Four factors influence the sound of a car's exhaust. The first and largest engine size. The larger the engine displacement—usually measured in liters or cubic inches—the greater the power output. Assuming the engine remains the same, muffler type and design, exhaust piping, and exhaust tip style may all be modified or replaced to directly affect your vehicle's overall sound profile. Replacing exhaust system components with components designed to increase exhaust power without muffling the sound will make the exhaust sound louder.
How to make a quiet muffler
A small part of car enthusiasts would like to have a loud, sporty exhaust on their car. Another overwhelming majority of drivers are puzzled by the question of how to make a quiet muffler. It is comfortable to travel in a vehicle when little extraneous sounds penetrate into the car’s interior. The muffler creates background noise, but it can be reduced and the effect you get cannot be ignored.
How to make a quiet muffler with your own hands
Before we start upgrading the exhaust system, let's figure out why there is an increased exhaust sound. In the combustion chamber of the engine cylinder, with each working stroke of the piston, a micro-explosion occurs; it is accompanied by a sharp expansion of gases after the blast wave has done its job, moved the piston down, opened the exhaust valve and rushed through the exhaust system.
The exhaust system has a dual nature of noise:
1. Noise due to vibration of exhaust system elements; 2. The sound of gases expanding.
To combat noise, the weight of the elements should be increased. The thicker the metal, the less noise and vibration. For this reason, the exhaust manifold is the first to receive hot gases from the cylinder head; it is massive. Many car enthusiasts had the opportunity to compare the weight of foreign and domestic cars; they noted that foreign cars have much heavier exhaust system parts. For this reason, “our” cars are less comfortable in sound and noise comparison.
In the exhaust pipe, special elements - mufflers and resonators - will help reduce the speed of gas movement. The resonator is first in line. Under pressure, gases enter the enlarged part of the pipe, where they lose part of their energy and move further with less momentum. The exhaust gases in the muffler labyrinth system completely lose energy and are dissipated. On a foreign car, the quiet muffler has some separate housings.
What is a resonator and exhaust manifold
When planning to modernize the exhaust system, in order to reduce the exhaust sound, you need to be prepared financially and technically. We will need a set of locksmith tools for the car driver.
In addition, you will definitely need:
1. A workbench equipped with a vice; 2. Angle grinder and set of discs; 3. Welding machine (preferably an inverter or semi-automatic).
The most affordable way to make a quiet muffler in an average garage is to include an additional resonator in the existing exhaust system.
There are two options for upgrading the exhaust system: installing an additional resonator in the area between the main resonator and the factory-made muffler, or making such a device yourself.
When considering the issue, you need to keep in mind that either option will entail different costs. If a car enthusiast has an unlimited budget, then you can buy a new resonator, then cut out part of the pipe and weld it into the free space. The second method is more exciting and we will tell you about it in more detail.
Manufacturing an additional resonator consists of the following steps:
1. A body (barrels) is made from a piece of sheet steel or thin-walled steel pipe in the form of 2 halves; 2. On a section of the exhaust system pipe, which corresponds to the length of the body and is located behind the main resonator of the holes; 3. Connect the halves of the body to the holes on the pipe and scald; 4. Place basalt mineral wool into the cavity of the new body; 5. Weld the end parts of the resonator.
Finally, treat the seams after welding, clean them, degrease the new resonator, and if possible, paint it with heat-resistant paint.
Additional problems of a quiet car
When the issue is resolved and a quiet muffler is made, the problem areas become obvious. It should be remembered that when making a “quiet” exhaust system, this leads to an increase in the weight of the entire structure.
As a result, the car enthusiast takes additional measures to strengthen rubber shock absorbers and brackets. You also need to take into account that the balance of exhaust gases and air entering the engine has changed. After the exhaust system has been upgraded, it is necessary to test the engine operation in different modes and make additional adjustments to the air filtration and fuel supply systems.
How to reduce the sound of a muffler in a car with your own hands
There are fans of direct-flow exhaust, when a loud roar of the engine is heard. But there are also those who think about how to reduce the sound of the muffler. If you make a quiet muffler with your own hands, then the ride will be more comfortable, because the cabin will be quieter. Especially on domestic cars like the VAZ 2109, the question of how to make a silent muffler is relevant. If you can make a quiet muffler on the nine, then the car will bring more joy to its owner.
Ways to muffle the exhaust sound
Before tuning the exhaust system, you need to understand the reasons why the sound of the engine becomes louder over time. The operation of the engine itself is a fairly loud process, but the muffler and other components of the exhaust system perfectly suppress this loud noise. Without a muffler, the engine noise is very loud.
The noise occurs because the fuel mixture explodes in the combustion chamber, releasing gases that then exit into the exhaust pipe. We will not talk in detail about the operation of the engine, you can read about this in another article, but here we will talk specifically about how to muffle the exhaust sound.
