Recently installed a Milltek non-res and it has nearly deleted my wonderous whine!

Used in conjunction with a sport-cat Scorpion header --- I find it too loud and too raspy, a bit droney, and the pops 'n bangs are awful rambunctious too.

I've already decided to change it out in favor of a Scorpion resonated unit with STW trims...



...which is on order but with unknown ETA as I haven't heard back from Orranje yet, but anyway the resonator will surely help with the ASBO noise and offer a better tone all around I hope.

The Milltek will be offered on the marketplace after I fit the new Scorp.

Anyway, let us say that I did enjoy the gruff noise but wanted more whine because the exhaust drowns it out --- would a "sound tube" work in our application?

Simply adding a 1" hose or similar from the intake pipe to the cabin?

Seems like it would, but just curious if anyone here has done anything similar before I try this experiment because it's always good to hear experiential pointers and helpful hints.

Looks simple enough and it's pretty popular with the musclecar crowd, like they sell pre-made kits for $125 thereabouts but the DIY method is incredibly inexpensive.

Example of what I'm talking about:

 

Do you have the stock exhaust? I absolutely hate the popcorn pops that came with my exhaust

 

Yeah, re-using the stock JCW exhaust is a mighty fine option because it's damn near perfect plus looks great with those tips, deffo considered saving the money and doing that, but ultimately decided to try out the resonated Scorpion and see how the tone goes as I've heard it sounds right good, but as with everything, exhaust tonal qualities are highly subjective so I dunno because I was fairly sure after reading other opinions that'd I'd be okay with the non-res Milltek and that was not the case in my experience --- using my personal sonic threshold I'd rate it as roughly unrefined and not pleasing to my ear, although sorta fun in a juvenile way I think I'd grow tired of it rather quickly over extended time.

Could just get a resonated Milltek section and swap it in but I'm stubborn in wanting to test the Scorpion system.

 

I'm with you on that note, Oldboy.
Love the Whine!
Very much dislike the rice krispy exhausts that snap, crackle and pop that seem to be so popular in my area.
I went through that phase 40yrs ago as a young adult.
I think the song by The Pursuit of Happiness explains it best.

 

My tuned MC40 has a one-ball exhaust that provides a very nice burble rather than pops/bangs. Had the option for pops/bangs during the tune but like Here2Go I am completely over noise for noise's sake. I also run a Madness Mini CAI that is fully enclosed under the bonnet and draws air directly from the windshield cowl. It has a FANTASTIC supercharger whine because it's pulling cool air from right in front of the driver-side windshield/window.

 

My buddy and I drove my R53 today from town at 5k' elev north towards Winslow and then turned around at prox 7.8k' with prox 125 miles roundtrip. The Milltek non-res in combo with headers/hi-flow cat is still too loud under load for my liking but I don't see a way to reduce that without replacing otherwise quality components. I'd suggest measuring existing clearance from top of the Milltek non-res pipe to calculate max can radius/diameter that will fit without contacting the bottom of the shifter box and confirm adequate clearance before swapping out the Milltek. The Scorpion shown seems has somewhat smaller OD res can but as such, likely won't attenuate DBa to any significant extent. Pics illustrating that situation are in my sig topic for those curious.

 

I'm all gung-ho on giving the Scorpion a go, it's 2.25 diameter pipe as opposed to Milltek's 2.5 and that may make a difference, plus the resonator of course, and supposedly it sounds a bit more refined than the Milltek system supposedly (gathered from a few posts at MiniTorque) so I'm eager to see what it's actually like.

Will be hilarious if I don't like it either and end up just re-using my JCW system!

 

I get it. As I'm too often guilty of doing, "when it doubt, just throw more $$ at it...".
Will be monitoring this for results updates!

 

I'm quite pleased with my X-force header, sport cat, and non-res Milltek combo. It has a deep sound, and only gets loud when I go hammer down though still passes under the 103db limit time that's safe for track days.

I will say there is an odd tone change in the exhaust as rpm's cross 4K, but it may have always been there with the stock exhaust and I never picked up on it before for obvious reasons.
For the SC whine, the DDM intake keeps that sound from being drowned out by the exhaust.

 

I'm really interested to hear the effect if you install a diy sound tube. The kit in the video appears to be well done. One question: won't the sound tube result in a draft in the cabin as air is bled from system on its way to the SC? Maybe that's addressed in the video -- I had to watch with limited volume.

 

Just now watched that video. Oddly, the owner seemed more concerned about step-drilling the large hole in his pretty intake tube than doing same to the vehicle firewall which would have freaked me out.

