quiet turbos, Lancia HF

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

There was a question as to why turbocharged cars exhaust note is (or seems)
quieter than non-turbo - 

Answer is that the turbocharger uses some of the energy (gas flow) of the
exhaust and uses it to drive the turbo - less energy equals less noise.
Explanation somewhat simplified, but that's the general idea. I have heard
some turbocharged engines which had no muffler at all, and were quieter than
the normally aspirated version of the same engine with mufflers. (They also
sound better. - IMHO, but I'm a big fan of turbines anyway: If you have
200,000 HP to play with, you can make ANYTHING fly.) Can I put a PT-6A into
my 5KS? It weighs the same, but makes LOTS more HP.)

(Lancia HF: HF stand for "Holy F***!" which is what the owner says when he
discovers how long it will take to get the part and what it will cost. Sorry
- couldn't resist that one. Had a Lancia Flaminia V-6 once as a shop car,
company took it in on trade to make a deal on a Ferrari, then absolutely
couldn't sell it. Went from $5,000 to $4,000 to $2000 to $600, then decided
we might as well drive the darn thing - kept it insured - one fine day it
backfired though the open (no air filters) down-draft Webers, and caught
fire - Hooray! - until half a dozen good samaritans came out of the woodwork
and put out the fire by throwing sand onto the engine - and into the open
Webers. AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!! Left the company back in 1968, for all I know,
they're still driving it around!)

Best Regards,

Mike Arman