My brother own a muffler shop in Santa Monica and we were looking under the "E" yesterday, Can anyone tell me why the are 2 mufflers under this little 4 banger, The front one is looks straight thru and the 2nd is not. Want to do some sort of Flowmaster type system but do not know if there will be issues.

Has anyone done a simple and reasonable exhaust system on their "E"

HB

[quote:eb37f68d5a=" "]My brother own a muffler shop in Santa Monica and we were looking under the "E" yesterday, Can anyone tell me why the are 2 mufflers under this little 4 banger, The front one is looks straight thru and the 2nd is not. Want to do some sort of Flowmaster type system but do not know i there will be issues.

Has anyone done a simple and reasonable exhaust system on their "E"

HB[/quote:eb37f68d5a]

While installing a tip, I asked the same question to my muffler guy and his educated guess was that Honda must think the Element must be especially noisy and needed 2 mufflers to lessen the noise. He also honestly said while he could install a custom exhaust on the Element using a single muffler like an Ultraflow or a Flowmaster, he would not know how it would perform or sound. A single straight through muffler may be too noisy and also not give the iVTEC enough back pressure for the low RPM range. He suggested we wait to see what kind/style of muffler the big name aftermarket exhaust systems use, then he could replicate the systems for a lot less money.

If anybody needs a good muffler shop in the San Fernando Valley area of LA, let me know. This guy did fantastic work on my CRX Si years ago and I plan to let him work on my E in the future.

I have a friend who put the flowmaster exhaust on and he said it was so loud he couldnt hear his cell phone inside his E. I believe he has the magna flow now. It really sounds good, not like stock at all.

Amy

The first muffler back from the catalytic converter is called a resonator. I pulled both the stock resonator,muffler and pipe from the catalytic converter back. I replaced everything. Pipe is now 2.5" and have a Borla muffler. The weight savings alone was about 75lbs. The Borla does increase the interior noise somewhat. I do a lot of hwy. driving at about 3000 rpms. At that rpm range for extended periods, you get an interior noise that only becomes annoying for longer car trips. I'm going to re-add a small light performance resonator for the noise. Other then that, muffler kicks ass and lets this baby scream between 3-5000 rpm range.

I think Honda and other manufacturers puts resonators on their cars simply because of space. You can either have one big honkin' muffler or a smaller muffler and a resonator. Problem with the big honkin' muffler is finding the real estate in the undercarriage for it while also keeping clear from the ground. Much easier to do with a smaller muffler and a resonator.

Nat is correct. The first "muffler" is actually a resonator, soley designed to drop noise pollution levels. The second is the actual muffler.

Remember, the E actually qualifies as a LEV, Low Emissions Vehicle, and I'm sure Honda did a bit of homework designing a system to both deliver decent performance, and keep emissions as low as possible.

Nat just curious, and I may be completely wrong, but wouldn't a 2.5" system be way to free flowing for the E's motor which is designed to have adequate back pressure? I know on some cars, like me VW GTI VR6, a 2.5" system is NEEDED in order to get any HP gain.

I know a lot of people, and shops, that think bigger is always better. Definitely not the case with exhaust systems. Of course bigger is definitely louder:), which is what most want from an aftermarket system anyway.

My GTI is WAAAY loud enough for me....I think I might just keep the E nice and quiet:)

Steve

A few others also expressed similar concern regarding back pressure or the lack there of. Pickup was virtually unaffected from 0-2500 rpm. From 2500-4000 the performance has improved. It didn't hurt (or help)lower rpm's but definately helps (breathing) at the rpm sweet spot. I'm going to add back in a small performance resonator for interior noise reduction and maybe something to add back in a little back pressure.

Peace

Called Magnaflow today and they recommend an 12244 muffler, It is an oval thjat is not that load. My brother has ordered me on along with a slashed rolled tip. He will be in Business for another 20 days if anyone in L.A. is interested. He will be doing exhaust work out of his house in a few months after that. Let me know if interested.

Hb

The 12244 has an inlet and outlet of 2". That sounds like the stock diameter of the E. Are you going to keep the B-pipe stock sized?

When you get it, can you record the exhaust tone?

I will be doing a cat back exhaust all in 2" New tip as well. He will be doing this on Wednesday of this week.

HB

OK the exhaust is done, Nice tone on the outside not much difference on the inside. Installed a new flange on the cat and installed 2" from the Cat to the new muffler, then ran 2" out the back and slightly to the side with a 35163 Magnaflow Stainless tip, Did notice a better pickup about 40mph, will do a mileage check after I get some miles on it to let the computer get used to the new pressure (or the lack of). Once I install the cold air system I know it will get louder.

Any help on posting pic's would be great.

HB