 

What intake do you have? A great way to make the S/C wine louder is the airbox-to-cowl vent mod - just a hole between the CAI airbox and the plastic partition to the cowl area. Really lets a lot of the S/C wine out. I have the stock airbox cone filter mod with the rubber tube connecting the back of the airbox to a hole drilled to the cowl area - 2.5" diameter IIRC. The S/C wine is maybe even a bit louder than when I had a CAI with its own stainless surround. That CAI did not have a penetration to the cowl area though.

 

It may or may not happen, dependent on where I finally settle on the exhaust loudness scale.

The tubes are capped with plastic, thin enough to let noise through, but thick enough to properly seal.

I saw a DIY method where they used window tint as the cap end seal.

There is also the possibility of unwanted noises coming through, like whistling intake sounds for example, which can be muted by creating "baffles" using rubber glove finger ends.

 

de-flapped JCW

With stock header and JCW exhaust, the whine was fine in-cabin, but with Scorp header + Milltek non-res it is overwhelmed and barely able to be heard.

 

Mind you, all my criticism is coming from a brand new system with under 200 miles and I'm driving like a normal person with no big pulls because I'm breaking in a new clutch, but yesterday on the way to work which was a 150 roundtrip commute I gave it the beans and got it to redline a couple of times, then on return trip home I noticed that the exhaust sound had actually mellowed a bit and an element of rawness was gone --- should have known better than having such a knee-jerk initial impression without letting the system get "broken in" because it seemed to change for the better, although still a bit too loud for my tastes (especially the crackle pops).

Ordered the Scorp this morning as Orranje had it on hand and in stock ready to go, should be here in a week-and-a-half or two.

Anxiously awaiting to find out how it fettles.

In the meantime I was looking around at exhaust options --- have always been tempted by the Invidia but otherwise not much else grabs my gonads.

Youtube sound clips don't seem to convey enough for me to grasp actuality of sound --- really I need to attend a MINI meet because I never have and would greatly enjoy seeing various cars with different mods and talking to the owners, and hopefully as well being able to hear various exhausts in action.

Went down a rabbithole when I discovered that Agency Power offered a titanium unit (MSRP $1,600 I think?) and went reading about tonal differences between titanium and stainless steel, watched a few vids to try and hear and saw a cool one featuring a Honda S2000.



I've never been a JDM dude but I'm fascinated with it though...

...saw on Crooooooober an unusual exhaust design by Japanese company Mini Delta:




Name rang a bell so grabbed my copy of HyperREV New Mini special and indeed the company was featured within the pages,
looks like a wonderful place!




Then visited their website --- that odd exhaust is still available.

It is made by 5ZIGEN for them.

Also they link to a sound clip from 2009 but it didn't exactly sound great to me.

http://www.mini-delta.jp/item/5061/

:

 

What is the weight of that titanium system?

 

14.3 pounds.

Company blurb:

New from Agency Power is our full line up of Titanium Exhaust Systems custom built for your vehicle. Having dealt with Titanium catbacks, mufflers, and other exhaust components since 2004, we have expanded our line up of systems which give you the ultimate advantage in performance and weight savings. Titanium exhausts are extremely lightweight because of material used. Quality is upheld at undescribeable levels because of the process it takes to weld titanium parts. Not only is the weight and strength a key component to the Titanium Exhausts we offer, but the sound is amazing! Having run full Titanium Exhausts on cars such as the Porsche 997 Turbo, Porsche 996 Carrera, BMW M5 F10, Mitsubishi EVO VIII, and more, we can first hand tell you this is one distinct tone. Titanium resonates at a higher pitch than stainless steel. This gives the exhaust a crisper more race like tone. All of the A+ attributes of the Titanium Exhaust by Agency Power certainly make the purchase and use the most enjoyable exhaust you will ever own!

Features:

Fits R53 Mini Cooper S Models (tested on LHD model only)
100% Titanium Construction
Integrated dual 76mm titanium tips
Full system weighs only 6. 5kg (14. 3lbs)
Piping diameter is 60mm throughout
All Agency Power items come with a limited lifetime warranty when you fill out the form here

Note:

This exhaust is made to order. Delivery time is 3-4 weeks.
Item shipping is oversized.

WMW sells it:

https://www.waymotorworks.com/agency...-cooper-s.html

Wonder if he's ever installed one?

Very relevant factoid that he denotes:

"This only fits early 02-04 R53 Cooper S with early style rear exh hangers that point front to back on the car."

I'd imagine that they haven't sold very many, might try and search out the googles to see if anyone has ever splurged on one for their R53.

 

And,
meandering further offtopic as this thread with weird title is allover anything,
a couple more pages from that HyperREV magazine...

...about the only page that I can actually read LOL

We Love MINI!



Veilside kit look pretty good kinda sorta maybe?



But I'm more interested in the eyes as I've always wanted to install some, keep flip-flopping though and not many designs appeal to me, don't like the M7 ones, some off German ebay do appeal though and might grab those, but my favorite were a pair saw in Performance Mini mag done up in an underground comix style with bloodshot eyes...

