Is there a quieter muffler/silencer for Plus 2?

[Sea Ranch]

Greetings.

When I rebuilt my car (1970 Plus 2S) I installed the factory-standard part, as supplied by SJ Sportscars.

It's listed as a knockoff of the original factory silencer, but in stainless. The fit is fantastic, looks good, seems well made but . . . to my dismay, I discovered it is simply a big fat glass-pack. More specifically, it is a 8" x 4" cross-section-oval, 15" long straight-through glass-pack: perf tube through the middle, surrounded by a lot of fiberglass. Sounds great, but is way too loud for our touring purposes and I'm pretty sure it's getting louder (which would make sense, as the miles pile up and fiberglass packing breaks down or packs up tight or is blown out).

Wondering: has anyone tried anything else and have you found something more effective at "muffling" or "silencing" the car. AND I KNOW . . . some of us love the sound, love the noise. I get it. Just not me, especially when we're logging miles each day and especially when we're forced to cruise at higher speeds than we'd like.

Thanks so much for your thoughts!!!!!

Randy

[StressCraxx]

Hello Randy,

Years ago, before there was much of an internet, Sarto had a muffler installed in his S3 Elan coupe by a shop in Santa Rosa. It was quiet and appeared stock. You can go through the Walker or magnaflow catalogs online and find one of similar size to fit. Another alternative is finding a muffler from a later VW golf and see if it could be adapted to fit. The reason the VW Golf is a candidate is the engines are slightly larger and the VW supplier makes one of the quieter exhausts. https://upsw.com/1994-vw-golf-limiteded ... ddb97b5782

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks for steppin' up again with insights

I have a Walker . . . best one I could find for size. Will probably weld on brackets and get a pipe bent to fit it to the center section. I want to be able to swap out the stock silencer and this modded Walker at will, in case things don't work: use the same hangers et cetera.

Thanks for the tip about a VW . . . I have seen that almost all modern cars have mufflers that are much bigger than the Plus 2's 8 x 4 x 15" oval, which is how they manage to be so dang quiet. But will look at the dimensions of that Golf part!!

[reb53]

I too got fooled with some "muffler" which was full of glass, which slowly disappeared.
Even cut it open and repacked it.
Waste of time.
Went to the local muffler shop and found something the right size.
Might have been some sort of Datsun actually....!
Can't remember as it was 25 years ago and the car is still fine, and doesn't sound like some bogan boy racer.

Ralph.

[Hawksfield]

Hi Randy
Have you opened up the silencer box? as all the silencers I have seen for the elans have expansion passages and no filler. Can you get a bamboo stick in more than 15"at the tail end.

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks, Ralph. That is my hope. That even a regular muffler the same size as the stock silencer will be quieter because of the design.

John, I can see straight through, but I have not measured. Will check that.

[Spyder fan]

You could always add an inline centre silencer, that's what I have on my two Spyder cars to shut things up and make them more easy to live with from a noise perspective.

Similar to this https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/je ... mm-u404500



The last time I had my S4 noise tested it was 98DB at 4000 rpm, nice but not too noisy

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks, Alan. My car came to me with a center glasspack and a non-stock rear muffler. But when I rebuilt, with new engine mounts, the center pipe is much too close to the chassis to allow even a small bulge there. Thought about hammering a flat side so it wouldn't hit the chassis, but realize that I still would have a reduction in ground clearance which doesn't work for me. The car sits pretty low (and looks fantastic as it is).

Even thought about custom fabbing a long center glasspack that would be the same diameter as the pipe but use the width available under the chassis. But alas, I am not a metal fabricator (why I have a fiberglass car )

Wish I could remember how loud it was with that center glasspack and the non-stock muffler. Too long ago now.

Sigh.

[Spyder fan]

Ah okay, you are going low and trimming the grass

I have heard good reports of the Tony Thompson rear silencers for the +2
https://www.tonythompsonracing.co.uk/pa ... arge-bore/

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks, Alan. Think I will have to talk to suppliers about their opinions and options. They will of course have first hand knowledge of the sound coming out of their silencers. Hopefully they can offer comparative (and objective) analysis