Exhaust noise

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.kettering.edu>]

On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, Steve Currie - d21 wrote:

> When I was racing Peugeot 505s in SCCA, we ran a straight exhaust (no cat).  The
> car was barely louder than stock.  The turbo eats up all of the noise.

Well, I haven't played with a 20V Audi turbo, but on the 10V, the engine
is VERY noisy if it lacks either a cat or a muffler.  I built a 3" turbo
back system for my 5KCSTQ, and without a cat, but with a fairly
restrictive muffler, it was just barely acceptable as a family car.  When
I later replaced the muffler with a free flowing muffler it became
unacceptable for a family car.  Another 5KCSTQ 3" exhaust system I built
had a slightly different muffler design, with no cat, and it surprised me
by being almost quiet enough to pass the wife test.  I built a full 3" 
system for another 5KCSTQ though with a 3" highflow cat and a free flow
muffler, and it sounded great while being quiet enough for even my wife. 

> >As far as sound and noise go the exhaust is not that much louder than stock. 
> >from a quantitative standpoint probably 3 dBs, from a qualitative standpoint 
> >not much different from stock. To be honest, I was hoping for a more manly 
> >rumble. 

The stock 5KCSTQ, and the stock S4 exhausts have alot of muffling in 
addition to the cat, so frank's observation doesn't surprise me at all.

Later,
Graydon D. Stuckey
No Audis!  :-(
Yet!  :-)