Not going to be everyone's cup of tea I know, but for those interested in getting a bit more sound, I hope this may be of use!
So in my quest to get a *bit* more noise out of the N52 engine, I must have had a rush of blood to the head or something and agreed to remove the backbox from the Zed. It started off as just removing the middle resonators but eventually agreed that it would probably be a waste of time and not actually give much more sound if any so went straight to chopping the back box. Due to basically zero info on the interwebs about getting this done or more to the point any video's/soundclips of what it sounded like (unless Im missing something), it was total stab in the dark but as its a fully reversible procedure I went for it, nervous to be honest as I really didn't want some hideously loud Saxo cherry bomb style thing on the back. It was between this or an AFE induction kit, at around £400, not worth it in my opinion.
Anyway, kept the tips pretty much as stock looking as possible, took about two hours. First impressions......
On start-up and idle, not much different at all, makes little difference. Pottering around at low revs/round town sort of driving again little difference. It's there don't get me wrong, there is a difference, but probably not what you would expect, subtle really. It does burble and pop like a mentalist though, seriously its always at it in any gear on de-acceleration, love or hate it, does sound kind of cool! Are these engines set up purposely to over-fuel a bit to protect the engine?
Giving it the beans, sounds really sweet, not a massive change in the note or a huge in your face noise, but just makes what was already there louder so plus points there in my book. On over-run you get some massive pops and bangs occasionally, see video for example!
Negative points.....it's boomy sitting at around 2.7k rpm to around 3k rpm, which as you guessed it is around motorway cruising speed. Not going to lie here, its not my cup of tea in that department, its not horrendous and turn the radio up a bit and you kind of forget about it....but it is there...and I would imagine on a long journey, it would get on your tits. Its a risk I took being a second car and using it mostly for 'fun' trips and general summer time cruising about. If it was my daily drive though, I would have swapped it back already to be honest. As it stands, I'll probably keep it as is for summer but most likely change it back to stock soon after.
Summary: Cost me £200, completely reversible and is great fun now and again to really get the engine singing when your giving it the beans. As a daily driver, I wouldn't go there personally but then I'm no boy racer anymore
so you may want to consider other options, although probably more costly!
Video is pretty lame but you get the idea, few drive-by's and standard behind car rev-fest! ****Does anyone know what that kind of fart sound is when the revs are coming down on the behind car shot? Haven't noticed it from inside the car before, might be a trip back to the exhaust place here!****
I'll try get some better video/sound tomorrow, in-car is difficult due to other noise/rubbish Iphone mic!
[youtube]Xc1iDk-qlDQ[/youtube]
[youtube]b1nO98MyHKg[/youtube]
So in my quest to get a *bit* more noise out of the N52 engine, I must have had a rush of blood to the head or something and agreed to remove the backbox from the Zed. It started off as just removing the middle resonators but eventually agreed that it would probably be a waste of time and not actually give much more sound if any so went straight to chopping the back box. Due to basically zero info on the interwebs about getting this done or more to the point any video's/soundclips of what it sounded like (unless Im missing something), it was total stab in the dark but as its a fully reversible procedure I went for it, nervous to be honest as I really didn't want some hideously loud Saxo cherry bomb style thing on the back. It was between this or an AFE induction kit, at around £400, not worth it in my opinion.
Anyway, kept the tips pretty much as stock looking as possible, took about two hours. First impressions......
On start-up and idle, not much different at all, makes little difference. Pottering around at low revs/round town sort of driving again little difference. It's there don't get me wrong, there is a difference, but probably not what you would expect, subtle really. It does burble and pop like a mentalist though, seriously its always at it in any gear on de-acceleration, love or hate it, does sound kind of cool! Are these engines set up purposely to over-fuel a bit to protect the engine?
Giving it the beans, sounds really sweet, not a massive change in the note or a huge in your face noise, but just makes what was already there louder so plus points there in my book. On over-run you get some massive pops and bangs occasionally, see video for example!
Negative points.....it's boomy sitting at around 2.7k rpm to around 3k rpm, which as you guessed it is around motorway cruising speed. Not going to lie here, its not my cup of tea in that department, its not horrendous and turn the radio up a bit and you kind of forget about it....but it is there...and I would imagine on a long journey, it would get on your tits. Its a risk I took being a second car and using it mostly for 'fun' trips and general summer time cruising about. If it was my daily drive though, I would have swapped it back already to be honest. As it stands, I'll probably keep it as is for summer but most likely change it back to stock soon after.
Summary: Cost me £200, completely reversible and is great fun now and again to really get the engine singing when your giving it the beans. As a daily driver, I wouldn't go there personally but then I'm no boy racer anymore
so you may want to consider other options, although probably more costly! Video is pretty lame but you get the idea, few drive-by's and standard behind car rev-fest! ****Does anyone know what that kind of fart sound is when the revs are coming down on the behind car shot? Haven't noticed it from inside the car before, might be a trip back to the exhaust place here!****
I'll try get some better video/sound tomorrow, in-car is difficult due to other noise/rubbish Iphone mic!
[youtube]Xc1iDk-qlDQ[/youtube]
[youtube]b1nO98MyHKg[/youtube]
does sound nice!