- First Name
- Chris
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2024
- Threads
- 24
- Messages
- 1,382
- Reaction score
- 2,235
- Location
- Southern New Mexico
- Vehicle(s)
- 2016 Sequoia, 2012 Tundra, 2024 Sasquatched 2.3L 7M 4Door Bronco
- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
- Thread starter
- #1
As is commonly discussed around here the stock muffler does its job a little too well, giving very little aural feed-back to a manual driver. So in an attempt to having to rely on the poor digital tachometer, I decided to try to remedy the situation through mods.
In addition to eliminating the fake engine noise coming through the stereo with Forscan (these sounds just confuse the issue) I ordered this muffler (aka "performance exhaust") through Lethal Performance:
https://www.lethalperformance.com/s...-bronco-21-axle-back-exhaust-spe-b100101.html
As you can tell, it is small (and light) and does not do much "muffling". How close is it to a simple straight pipe muffler delete? Hard to say, just pulling a number out of the air I would say 87.267%. Where does it fall on the rice burner fart-can scale? I would say a 5...certainly not full on fart-can but it is loud (or can be), has some drone (yet it is not a full on drone monster) but that is out done by your Bronco's wind noise by the time your at highway speeds. To be honest when I pulled it from the box I thought "uh-oh, the wife will never approve" but it turned out more subdued.
It is well built, welds seem good, etc. Install is super easy as it just re-uses the OEM hanger. It is tucked up under better than the stock muffler. Best of all, it is not $1k + as so many "exhaust systems" are these days.
The biggest con might be it does not quite clear my OEM tow hitch:
To their credit SPE admits this on their website and it just does touch/push into the hitch itself, with no vibration but a bit of heat transfer to the bracket, though not enough to worry me at this point.
I went on an all day trail run with my local club yesterday and I ran into no issues, did not think it was overly loud, though truth is I would have liked a bit more 'muffling'. I certainly have a much better audible clue as to where I'm in the rpm range so it fulfills my primary goal with this mod.
What does my butt-dyno say about any HP benefit, torque curve effect(s), and possible induced turbo lag? If there is a difference it is within placebo range so I'm going to say "no difference either way".
I may get a (Helmholtz) resonator added in up stream if I decide it is too loud for daily use or for the wife. So for now it stays on.
In addition to eliminating the fake engine noise coming through the stereo with Forscan (these sounds just confuse the issue) I ordered this muffler (aka "performance exhaust") through Lethal Performance:
https://www.lethalperformance.com/s...-bronco-21-axle-back-exhaust-spe-b100101.html
As you can tell, it is small (and light) and does not do much "muffling". How close is it to a simple straight pipe muffler delete? Hard to say, just pulling a number out of the air I would say 87.267%. Where does it fall on the rice burner fart-can scale? I would say a 5...certainly not full on fart-can but it is loud (or can be), has some drone (yet it is not a full on drone monster) but that is out done by your Bronco's wind noise by the time your at highway speeds. To be honest when I pulled it from the box I thought "uh-oh, the wife will never approve" but it turned out more subdued.
It is well built, welds seem good, etc. Install is super easy as it just re-uses the OEM hanger. It is tucked up under better than the stock muffler. Best of all, it is not $1k + as so many "exhaust systems" are these days.
The biggest con might be it does not quite clear my OEM tow hitch:
To their credit SPE admits this on their website and it just does touch/push into the hitch itself, with no vibration but a bit of heat transfer to the bracket, though not enough to worry me at this point.
I went on an all day trail run with my local club yesterday and I ran into no issues, did not think it was overly loud, though truth is I would have liked a bit more 'muffling'. I certainly have a much better audible clue as to where I'm in the rpm range so it fulfills my primary goal with this mod.
What does my butt-dyno say about any HP benefit, torque curve effect(s), and possible induced turbo lag? If there is a difference it is within placebo range so I'm going to say "no difference either way".
I may get a (Helmholtz) resonator added in up stream if I decide it is too loud for daily use or for the wife. So for now it stays on.
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