because streetcar / because racecar my custom ft86speedfactory varex exhaust
 

greetings folks... i have to apologize in advance for the lack of caps and probably some other punctuation, i spilled my tea on my keyboard this am and it is still very upset with me. both of my shift keys results in some very strange character sets being dumped to the screen :bonk:

my 4-1 catless header should arrive this week and after living with my catted nameless front pipe and nameless 3 inch axleback, i decided there would be times that the catless header would just be too loud for my aging ears. mainly early in the am or late at night on the fast idle cold starts.

i also wanted to get rid of the factory midpipe in the quest for more powa. i now nameless said they didn't see much gains with it, but i think that is because they have a 2 and a quarter inch step down where the stock doughnut gasket goes to connect to the catback... anyway.


so here were my requirments

• i want it quiet when i want or need it to be quiet
• i want it to be because racecar when i want to have fun
• i want it to be as light as possible while still being less than 1,000 bucks

after lots of searching i finally decided no one made the exhaust i wanted so i would have to make my own. i wanted to try out the varex mufflers but non one makes a system using them for out fitment. i spoke with a couple of builders and decided it would cost me almost as much to start from scratch as it would to modify an existing setup. so, i contacted the good folks at ft86speedfactory to get some dimensions on their single exit v2. yo shocked me when he said, send us a link to the muffler you want to use, we may be able to do a custom setup for you....

the way the varex mufflers work is fairly trick. they have a chambered path inside the perimeter of the can, and a straight through core. there is an electronic butterfly, similar to an e cutout, that opens and closed with a wireless remote to control which path the gasses take.


the muffler only took about a week to get to speedfactory from Australia. a couple weeks latter and i had it in my hands. enough typing, on to the pics and video. i will get some better video in the am but this gives you an idea... i kept the audio untouched so you can hear it well on good speakers, if you listen you can hear the motor open and close the valve once it kicks down off of fast idle.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l79WXhU7DTo"]i will figure out how to embed the you tubes in the morning, for now click and follow[/ame]

EDIT:
I added a road dyno comparison of the varex closed vs open with My FA20club.com 4-1 catted long tube header. The varex is doing it's job perfectly. The only changes i am going to make is going to catless header section and installing a longer resonator in the midpipe.

i used the vmk10-250 muffler. if i were to do it over again, i think i would go with a smaller can and probably round rather than oval. at the time i wanted the biggest can they had to make sure it was quiet. Built, and shipped i came in at $1038.

Total catback weight is 30lbs right on the button. Sound levels taken from a free android app so only for the sake of comparison:

• stock muffler cold start - 87db
• stock muffler warm idle - 75db
• varex cold start closed - 84db
• varex cold start open - 90db
• varex warm idle closed - 70db
• varex warm idle open - 80db

You can hear in the video it sounds a little funky with the butterfly closed as it idles down. It is only at about 1200 rpm and seems to be a resonance spot, other that specific rpm it sounds like the stock catback in the cabin. Either way i don't plan on keeping it closed much, once you open it up, it sounds very nice to my ears anyway.

Inside the car, it sounds like the stock catback when the valve is closed, and just a bit louder than the nameless 3" axle back was when it is open. this is exactly what i have been looking for and i want to give a huge thanks to the guys at @FT-86 SpeedFactory for knocking this out for me.

Still need to modify the front pipe and catback connection point to get rid of the 2.25" step down at the doughnut gasket. Will try to get that done in the next week or so.

Better video's to come...

Thanks again for opportunity. We loved this project, as Yo has already probably told you; custom things like this are great to do. We test fit it twice on the race car to make sure it would clear a couple aftermarket sway bars even. ;)

A little jealous!

-Jeremy

Thanks again man, I'm sure i will be hitting you guys up for some springs and sways soon, glad to know you guys checked for clearance since i never thought about that :)

Awesome! Its something i have been thinking about doing myself. Any chance down the line you could do some dyno runs showing the power difference between open and closed?

No problem. :) Also fits the Drivewaylabs Rear Diffuser. :party0030:

lol that was the big one i was thinking would not fit, if it fits I am super stoaked :burnrubber:

Absolutely plan on it, i will be back on the dyno very soon to do my pump gas header re tune, and again for E85 header re tune. I will do pulls with it closed for both!

I would like to hear the exhaust revving! I just ordered a ft86speedfactory v2, and can't wait! I'm putting it on a factory stock car though.

Send us a video, we'll trade ya a shirt or something. ;)

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD

Done! I'll get it installed and get some video with the gopro.:party0030::happy0180:

That's pretty awesome, I was looking for something like this setup for when I get my headers.. quiet on the street, but open it up on the track or when I feel like it, and with a single exit like the FT86SF V2. I'm curious to know how this holds up over time, and also how difficult it is to wire everything together?

That is so awesome ...

What's the muffle made of?

Awesome stuff as always. I can't wait to see the dyno results.