Milltek Exhaust system

[Xero-Limit]

We just put in a borla header with one of these exhausts, and I was blown away at how NOT loud it was (resonated with stock front/overpipe). One of the nicest systems IMO. The tips lined up perfectly, without the pipe hitting the rear cross member or hanging too low by the diff.

[atledreier]

Tried to capture some outside noise as I was curious how my car actually sounds outside the cockpit.
Note that the video is recorded with a GoPro camera that is lacking a little in the midbass. It sounds pretty accurate on good speakers or headsets with the sound turned up a bit.

[ame]http://youtu.be/PaGsFwy_E24[/ame]

[Trettiosjuan]

I've had my secondary resonated for two months and 4000km now. Driving calmly it is very discrete now, more so then before, you can just enjoy the exhaust above the engine bay sounds. But when hot (driving harder) it becomes louder and sounds just nice without being loud. Some car friends who came along for a fun ride at different occasions and that didn't know anything about the exhaust spontaneously commented on how good it sounded, yet noise level was what they expected to be stock. Which is basically the essence of this exhaust, as it should have been. Before people didn't comment on the exhaust sounding good, because you hardly heard it at all to start with...

[Ganthrithor]

I think my resonated cat-back system has a leak somewhere: the car sounds normal on cold starts, but once it gets up to operating temperatures I get this awful, higher-pitched, farty sound of escaping gases from somewhere under the car (you really hear it if you open up the driver's door). I don't have a lift so I can't figure out exactly where it's coming from, but it sounds like the general area of the midpipe and seems to be heat-dependent. Any ideas what this would probably be? Bad gasket somewhere?

I had the guys at my area Subaru dealer look at it a few days ago when I was in for a fluid swap, but they said they couldn't find any leaks. I assume this is because they just put the car on a lift and ran it cold-- it sounds pretty normal from a cold start and the system takes a long time to heat up if the car's just idling as it would be on a lift.

I really need to get this fixed since my car now sounds ricey as hell once it's warmed up :P

[Trettiosjuan]

When installing a system like this it is important to go out for a proper drive to get the exhaust properly hot, and then retighten as parts have expanded. Not every shop does this as it adds time to the install.

If you have the secondary cat-back, there is only one gasket where the system connects to the OE mid pipe with 2nd cat. This is under you car near the gearbox brace. The next connection downstream that can leak loudly is just before the back box situated at the rear, this is a slip-on with clamp.
If you have someone in the hot engined car, one may use a mobile phone under the car to film and locate the leak - if you don't hear it already.
Retighten, replace gasket (if there is one) and or use "exhaust paste" that expands and seals the leaking joint.

[HotLeopardMama]

I have cracks in the weld where the piping connects to the canister. Womp womp. :-\

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by HotLeopardMama

I have cracks in the weld where the piping connects to the canister. Womp womp. :-\

Ugh. I finally got mine up on a lift at a non-dealer where I could get under the car and look at it... what we found isn't pretty:



It looks like it's not even a weld that's torn-- it looks like the whole flange that the pipe section welds to has ripped apart.

If that shit's going to tear to bits every time the kink in the piping that goes under the diff/axles rubs then I'm going to need to switch to the non-resonated midpipe. The ground clearance on that bit of pipe that hooks under the rear suspension is so stupidly bad-- I'm lowered less than an inch from stock ride height and have plenty of clearance everywhere else on the car even for the worst California bumps / ramps / drainage depressions, but there are a few spots around town where I literally can't avoid rubbing that pipe elbow even when I'm doing half a mile per hour slipping the clutch in first gear... silly design. It's a real shame, because I love everything else about this system and the resonated setup is great for a DD sound-wise.

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

It looks like it's not even a weld that's torn-- it looks like the whole flange that the pipe section welds to has ripped apart

Wow, that sucks! Have you tried contacting your dealer or manufacturer for a warranty claim? I've been noticing a very mild high pitched noise too, but was not sure where it was coming from. I also have the resonated and will jack-up the car tonight to check.

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by BigFatFlip

Wow, that sucks! Have you tried contacting your dealer or manufacturer for a warranty claim? I've been noticing a very mild high pitched noise too, but was not sure where it was coming from. I also have the resonated and will jack-up the car tonight to check.

