Extractors

[The Monty]

Originally Posted by JMO

Anyone? lol

To be honest, I would only heat wrap things that were heat wrapped from the factory. Maybe the intake, but that may keep more heat in, so may not be worth it.

[JMO]

Well I can't see anything that is heat wrapped so I guess I'll leave it be.

Cheers

[Sox]

Originally Posted by JMO

ok. Thanks. I'd guess mine is 'mild'. I have a 3" intake, high flow cat and 2.5" exhaust. Not exactly heavy or wild :P

I hope these extractors give it a nice little boost

Yep, mild, and yep, will help performance.

I don't think that a tune or cam/head work would do much for daily driving
or would it.... :

Cam and head work is what can really push things along.
Good headwork can do wonders.
Do the tune last, otherwise anything in between messes with it and it needs doing again.

While on the topic of heat wrap. What things should I look at in particular to cover up?

Sorry, caught up in other stuff

Extractors do generate a lot more heat and anything within a few inches can certainly fry. My mind is a little blank at the moment, but from memory it's only the clutch cable, accel cable and steering uni joint which might need to be wrapped / shielded.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by The Monty

Just to clear one or two things up.
The 3 inch system I have is probably one of the worst sounding exhaust Ive heard. At idle it sounds freaking awesome, up to 2000rpm is even ok. You get over that and it starts getting loud. You get over 5 and its insane. Over 6 and you need earplugs.

Yer, that's the biggy for me, I'm getting to be a bit of an old fart and loud pipes give me the willies. (In a car anyway, my bikes make a racket).
I mainly hate droning systems, and the bigger it is the worse it gets.

I loved my Lukey, that was the best sounding system Ive heard.
As for my times, the times with the old exhaust were done in Winter. RA, track temp, and ambient temp were all pretty low, I think RA's were in the negatives. The 14.9's were done on a warmer night in spring.
I did change the cat and extracors as well,

Ok, do you know if it was a sports 2.5" cat, or was it standard and just hooked into a 2.5" system?

but I think that the three inch was still the better option for ME, as Ill probably end up on boost in the years to come.
And tyres were the same, Nexcen N3000's, through my awesome single spinner with 3.08 gears and no stall, except for the 14's I had to let the pressure down to mid-high 20's as I just could not get grip no matter what I tried. It was never a problem before with the 2.5 incher.
MPH was up around 2-2.5, and my 60 ft dropped around .1 and the 1/8th mile was a hell of a lot quicker.
As for whats better, Id say whatever suits what you need. For me its the 3 inch, and I like my decision. My whole point from my first post before I got flamed (not by you sox) was that not everything you get told is true. I was told I shouldnt have a three inch as my times would blow out, the car would be undriveable, no backpressure, yadayadayada. I took the timeslips back to the shop that done it, and they were blown away.

Fair enough, I would never say they go worse, because that's clearly not the case, why would it.
But, I do have my reasons for recommending a smaller system for certain people.
As I said earlier there is no ideal system for everyone.

[JMO]

So can heat wrap be bought at repco, supercheap etc? Is this the type you're talking about?


http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/bg...hield_tape.php

Also, how does the o2 sensor stand up to the heat? I'm guessing the wiring should be able to stand the heat because it isn't that much hotter than stock?

[Stav]

Heat wrap has a few effects on the exhaust system..

Firstly it will increase gas velocity and scavenging in the exhaust due to an increase in heat retention in the pipes . Your car will be faster.

Secondly it is said to have the effect of causing more heat build up in the exhaust port..which heats up the head alot..may lead to pinging. Others claim it overheats the headers and they get distorted ..welds break and stuff like that.

I ran my pb with header wrap around my headers knowing the risks as my headers were literally cooking my power steering rack,power steering switch,plastic au1 booster and a bunch of other plasticy parts.