...first time I've seen this cheeky variant done up in happy Japanese anime stylee:

 

^^^ Your update made me go look for a bookmarked exhaust "sound compilation" video (included Milltek and Scorpion) but that's no longer online. Found this UK install vid on the stainless Scorpion from a year ago. Although I prefer that Milltek uses just one slip-joint connection, agreed Scorpion seems to sound a bit tamer. Sound clips start at prox 5 mins while noting in-car portion provides good perspective on s-charger whine. The author mentioned in the comments section that he didn't use his better pick-up mic during the drive test. Hard to determine for certain but sounds similar to resonated Milltek. Maybe a little quieter but then, author's R53 liikely has OEM header/cat. Curious whether Orranje will pack gummies with yours!

 

Yep!

Saw that viddie and enjoyed the view,
very well-produced.

Gummies are guaranteed with Orranje!

(as seen in the video where he momentarily pauses to enjoy a chew)



With regards to the weight of that titanium system, it got me curious about the various weights between different exhausts, too lazy to search right now, anybody got the quick figures on hand?

I was compelled enough to invest in a cheapie digital crane scale though, so whenever the Scorp gets here I will weigh it along with the Milltek and the JCW.



And,
more Japanese...

...the pic in an above post showing the Delta Mini shop shows a wall of hanging headers,
one of them reminded me of this unusual Saclam design:



Will not reproduce all my meandering in this thread but instead give a quick link to that topic:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-exhausts.html

:

Also,
really hoping that Way may see this thread and post up some of his thoughts regarding R53 aftermarket exhausts as I'm pretty sure that he's installed just about every variant that has ever been made and it'd be great to hear his opinion.

Dude has serious experience and knowledge.

 

A new Nvidia came on my car when I bought it. It was great with the stock header. Just enough pops and crackles on overrun. Now that I've installed the rmw header with cat I'm wondering how loud it's going to be. Finishing up the starter replacement so hopefully it fires back up today or tomorrow. Fwiw when it was idling on the quick jacks I didn't notice much difference from stock. Jan advised switching to the Miltek claiming that the Nvidia will be deafening. That's tbd. This is a great thread and I am enjoying reading mc4s thread too. Keep posting guys.
Brad

 

Will be awaiting your verdict on the final sound.

Good stuff!

Looking forward to hearing how you gauge it.



Threads like this are great fun I think, when it becomes full of tangential squirrels, so further I'll go on the ASBO slang-stuff with Brit-speak freakiness...

...funny how the term sort of became a badge-of-honor amongst hooligan miscreants.




Example of ASBO being used as a descriptor to define a certain type of modified car:

https://www.minitorque.com/threads/r...n-asbo.210003/

excerpt:

"...negative points, it had a ridiculous exhaust on it, Hornet/Malian which was hugely offensive on test driving and on the 200 mile journey back, gave us a headache from the drone...."

ASBO rides seem to be popular on the Grand Theft Auto video game:



I have no inclination whatsoever to ever play GTA, but I have seriously contemplated getting a Playstation again because Gran Turismo was so much damn fun! Problem is that it takes up entirely too much time and these days ain't got that many disposable hours to invest in virtual racing.

Did I mention seagulls?

 

But seriously folks,
getting back on topic somewhat --- as of now I'd rank the non-res Milltek the way I have it configured to be very reminiscent of a Honda fartcan sound, at full bark blarg roar it has a nondescript loudness which I do not find appealing --- a trait perhaps related to pipe diameter because often it seems that the pipes are just too big for a 4 cylinder.

Any thoughts on the topic of pipe diameter and how it affects sound?

One of the most often praised 4 banger exhaust systems is the factory unit installed on the Fiat-Abarth 500,
think I'd agree that it sounds luverly:


My personal favorite 4 sound though is mid-80's Saab Turbo just because I'm partial to those beasts,
they used a massively weighty cast iron manifold and had a very distinctive characterful note.

And to add,
man is Jason Cammisa killin' it or what?

He has been putting out consistently high quality content and I love watching his stuff...

 

Just weeks before scoring my R53, I briefly owned, then promptly sold a 2013 Fiat Abarth. Not 'cus I didn't like it 'cus I did but due to undisclosed hidden body damage at which point I re-listed and sold it on CL disclosing that damage. In any case, the Abarth 1400cc has no mufflers at all from the factory. In the above video, that young guy must have shoved the mic up the exhaust pipe outlet tip to record such a raucous noise! Yes, sporty but IMO not obnoxious.

BTW, I personally don't consider Milltek as "fart can-like" and think it sound goods. Perhaps though, just a little too much of a good thing.

 

Agency Power nla the older systems for all MINIs in Ti. :(

Vivid racing on has the Ti for the F56 now.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-vivid-racing-parts/v-mini/