[Vwdiesel] mufflerectomy, postscript

Wed Jun 18 20:35:26 EDT 2003

Nate,

I think I will do some experimenting as well. Here in Maryland you need
to have certain things to pass inspection (to get tags) and a muffler is
one of them!!!  Mine fell right apart in the same place yours sounds
like it broke. From the looks of it, if you follow the toilet bowl down
on the NA, then see where it turns to go under the car, it broke through
right there. Or should I say rusted through?!?!?  I'll see if I can fix
it enough to pass inspection...and then it's experiment time.

Mikey

______________________________________________________

Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs Italian, mechanics
German, the lovers French and it is all organized by the Swiss. .

Hell is where the police are German, the chefs British, the mechanics
French, the lovers Swiss and it is all organized by the Italians.

-----Original Message-----
From: Nate Wall [mailto:natewall1 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 1:31 PM
To: Doyt W. Echelberger; Michael Hitchings
Cc: vwdiesel at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [Vwdiesel] mufflerectomy, postscript

Years ago I had to deal w/ this issue when the TD
muffler broke off right where the exhaust hanger is
"Clamped", yes w/ a hose type clamp from the factory)
on the pipe leading into the muffler. Rust started
there and it got weak and broke. I tried fabricating a
pipe and leaving the muffler off. I connected the pipe
w/ a muffler clamp. Contrary to what others have said,
the exhaust was VERY loud without the muffler, way too
loud for me. This is on a turbodiesel, too. Also, I
did not do a very good job fabricating the pipe. It
vibrated and buzzed like hell and resonated thru the
body of the car. Drove be nuts! This happened because
I could not keep it off of the rear axle beam. After
three months of dicking with it, I went to VW and
bought a brand spanking new muffler for about $120.
BTW that was down from about $350 a couple years
earlier! It was fairly difficult to remove the old
muffler pipe from the resonator, as I recall. End of
problem.  BTW I get about 10 years out of the OEM
rubber muffler hangers. Yes, the muffler weight about
10 -15 pounds.

--Nate
--- "Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt at NWOnline.Net> wrote:
> I read over the several posts on this topic, and
> realized that no one has
> commented on one of the advantages of getting rid of
> the rear muffler: It
> is a huge, heavy chunk of hollow steel which hangs
> there on bouncy little
> rubber bands that break about every six months. And
> because of its weight
> and the diesel vibration, it is prone to cracking
> its inlet and outlet
> pipes where they attached. When I took it off and
> carried it to the garage,
> I was surprised at how heavy that whole thing was.
> The car handled better
> when it was gone. And the engine ran better without
> it's restriction. Mine
> was the original muffler, 18 years old. It never
> rusted out but its pipes
> cracked off several times. A real boat anchor,
> amazingly durable.
>
> Certainly there is a lighter way (or even multiple
> ways) to reduce the
> exhaust noise, and whatever you use can be placed in
> locations that won't
> wiggle the tail of the car like a trailer on a semi.
>
> Doyt
>
>  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> At 06:08 AM 6/17/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> >Doyt,
> >
> >Thanks for the info. I have a muffler on there
> right now but the pipe is
> >looking like it may die soon. In fact, I had a
> section fall off (from
> >the toilet bowl to where it goes under the car on
> my 1.6NA) when I towed
> >it home. That's in the passenger seat right now!!!
> >
> >I think I can deal with a little noise like you
> describe. I can put a
> >cheap Autozone chrome downpipe tip on it to keep
> the total noise down,
> >especially in my neighborhood.
> >
> >
> >Mikey
> >
>
>______________________________________________________
> >
> >Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs
> Italian, mechanics
> >German, the lovers French and it is all organized
> by the Swiss. .
> >
> >Hell is where the police are German, the chefs
> British, the mechanics
> >French, the lovers Swiss and it is all organized by
> the Italians.
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Doyt W. Echelberger
> [mailto:Doyt at NWOnline.Net]
> >Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 1:13 AM
> >To: Michael Hitchings
> >Cc: vwdiesel at audifans.com
> >Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] mufflerectomy
> >
> >I'm running my 85 Jetta TD with a straight pipe,
> and what Loren sez is
> >true
> >of my car, also. If I had it to do over, I'd
> probably put a small
> >silencer/glasspack about the middle of the system,
> to soften that
> >BRRRRAAAAAPPPPP that I get when I wind up through
> the gears with a heavy
> >
> >foot. Or maybe just put a deflector on the tail
> pipe, to direct the
> >sound
> >toward the ground.
> >
> >You can hear the straight pipe a block away when
> you get on the pedal,
> >but
> >from inside the car it isn't very noticeable. The
> sound is blasting out
> >the
> >tailpipe, at whatever is behind the car.....that is
> where you hear it.
> >That
> >may be where to soften it.
> >
> >Doyt   in Ohio   USA
> >
> >  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> >At 09:28 AM 6/16/2003 -0700, you wrote:
> > >--
> > >[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> > >
> > >I probably missed this when it's been talked
> about before but....
> > >
> > >On my newly acquired TD (circa '86), if I run a
> muffler-less exhaust,
> >will
> > >it be too loud for my neighbors or will it be
> similar to a TDI
> >(increase
> > >in the turbo whistle, but not increased engine
> sound)?  I know the
> >turbo
> > >acts like a muffler to an extent, but I want to
> try some stuff...all
> >w/o
> > >totally ticking off my neighbors (nice suburban
> subdivision).
> > >
> > >Mikey
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >________________________
> > >
> > >If it ain't broken, still fix it!!!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >---------------------------------
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>
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