Does it sound like Obi Wan is disabling your tractor beams on the overrun?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f62pW0J2JsA"]Greatest Sound Ever (Tractor Beam) - YouTube[/ame]


Lol, that's what mine sounds like. Combine with plenty of farting noises as you hop on the throttle... such awful sounds :\

I'll send an email to Mann about it, but looking at Milltek's warranty it looks like they specifically don't cover damage from rubbing. Normally I'd say that's fair enough, but given how easy it is to hit this one on things I'm a little irritated-- if you can't clear normal road obstacles while crawling over them at snail speeds while at nearly stock ride height I'm not sure how you're meant to avoid this...

Great looking car, btw. Saw that picture of it in that "first track day" thread... thought I spied a Milltek system on there. What wheels are you running? Car looks really great with those wheels, that exhaust, the Tom's and those rally armor flaps.

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

Does it sound like Obi Wan is disabling your tractor beams on the overrun?

Lol, that's what mine sounds like. Combine with plenty of farting noises as you hop on the throttle... such awful sounds :\

I'll send an email to Mann about it, but looking at Milltek's warranty it looks like they specifically don't cover damage from rubbing. Normally I'd say that's fair enough, but given how easy it is to hit this one on things I'm a little irritated-- if you can't clear normal road obstacles while crawling over them at snail speeds while at nearly stock ride height I'm not sure how you're meant to avoid this...

Great looking car, btw. Saw that picture of it in that "first track day" thread... thought I spied a Milltek system on there. What wheels are you running? Car looks really great with those wheels, that exhaust, the Tom's and those rally armor flaps.

Hmmm... I love how specific you are Now that I think about it, it didn't quite sound like that, but now I'm worried its not the exhaust... I hear ya on the lack of clearance. I'm at stock height and still scrape going in and out of my drive way (garage is under the house, so I have to go over the sidewalk to go down to my driveway).

Thanks for the compliments, I didn't even see the "first track day" feature, I usually just go straight to my subscibed threads. Wheels are gold Enkei RC-T4's wrapped in RE11A's.

[F1fletch]

So are we seeing a potential problem with low hanging resonator and subsequent rubbing and or breaking of welds. This is NOT good at all, it seems to hang a nit low in some of the pics I have seen. I will be scraping my driveway for sure... :-(

[HotLeopardMama]

Originally Posted by F1fletch

So are we seeing a potential problem with low hanging resonator and subsequent rubbing and or breaking of welds. This is NOT good at all, it seems to hang a nit low in some of the pics I have seen. I will be scraping my driveway for sure... :-(

I haven't scraped mine and it's resonated, but I do have the funky weld problem. :-\

I think I'm only dropped about an inch or so on the stock rims.

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by F1fletch

So are we seeing a potential problem with low hanging resonator and subsequent rubbing and or breaking of welds. This is NOT good at all, it seems to hang a nit low in some of the pics I have seen. I will be scraping my driveway for sure... :-(

The scraping for me is more due to my driveway (I basically have to "high center" to get into my garage) but was never a problem with stock. Moving up to 225 tires gave me the little bit of clearance I needed, so no scraping since.

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by F1fletch

So are we seeing a potential problem with low hanging resonator and subsequent rubbing and or breaking of welds. This is NOT good at all, it seems to hang a nit low in some of the pics I have seen. I will be scraping my driveway for sure... :-(

I'm pretty sure most aftermarket systems will be this way, since there's nowhere else to route the pipes :\

It's not the resonator that scrapes-- the resonator is fine. It's the little kink in the pipe that dips down around the diff and under the axles that gets too low and extends too far out in front of the wheels. My guess is that to eliminate the problem you'd need to work a much tighter set of bends into the pipe (so as to get the low point "closer to the wheel hubs," which would probably increase back pressure. Still, I'd rather lose a hp or two to increased pressure than rub the thing pulling into/out of parking lots... just an annoying quirk of these cars I guess.

Originally Posted by BigFatFlip

Thanks for the compliments, I didn't even see the "first track day" feature, I usually just go straight to my subscibed threads. Wheels are gold Enkei RC-T4's wrapped in RE11A's.

Man it's a good thing I didn't see those wheels before I bought my Alleggeritas, or I'd have had to have a set of those Enkeis instead. What horny-rific wheels. They look exactly like what I'd hoped for based on the blurred spokes in your photo! I'm filled with want.