The explosion releases energy that pushes the piston, and when the piston has moved the required distance, the exhaust valve opens, through which the exhaust gases exit and go further through the exhaust system. To effectively absorb noise, thick metal parts are used. So, the thicker the metal used in the exhaust system, the quieter the car will drive due to the fact that there will be less vibration. The exhaust manifold is the first one to absorb the noise, which is why it is made so large and thick, so it best dampens the noise that comes from the cylinder block. Even if you compare the exhaust pipe of any more or less normal foreign car with the exhaust pipe of a domestic car, you can see that in foreign cars the pipe is heavier and thicker, which is why such a car runs quieter.
This is why when you drive an old VAZ 2114, the noise is such that you can’t hear what the passengers in the rear seats are saying, which is why you start thinking about how to muffle the exhaust sound.
The exhaust system also has a resonator, which is needed to reduce the speed of gases through the exhaust pipe. And after the resonator comes a muffler. When exhaust gases pass through the resonator, they lose some energy and continue to flow more slowly.
Gases lose the largest share of their energy in the muffler. If we consider a good muffler, then it contains several separate housings, after passing through which little remains of the noise.
How to make the quietest muffler for a car yourself?
When the issue with noise during car operation has gone too far, and you have decided to make the quietest muffler for the car, then you need to start by preparing the tool. We will need:
- welding machine, an inverter or semi-automatic will do;
- angle grinder and discs for it;
- workbench with a vice.
It will also be interesting: Tuning the Opel Astra N will make the car more playful.
The surest and most inexpensive way to make the muffler quieter is to weld in an additional resonator. This can be done in a garage yourself.
An additional resonator can be placed between the standard resonator and the muffler. You can install a ready-made resonator; you just need to weld it into the desired place in the pipe. Or you can assemble the resonator yourself. For those who doubt whether the exhaust will become quieter if an additional resonator is welded in, the answer is clear - the exhaust will become quieter. If everything is done correctly.
How to make an additional muffler resonator with your own hands
Making a muffler resonator with your own hands is quite simple; now we will discuss each step in detail. First you need to make an outer casing, it can be made from any steel pipe with thin walls: which looks like this:
The end part looks like this:
Then you need to take perforated iron with a thickness of 4.5 mm. This is enough to insert it into the end part, as in the photo below:
Next, you need to fill the resonator with something; ordinary tin sponges are perfect for this purpose.
Then you need to pull the resonator body onto these washcloths, as in the photo:
Then you need to take rivets and rivet the entire structure, so you don’t even need to weld it, like this:
For those who like to cook, you can also brew the end parts to the central part.
When everything is ready, you need to process the seams and you can paint them with heat-resistant paint, and after that the quietest muffler on your car is ready.
Possible inconveniences associated with a quiet muffler
The car will now be quieter, which is what we wanted to achieve, but there may be some disadvantages - an increase in the overall weight of the exhaust system. Therefore, it is necessary to hang stronger brackets so that the exhaust pipe does not come off on rough roads. There are also cases when rubber shock absorbers are hung. But in fact, a homemade resonator will weigh about 2-3 kg.
It is also necessary to test in action how the exhaust system works so that gases exit normally through the exhaust pipe. Therefore, it is necessary to check at higher speeds, then it will be possible to draw the right conclusions. But as a rule, gases will escape through such a resonator without difficulty.
And then in the video there is another way to reduce the sound of the muffler, making a really very quiet exhaust system:
auto-cool.com
Watch the video
How to make an exhaust?
To get rid of the strong exhaust noise produced by a car, you need to perform a number of operations. A person does not necessarily have to be well versed in the operation of the exhaust system of a car engine, because you can always use our hint. The engine and exhaust system operate in a balanced manner so as not to interfere with the operation of individual elements. And if this balance is upset, the operation of the entire motor may deteriorate as a result. A broken muffler requires repair, so you need to make the muffler first and then make changes and upgrades.
Let's start work
Since you are planning to build engine soundproofing for your engine, consider treating the engine compartment. So, you will cover all the walls with a special material that will absorb sounds and combat their spread inside the car. Once you're done, remember to check thoroughly. It is necessary to check the quality of work and the presence of errors. Don’t be lazy, carry out comprehensive work on the car body, so you will really feel that the cabin has become much quieter.
During the operation of a car and other equipment, owners often note that the engine has become loud. As a rule, loud engine operation is more likely to occur when the engine is cold; less often, an increase in noise is noticeable when the internal combustion engine is warm.
At the same time, many car owners are beginning to worry whether this phenomenon is normal or if there are any problems with the engine. In this article we will talk about why the engine runs loudly, and also in what cases the noisy operation of the power plant is a sign of a malfunction.
Read in this article
How to repair a muffler with your own hands without welding?
Now there is a new method for restoring the performance of exhaust system parts using a universal composite polymer (various sealants). Thanks to their special composition, they harden quickly and are not subject to external negative influences, including high temperature changes, which is very important for the exhaust system. In car markets you can find two types of sealants, thanks to which you can repair the muffler yourself without welding:
- Plastic.
- Liquid.
In combination with high-quality reinforcing components, these types of sealants will create a reliable “patch” on the burnt-out section of the muffler. Car enthusiasts note the effectiveness of plastic elements. It is these sealants that are characterized by high adhesion to metal, even if there is rust on it.
