Kooks Mufflers with ARH Headers

[MANOFSTEEL69]

Here is one of the videos I did today. The other I will have to edit because it's a little to big.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r424/MANOFSTEEL69/th_Kooksruns002.jpg (http://s354.photobucket.com/albums/r424/MANOFSTEEL69/?action=view&current=Kooksruns002.flv)

[MANOFSTEEL69]

Just to bring everyone up to speed, I spoke with Kooks today about the issue I'm having with my Kooks mufflers. I have some drone at higher speeds 65-75 which is to be expected given my set up.....I'm no longer stock so i'm going to have a different tone then the stock set up. The problem I'm having is sort of a twangy sound....Like a sick crotch rocket at certain rpms. I believe it's a vibration inside the muffler itself. Kooks is going to see if anyone else has a similar issues along with me. As much as I love the sound at idle......I'm leaning towards putting my stock mufflers back on. The twang makes me grit my teeth like I'm in the dentists chair. My wife (who used to design exhausts, she designed the exhaust for the Marauder) feels that there's not enough packing in the muffler to help absorb the vibration. On a lighter note there is a 16lbs difference from the stock mufflers to the Kooks to the good.

[wreckwriter]

This is definitely not good news. I find it fairly unlikely that the very first guy that got these just happened to get a one-off bad set. Sounds more like someone was lax in testing.

[MANOFSTEEL69]

Not to bash them at all.....I just feel they mainly designed this around a more stock like set-up. I explained to him that I'm just the first of many of these different cam set-ups to come. So, they will go back to the drawing board. I told them to get a hold of Mike to maybe use his car for testing of the exhaust,cam combo. We all know there really isn't much difference (ARH) in the headers and long tubes....There isn't that much to change.

[wreckwriter]

Not to bash them at all.....I just feel they mainly designed this around a more stock like set-up. I explained to him that I'm just the first of many of these different cam set-ups to come. So, they will go back to the drawing board. I told them to get a hold of Mike to maybe use his car for testing of the exhaust,cam combo. We all know there really isn't much difference (ARH) in the headers and long tubes....There isn't that much to change.

Mine is going to be closer to yours than stock, in fact its going to be almost exactly like yours (cam may be a bit different but likely not much) before long so I remain concerned. I wouldn't really expect the cam to make that much difference in muffler performance, just overall power (i.e. a blown G8 with a stock cam will still make the muffs sound like ass).

I dunno, we'll see.

[GeorgeInNePa]

This is why the mufflers will be the last thing I change.

In fact, the stockers sound pretty good, at WOT, from inside the car.

[wreckwriter]

I hate the stockers. I'll cut my MF cat-backs up if I have to.

[GRRRR8]

You hate the stockers because of how they sound stock. Mine are getting a little louder. Nothing like multiple 6200 rpm blasts to loosen em up!

[-Ray-]

I hope you get them fixed up Jay. One of the video's you posted had so much drone, your voice was not audible.

[MANOFSTEEL69]

Here, finally, is the clip windows down.
http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r424/MANOFSTEEL69/th_ARHHeadersandKooksMufflersRoadTest.jpg (http://s354.photobucket.com/albums/r424/MANOFSTEEL69/?action=view&current=ARHHeadersandKooksMufflersRoadTest.flv)

[GTPprix]

That system was designed around Kooks headers so my guess is it's just "mismatched" if you will, I know Kooks did ALOT of harmonic tuning on these thats why they took so long to get to market IE the flex joints for AFM noise ect. Do you have cats?

[MANOFSTEEL69]

I don't think "mismatched" is the word I would use when even Kooks agrees that there isn't much difference between the two systems. More than likely it's the packing, or lack of, in the muffler itself. Supposedly Kooks is working on another muffler.....so we'll see. After I go to Corsa Friday, the stocks are going back on. Between the drone and the twang I can't stand it.