with 37k because it was the SE so...w/e i guess lol
I paid for my Miata in cash... And yes I am bragging. 8)

Still paying for the Protege though. :(
 
#25 ·
Re: "Turbo" muffler on N/A car?

Alright eveyone, got my exhaust done this morning, sadly the guy there said he wouldnt cut the bumper incase i didn't like it so the exhaust is great VERY LOUD VERY DEEP almost NO rasp until around 6k and its still minimal it is a custom piping with a custom muffler 4 inch tip so yes its huge with a slight angle and drive side exit the but until I get my bumper cut the muffler is angled at the ground a bit and looks dumb :cry: but w/e ill have it cut in no time. I will have pics and ill post a video on youtube and get it up asap im at my buddies house right now. But again I'd like to thank everyone for their input and help, everything was much apperciated.Oh and its from the cat down with no resanator and 2 1/4' pipe =D> =D>
 
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