How to undo / weld shut a Pedro exhaust????

[23109VC]

I have an odd question..... I know a lot of people here are looking to mod their stock exhaust.... but I'm looking to put my exhaust BACK to stock.

I bought a Pedro exhaust not too long ago - it was a Pedro type exhaust, I bought it from another member on this forum...I"ve had it sevearl months...and honestly, I have never fully liiked how it sounded.

It sounds cool when you are at wide open throttle at high rpms...but at idle and low rpms, it has a nasty sound that honestly...to me...sounds like i have a hole in my muffler.....

tonight...to try and see how ti would sound if I undid it - i took a couple spare corks from old wine bottles and shoved them up into the "holes" in the top of the tips..the holes where the bypass pipes enter the tips.... I really liked it. it was not as loud at WOT - but the low rpm / idle sound that I really dislike is GONE.

so I"ve decided I want to UNDO my pedro ehxaust. maybe for some people the pedro ehxaust is good - maybe it's just how my exhaus twas done = I don't know, but I"ve decided I don't like it.

one option is to source a new stock muffler and just swap them out. a new stokc muffler is not that expensive..so that is an option.

another option is to cut off the pedro byhpass pipes and get a muffler shop to weld them shut.

i'm wondering = is it that hard for a muffler shop to cut the bypass pipes off and weld a small plate on top of the holes?

the tips will have 1/2" round holes in the tops of them...i could likely cover it with some hi temp silver/chrome paint and the holes would hardly benoticeable....

anyone care to chime in - and tell me how hard it would be for a muffler shop to do this? this weekend i may hit up some local muffelr places and ask them - but i figured I"d throw the question out there.

my old stock muffler had the single triangular shaped tip - which I never cared for....my new muffler is an "S" muffler so it has the dual round tips - which I do like. i think they look much nicer. i have the "older" 00-02 style muffler, so the tips are welded on... i was also wondering, is it possible to get a new tip and have it welded on..or are the tips NOT replaceable??? if I did get hte bypass pipes cut off and welded shut...and wanted to weld on a new tip - are there tips I an buy aftermarket...or at the muffler shop and get htem welded on...or is the way the mufflers stock tips are put on - is it NOT really easy to put on new tips???

if I cannot put on new tips and choose to weld the pedro holes shut, i'll have to cove rup the hoels on teh top of the tips with something...i assume a muffler shop could plug the holes and weld them shut..but the tips are chrome colored..so the tpos would have a round weld on them...and that would look odd..you couldnt see if from the direct rear..but from certain angles loking at the rear of hte car, you woudl be able tosee the tops off the tips and see the holes that were ocvered up...and i'd maybe have to paint them..not sure how that would look..

any ideas on a good way to fix this?

replacing the muffler is one idea... i really don't want to spend $800-1000 for a new high performande muffle rlike an NHP...not at this point...i'm saving up for litronics... so the cheapest route is the way i wan to go.

the corks I put in are NOT a long term solution as they already started to burn after one quick trip around the block..but I do like the quiter "stock" sound...so I want to refver to stock....either by putting in antohe stock muffler or cutting off teyh bypass pipes and welding them shut and the trying to hide/cover up the holes.

any ideas??? thanks.

[roadracer311]

I think you should just find someone to swap mufflers with. Someone will like it.

[23109VC]

OK - anyone is So cal - who wants to meet and swap - we split the cost of a 12 pack... and they can swap with me for free. we can split the elbow grease / labor...

I live in Temecula - Riverside county. Just north of San Diego.

IM me - the pedro muffler is yours with a swap of your "S" style dual tip muffler.

[jmatta]

Yours must have been modified improperly...

[idheaton]

Maybe you could find some high temp silicone plugs that are used for powder-coating that might fit

[23109VC]

Originally Posted by jmatta

Yours must have been modified improperly...

I dont know if my bypass pipes are "wrong" but they are somewhat different than other ones I've seen here..

i didn't have these done, I bought them this way....

the bypass pipes I have seen on this forum usually come right off the muffler inlet and then go into the sides or top of the exhaust tips. mine go into the tips the way everyone elses do... BUT the other end of tye bypass pipes is welded further back up the exhaust system..actually in the "u" pipe that connects the muffler to the secondary cats...

i dont have a pic but I drew some lines on this pic below. the GREEN lines are where I beliee the bypass pipes are normall welded.... the RED line is how MINE is setup..

you can see that in effect, my bypass pipes are probably longer than they need to be and they feed of an area wher ethe ehxuast is going around a bend..not sure if that would have ANY effect on sound or not??



i dont mind how my exhuast sounds at WOT, but when it's idling and i just blip the throttle or at partial throttle and at low speed, rather than having a deeper / throaty sound, it has a nasty sound that to me - sound like something is wrong..it sounds like a hole is in a muffler..that's what it sonds like to me... at least from teh cockpit that is how it sounds.. i dont care for it.

i've driven it a day and a half now with corks shoved up the bypass pipes and I am 10x happier. yeah, it's too quiet, but it still sounds bad a$$ at WOT with the intake wail...and that nasty weird sound at low rpm is gone.

i'm going to pay some muffler shop to just weld the holes in the tops of the tips shut... then down the road, if someone wants to buy this or I sell it - i can just drill trhough and someone else can have it / try it...

ifa nyone wants it let me know... maybe someone else will like it..sound is very subjective... to *me* it just doesn't do what I want.. so I"m going back to stock.

