Hi
Im trying to get rid of my resonator to milk some more power of out my 2.9L. If i buy the tailpipe for the exahust system without the resonator will it bolt up to my muffler even though my system is made for a resonator?

 

by the way, my car is a 86 b2 with 4x4 and its eddie edition with a resonator i really want to get rid of

 

hey. last month my resonator decided to break apart (due to rusting out) and cause the pipe to rattle around on my dirt road. I stopped, looked under the truck, and low and behold, the tail end of the exhaust was just bouncing around on the dirt. Didnt do any damage though...strange. The sound of the exhaust didnt change either, so at first I thought the rattling was my spare tire....

Anyways, when I got home, I looked over the entire system, and the muffler was rotted out too. Although the exhaust brackets were tight, the muffler was able to rotate-> more rust. So I needed a new muffler also.

So I went to Autozone and bought one of those performance "Turbo-something-or-other" mufflers for $24 (the official OEM replacement was $38), a 2 foot long piece of 2" OD straight pipe with a 2" ID flare at one end. I also bought a double 2" ID coupler for the other end. And some new brackets (5 total). Cost was around $35 or so. BUT, I did gain more HP and torque, while keeping my cost down. I am now able to accelarate up one of our steep hills, whereas before, I could only maintain a speed for a little bit, and then the speed would fall.

Noise is substantially louder, but not offending.

I cut the straight pipe to length with a reciprocating saw, very easy! Just measure the length of the old resonater and cut the pipe to that, no rocket science here.

The hardest part of all this was removing and separating all the parts, some being reused and some tossed. To separate the resonator from the pipe, use the reciprocating saw, and cut the resonator at an angle. Then use a screwdriver to pry the metal of the resonator. Eventually, they come free....took me 20 minutes start to finish, but then, I find I am always racing against the clock....such is life!

BTW-mine is an 86 non-EB, with electronic 4wd, all other options(problems).

 

Alright, thanks sounds good to me and i have all the tools to get the job done, still open to more ideas if anyones had other experences thanks.

 

well depending on where you live, you may be able to get away with just redoing the entire exhaust with a 3" dual. Loud, I have heard from other members, but a power upgrade nonetheless. Just think, 3" tubing going to 2 Flowmasters!!

Or if you cant do that, just change the single 2" plumbing to 3". That should surely help too....and some free flow cats would help....but thats more $$$$$$$

 

putting 3 inch exhaust on a 2.9 isn't going to make it run any better. it doesn't need that big of a pipe, it's not a big v-8. i put a new 2 1/2 inch pipe cat back on mine with a flowmaster and all it did was make it louder. it didn't add any power. if you go too big on the pipe it might actually slow it down on the bottom end. a engine needs some back pressure to run correctly. as far as the resonator goes, why dont you either cut it out and replace it with a peice of pipe, or redo the pipe from the muffler back at a exhaust shop. i supplied the flowmaster and the shop charged $75 for the 2 1/2" pipe and installation. i wish i would have left it stock or i should say replaced it with something quiter. flowmasters sound great on mustangs with 302's not on 2.9's. good luck.

 

Well a 1.8 liter engine on a water cooled vw has significant gains when the exhaust is swapped out to a 2 1/4" size. A 16 valve motor sees gains with a 2 1/2" size. A 3" exhaust on a 2.9 FI B2 will see an improvement, I dont know what you are talking about. Perhpaps your engine/vehicle needs attention somewhere else (intake,timing). 3" on a V6 isnt too large, although I will not go that route (I like mine quiet too).

 

A 3" exhaust is way to big for a pretty much stock 2.9. When the hot exhaust gases enter the 3" pipe they will expand, cool and slow down, hotter gases normally travel faster. It's the same problem you get, just not as bad, when you gut a cat and don't weld a pipe in it.

 

i agree. if it was turbocharged or supercharged, or had significant upgrades then i may agree. otherwise its too big and you will loose low end power.

 

I agree, I gutted my cat's and lost low end power, gained a little upper end power though, but by the time it gets up there, automatic tranny switches gears lol. I don't recommend the turbo-muffler from Autozone, I had one of those and it, felt like it was getting stopped up to me, and my engine ran hotter. Then I ran open for a while, till police man told me I needed a muffler otherwise I was getting a ticket, so I got a flowmaster, and I felt more power gains from than, then when I had open exhaust.

 

yeah, turbo mufflers arent the greatest, but it was definitely better than the stock unit that was on there. Flowmasters are a good muffler, but they cost a lot more $$$$$$$$. But, if you notice more power from it, I may install one later. The Turbo II mufflers and Dynomax's arent straight thru, just less restrictive than OEM. For $24 you cant beat'em.

Hollowing out a cat isnt ever a good idea. There are now free flow cats available out there.....

As far as 3" exhaust, the length of the pipe isnt that long overall. I personally wouldnt consider doing it, dont need it. But I think there could be some gains from it, even with a mostly stock motor.

 

The Dynomax Bullet's sound a lot better, and are less restrictive than the turbo II's. But I don't think he wanted it loud.