[StealthAu]

I've got to say my 3" system would be the exact oposite of what you described Monty, it is quite and some what toneless at idle and under 2000rpm or there abouts, but abouve that has a nice throaty roar to it, need a combination of both our systems
And what I just said also applied pre boost, as does the following, I notice gains accross the whole rev range when increasing from the 2.5 to the 3" system, the gains were quite larger over 3000rpm but still reasonable gains all round.
Alot of people say a 3" system is too big for the I6, all of which haven't tried it, speak up if I am wrong, but I think it seems all that have changed from a 2.5" system to a 3" have claimed gains.
Maybe it's just the same as the tickford snorkels and the like, the gains are just wanted so the mind places them there

[The Monty]

Cat was a standard item, is now 3 inch. Actually, I have no idea how old the cat in it is. I might change to a good three inch cat, see if I can scrape a few more kw's out of the car.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by The Monty

Cat was a standard item, is now 3 inch. Actually, I have no idea how old the cat in it is. I might change to a good three inch cat, see if I can scrape a few more kw's out of the car.

In other words you compared a standard cat to a 3" sports cat?
You didn't compare a 2.5" sports cat to a 3" sports cat?

And I assume the standard cat was an old unit, possibly an original. How many k's did the car have?

I think you can see yourself this was a pretty flawed comparison.
You didn't really compare a complete 2.5" system to a complete 3" system.

[The Monty]

And if you REALLY want to get finnicky, the new Pacie comps still taper down to 2.5 inches before the 3 inch flange. Never did I say I compared two COMPLETE systems. Who knows how many K's the cat had, who knows how many K's this cat has? All Im saying, exactly what I said before, the 3 inch WAS A BETTER CHOICE FOR ME. And it shouldnt be ruled out as a choice because the people who have never tried one have there doubts and spread word of mouth CRAP becuase they dont have one. Every time someone tries something different on this forum, people get flamed because its different and people dont have it. I think its a little thing called jealousy sometimes as people seem to get better results when they dont listen to the advice of people who are afraid of change.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by The Monty

And if you REALLY want to get finnicky, the new Pacie comps still taper down to 2.5 inches before the 3 inch flange.

Well that pretty much proves that the 3" pipe could not possibly have made any difference to your system. The cat and muffler is what made any differences in your system.

Never did I say I compared two COMPLETE systems.

I didn't say you did, but you have implied many times that the 3" system was responsible for your gains, and is what others should use.
That simply isn't the case.

Who knows how many K's the cat had, who knows how many K's this cat has? All Im saying, exactly what I said before, the 3 inch WAS A BETTER CHOICE FOR ME.

If in the longer term you take your mods much further, then of course.

And it shouldnt be ruled out as a choice because the people who have never tried one have there doubts and spread word of mouth CRAP becuase they dont have one.

Of course, nothing should ever be ruled out for nonsense reasons.
However the converse is also true, something shouldn't be made out to be something it isn't by the way of flawed comparisons.

Every time someone tries something different on this forum, people get flamed because its different and people dont have it. I think its a little thing called jealousy sometimes as people seem to get better results when they dont listen to the advice of people who are afraid of change.

I don't think it's jealousy or change or whatever you want to call it, at least it isn't for me anyway.

I just want proper proof that things work, particularly when it goes against common wisdom and a lot of expert opinions.
Hence why I ask you if your cat is old, what diameter is it, blah blah blah.
I'm a firm believer in strict controlled testing to verify performance data.

I don't think it's unreasonable to make all attempts to get to the bottom of any potential performance increase.
What do you think?

[The Monty]

No its not unreasonable at all. If thats the case at all, muffler choice would also have no influence, as its still restricted in part to 2.5 inch at the headers. Cat would also have no part in it as both were of unknown origin, and age, so is insignificant in the comparison.
I still think that a 3 inch should not be ruled out as a mod for a mild 6, show me one person who has one that has a performance complaint. And thats not even touching on the issue that a big chunk of all the atmo 6's in the top 3 of E series, B series and even the AU's all use a three inch OR larger (in the case of the B series guys).
I can also say mine doesnt drone at all, on the highway its virtually silent, but give it some and its loud. Im sure an extra muffler would take care of the noise issue.