[mikefocke]

From all the Boxsters that have plowed into something and been totaled.
http://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/listsofsources has a list.

[23109VC]

maybe a muffler shop could fabricate some way to plug it...like add threads to the inside of the hole.....and then a plug that would go into it? then I could screw it shut for most of the time, and undo it if/when I wanted it open?

if my bypass muffler is done "wrong"....what is wrong about it and is it fixable or shoudl I just ditch it?

one othe question - if i leave the bypass pipes attached, but plug it up at th tip..then some exhaust gas will get into the bypass pipes....but will get trapped...and won't be able to make it out...so i'm wondering if that will make some sort of weird backpressure situation that will hurt performance? or will the pressure just build up and the exhaust will flow into the muffler normally?

it will essentially have a small "line" extending off the piping that is a "dead end"...not sure if that will cuase probs or not? right now, with my corks in their, it sounds fine and runs fine.. at least it seems that way...

[eightsandaces]

I have a brand new base 98 muffler with 14K miles on it, you don't have to weld ********************, just make me any reasonable offer and pay shipping.

[Perfectlap]

there is something sturdier than Opus One corks (does a Brunello sound different than a Bordeaux?). PPabon has posted on here about using boat drain transom plugs which he keeps in the oil dip stick cubby when not in use.

[23109VC]

i saw that thread about the plugs... i guess they withstand the heat??

i'll look into that..although I have no idea where i'd get them.. unless i sourced them online...

although that stuff would probably look odd sticking down into my exhaust tips...you'd probably see them from the rear of the car....

some kind of threaded receptable welded into the hole that accepted a screw in plug might be the best way to shut htem up - but retain the ability to open them back up shoudl I choose to...

if all else fails, i'm just welding them closed... or gert a new muffler.

i'd snap up an NHP system, ,but honestly don't feel like blowing $1000ish on my ehxaust right n ow. i honestly don't mind the stock sound. maybe i'm getting old.... i kind of like it quiet when i cruise....

[Perfectlap]

You don't notice the boat plugs unless you make it a habit of looking in people's exhaust pipes. PPabon's pretty handy in the garage, they must obviously be doing the trick. Those plugs cost about $5 for the brass versions on www.marineengine.com

[crios]

What you need is a BUNG! When experimenting with my exhaust, before doing the “crios exhaust” mod, I took off the elbow/u pipe and welded these bungs on each side.

This way I can take them off or cap them up. Cost me less than $20 to get welded. You can also simply buy new pipes, I think they cost roughly $40 each.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/INN-3764/?rtype=10

[23109VC]

Cesar-

that woudl work nicely...i'm sure a muffler shop woudl weld these things right up inside my tips...and then screw the plugs in and the thing is sealed shut.

then if/when I want to open it up, i can.

i assume there must be some muffler shop locally that has a pile of thse bung things they can use to put into my holes...

thanks.

maybe my pedro exhaust was done wrong... i dunno...to me it just sounds funny at lower rpm... i made a video but the audio quality wasn't that great and it was hard to capture the sound... i'll do some before/after video if I get the bung thing in there and you can all give me your opinions on how it sounds both ways...

[23109VC]

over this weekend I decided to go to the local pep boys to see if they had anything that woudl seal up my muffler..I also needed some moreleather conditioner and some paint... (i have to do some minor touch up to my red calipers....)

so I was lookking for some sort of bung that could be welded into the holes or a plug... pep boys ended up having some plugs that looked very similar to the plugs the other poster put up a pic off..only instead of having a little "handle" they have a nut on the end that you tighten up and it shrinks/pull in / compresses the rubber stopper... the store salespesons aid they were meant to plug holes/lines in engine blocks....

i found one that was just under 1" in diameter - as my bypass pipes are 1" pipe..the interior diameter of the holes are just under 1"...so I shoved the plugs up in there, tightened them up , and bingo. works like a charm.

I just need to paint them black so you don't see them. if you look directly inot the exhaust tips you can sort of see these brass colored things sticking down a bit..once they are black, you won't see them.

** one question I had - since the bypass pipes on my car are only 1" in diameter - I wonder if they were too small and were part of my the bypass pipes on my car never sounded "right:"???

one option down the road would be to redo them larger to see if it makes it sound better???

for now - I have it plugged up and if/when I wan to go back to the louder exhaust, I just need to pop out the plugs.. problem solved.

oh yeah - these little plugs were $2.99 each....

thanks to all of you for the advice and suggestions. I am honestly enjoying my car a lot more with the exhaust sealed up. ultimately, i'd like an aftermarket exhhaust, but for some reason, my particular pedro muffler didn't quite have the right sound...

if/when i find someone who wants to buy it, i can apply that money toward an NHP or something else.

thanks again!!!