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·I thought I'd posted this-
I thought I'd posted this- but can't find it, so here it is again!
The one thing Fiat seems to have done with Ferrari, is impose a "global car" mentality on the design criteria for things like exhaust. For example, the world's entire inventory of 550's all meet the tough Swiss noise standards.
OK, so here come the after-market exhaust system companies, chasing the gold- without ANY real engineering of performance into their products because most drivers just want a LOUDER car!
In my considered opinion, most aftermarket mufflers (regardless of make of car they're installed on) emphasize the mid-range of human hearing - with no regard to the harmonics that extend down into the sub-sonic and up into the ultra-sonic. They do this mid-range emphasis to make the system seem louder and more nasty!
But (in regards to Ferrari aftermarket systems) I personally find the Tubi/ Capristo sound crass and brittle because of their emphasis on the "LOOK AT ME" mid-range. So, in 2005, I installed a pair of (eBay-purchased for $500) Quicksilvers on my 550. And here's a movie of what they sound like with a Stebro center pipe. One manufacturer of $100,000 stereo speakers (and a 550 owner) says this is the best sound HE ever heard on a Ferrari, because of the harmonics being audible both up and down from the mid-range! It gives the sound a resonance that I've noticed even deer in Yellowstone pay attention to...and smile at.
http://www.zero123.com/wyo2005exhaust.rm
The thing about mufflers is that they're at the END of the exhaust system and thus bear NO relevance to the system's performance! They just SOUND hotter!
My car is now serving as an exhaust system testbed at Dave Helm's Scuderia Rampante in Boulder. There, a pair of prototype catalytic convertors and a custom-made tuned X-pipe from HYPER-FLOW (Atlanta Georgia) are being installed for fit testing and performance evaluation (by both myself as driver/owner and by Dave Helms as mechanic), prior to the products being sold by Hyperflow as dedicated, manufactured items.
On Oct 10, I test drove the car with the cats-only (running through the Stebro center pipe and the Quicksilvers...and it's become an ANIMAL... so powerful, the ASR tries to clamp the rears from a normal start because the system senses wheel spin! My shift point has gone beyond 5,000 rpm into the 6's and it breaks rubber in 2nd,3rd and 4th! And I was in rush hour traffic, acting pretty normal (compared to the 191mph -uphill at 6500 rpm- run I made in June at 7,000ft on a deserted highway that I'd checked out dozens of times for animals, road damage and so forth!)
I'm now writing an article on the whole tuned-exhaust process for PILOTA magazine.
PROJECT STATUS:
Right now, we're waiting for second-iteration cats and the first prototype of a tuned x-pipe for a 550 from Hyperflow (where a laser scanning problem of my OEM center pipe prevented the delivery of the new, tuned x-pipe until now. I plan to keep the Quicksilvers, but we have also now been contacted by a new Italian muffler company which wants our test and evaluation of their new 550 muffler product on my car! I don't think I can reveal who they are. But they're based in Maranello.
It's pretty exciting!
Attached is a picture of the 550 at Scuderia Rampante in Boulder, taken Oct 10 after my test drive. Hope you like the video! I'll update the "before-after" components in a new video when we're done. Again, it now sounds like an ANIMAL...and the throttle response is (I estimate) 20-percent faster; with a 15% greater horsepower and torque curve (based on higher RPM shift points and torque band).
"No officer, I have no ideas how fast I was going. The darn speedometer is in 10 mile/hour increments!"
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I thought I'd posted this- but can't find it, so here it is again!
The one thing Fiat seems to have done with Ferrari, is impose a "global car" mentality on the design criteria for things like exhaust. For example, the world's entire inventory of 550's all meet the tough Swiss noise standards.
OK, so here come the after-market exhaust system companies, chasing the gold- without ANY real engineering of performance into their products because most drivers just want a LOUDER car!
In my considered opinion, most aftermarket mufflers (regardless of make of car they're installed on) emphasize the mid-range of human hearing - with no regard to the harmonics that extend down into the sub-sonic and up into the ultra-sonic. They do this mid-range emphasis to make the system seem louder and more nasty!
But (in regards to Ferrari aftermarket systems) I personally find the Tubi/ Capristo sound crass and brittle because of their emphasis on the "LOOK AT ME" mid-range. So, in 2005, I installed a pair of (eBay-purchased for $500) Quicksilvers on my 550. And here's a movie of what they sound like with a Stebro center pipe. One manufacturer of $100,000 stereo speakers (and a 550 owner) says this is the best sound HE ever heard on a Ferrari, because of the harmonics being audible both up and down from the mid-range! It gives the sound a resonance that I've noticed even deer in Yellowstone pay attention to...and smile at.
http://www.zero123.com/wyo2005exhaust.rm
The thing about mufflers is that they're at the END of the exhaust system and thus bear NO relevance to the system's performance! They just SOUND hotter!
My car is now serving as an exhaust system testbed at Dave Helm's Scuderia Rampante in Boulder. There, a pair of prototype catalytic convertors and a custom-made tuned X-pipe from HYPER-FLOW (Atlanta Georgia) are being installed for fit testing and performance evaluation (by both myself as driver/owner and by Dave Helms as mechanic), prior to the products being sold by Hyperflow as dedicated, manufactured items.
On Oct 10, I test drove the car with the cats-only (running through the Stebro center pipe and the Quicksilvers...and it's become an ANIMAL... so powerful, the ASR tries to clamp the rears from a normal start because the system senses wheel spin! My shift point has gone beyond 5,000 rpm into the 6's and it breaks rubber in 2nd,3rd and 4th! And I was in rush hour traffic, acting pretty normal (compared to the 191mph -uphill at 6500 rpm- run I made in June at 7,000ft on a deserted highway that I'd checked out dozens of times for animals, road damage and so forth!)
I'm now writing an article on the whole tuned-exhaust process for PILOTA magazine.
PROJECT STATUS:
Right now, we're waiting for second-iteration cats and the first prototype of a tuned x-pipe for a 550 from Hyperflow (where a laser scanning problem of my OEM center pipe prevented the delivery of the new, tuned x-pipe until now. I plan to keep the Quicksilvers, but we have also now been contacted by a new Italian muffler company which wants our test and evaluation of their new 550 muffler product on my car! I don't think I can reveal who they are. But they're based in Maranello.
It's pretty exciting!
Attached is a picture of the 550 at Scuderia Rampante in Boulder, taken Oct 10 after my test drive. Hope you like the video! I'll update the "before-after" components in a new video when we're done. Again, it now sounds like an ANIMAL...and the throttle response is (I estimate) 20-percent faster; with a 15% greater horsepower and torque curve (based on higher RPM shift points and torque band).
"No officer, I have no ideas how fast I was going. The darn speedometer is in 10 mile/hour increments!"
