Quieting the beast!

[1500valk]

In an attempt to avoid neighbor troubles before they start, I am attemping to quiet my Savage 4.6. Here is a pic of the muffler for it (I am still working on the mounting, this is temporary).

This is a Prather muffler designed for 7.5 cc boat engines. This connects to the end of the tuned pipe and cuts some of the high pitched noise from the engine, and mellows it a little. Will try to test it tomorrow. Prather says that their muffler is good for 2 db from the big 7.5's. And causes no, none, nada, zip, change in backpressure. So you don't lose power, and you don't have to re-tune. I measured the volume of the stock exhaust at 102 db at 3 feet (high speed pass). Will see what this does. Even if it lowers the exhaust note, that should lower the "perceived" loudness of it.

 

[ZANDOR]

Sweet do you have a link to that muffler :shrug:

Looks good

 

[bustedgears]

How much of a noticable difference did it make, and did it effect performance much?

 

[1500valk]

I haven't tested it yet, busted. That is for tomorrow. But I will post information as soon as I get it for sure!
this is the link to the muffler on tower:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXDR49&P=7

one of the owners of Prather emailed me back very quickly when I asked him about their muffler, and if it might work on my savage. He seemed to be interested in the concept, so will send the info on to him, as well.
Also, that muffler weighs almost nothing, and when I get ambitious, I will polish that up. Shouldn't be too hard!

If anyone is curious, this is how it mounts on a boat's tuned pipe:

 

[ZANDOR]

Thanks for the link..
Ill be waiting to here how it did..
And I must say Good thinking

 

[1500valk]

Yeah, I hit the realization after running it with my brother's nitro mt, that his sounded like an electric in comparison. And we couldn't even talk while I was firing the Savvy up. When I set my mind on trying to do something, I search and search and obsess and search, until I find a solution. I knew with all of those airplane and boat dudes out there, that someone has tried to make their craft quieter. in fact, that muffler is mandatory for certain racing on public waters....

 

[sweetdiesel]

Looks cool, kinda like the side pipe of the Tsais Pro.

 

[1500valk]

yeah, i thought so. Should look even better if it's polished. Will let you all know how it sounds....

 

[wannarunem]

please keep us posted...very unique looking

 

[RushRC]

Hmm cool - so have you fired it up?

 

[1500valk]

Yes, just finished my sound meter testing this morning! Sounds so scientific, when in reality it was a fast pass by my DB meter at WOT. Did it 3 times, with same results.
96-97 db with the muffler, 102 db without it. It took out some of the "rappyness" also. It definately sounds more muffled. Will do the final mounting later today.

 

[RushRC]

Cool, did it SEEM to have any negative impact on throttle response or motor performance?

Oh and nothing like the smell of nitro in the AM!

 

[1500valk]

Did not seem to have any impact on the response or top speed. Your mileage may vary!

 

[bustedgears]

Man, now I want to do that to mine.

 

[1500valk]

weird, most people want to make 'em louder! I think total cost was like $28 or so. I won't lie, it's still pretty loud (to me), but takes a lot of the edge off. I would imagine it would look a lot better if I used aluminum tubing instead of the silicone exhaust couplers, but I don't have access to, or talent to use, a good tubing bender.

I have to wonder how quiet it would be if you started with an already quieter tuned pipe.....

 

[greenwing7]

I see a possible money maker for the people with this equiptment and time if people want this stuff

 

[1500valk]

I know a few fabricators who could turn this stuff out. I just wanted to do it as quickly as possible, basically to see if it was possible. I may look into making a more asthetically pleasing setup if I have the time. I posted this to give people ideas on making our hobby a little more acceptable to the general publlic. I would love to see someone improve on it!

 

[bustedgears]

I have the purple pipe. That one's a little quieter, then again, I have the picco .26 engine, so they're about even.

 

[digger]

1500, we have to bend small copper tubing where I work. Tape one end, fill it full of sand, tape the other end.... Bend it, then blow the sand out. Most of the time it doesn't kink. Might try it with aluminum. Start out with a piece longer than ya need. Cut it after you get the bend right.

Looks pretty good the way it is.

 

[1500valk]

I might have to try that.