quieting the green monster

[amalventano at sc.rr.com (Allyn)]

...so i threw an oversized magnaflow (5x8x18 long) on the rieger (which has
full tt race - 2 1/4").
...and i finally got the fuel filter/reservoir back on there (its been
bypassed for >1 year).
...and threw a new main fuel pump on there as well.

...and its quiet! too damn quiet! i swear its quieter than a stock 16v
exhaust (in new condition). i'm still shocked that its a straight through
muffler (definitely straight through, looked at the wife through it). when
coasting i can hardly tell the engine is running. its quieter than the super
turbo ever was, even when it was good, and the super turbo was a baffled
muffler.

the old fuel pump was quite buzzy as well. apparently it was quite worn out,
as the new pump spins noticably slower than the old one did. i can hardly
tell the new pump is running. the old pump was so loud i could tell battery
voltage by the tone of the buzz (while driving). heck, i could use it to
gauge when the radiator fan kicked on, or the blinkers, or the brakes, or
the wipers. must change that charging/ground wiring here shortly.

so basically, with the rieger going down the road, the road noise easily
drowns out the exhaust, which now drowns out the very faint fuel pump as
well. the only noise left is that of the 300 additional rattles that i can
now make out perfectly with it being so quiet in the car (i just cant win,
can i :).

oh yea, just a side note, a 10 year old 'super turbo' muffler sounds like a
metal toolbox full of loose sockets when shaken.

the magnaflow i bought was on this page:
http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/ss.htm
model 14255 is a perfect fit under a rocco. really, its like it was meant to
be (well for a rieger kitted rocco at least, can be used on other roccos as
long as you prefer single exhaust, or want to use a splitter piece after the
muffler). use a short section of 2 1/4" od tubing to get from the outlet to
the tail - with the rear hanger bracket welded to the peice. using a
sand-filled tip (like the one on the rieger) will also significantly cut
down on the exhaust sound that makes it to the interoir. the offset side
goes to the rear. for the front side, some 1/8"x1/2" length of steel are
easily drilled at one end and slipped onto the u-clamp before the bolts are
applied (the same u-clamp that is holding the muffler to the cat-back
section). all-in-all it was a pretty simple install. i spent a bunch more
time just trying to get the old pos muffler to let go of the cat-back piece.
it was half-ass welded, only in a semi-circle around the bottom half of the
junction (gotta love those lazy-assed muffler shop guys).

by the way, the 4" round models on this page:
http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/ss02.htm
work PERFECTLY as resonators. we threw a pair of them in place of the cats
on my buds e30 m3, and it made a huge improvement on the exhaust tone /
loudness. that size is nearly identical to the one that comes pre-installed
in the tt race cat-back system (as well as the factory piece). if i ever
have to touch the resonator on the rieger for any reason, one of those is
going in its place.

Al