A Note on Exhausts and Shoddy Work

In a matter of 1 month, two different Lotus have come into the shop that had serious exhaust related issues that frankly, pissed us off!  We are writing this article to just raise some awareness.

Most people do not view their exhaust as a maintenance item, but it is, especially if you run the car hard. Packing material can break down (this is accelerated with poor tunes and track use) and the metal can fatigue and crack from heat cycles and vibration. If you are shooting flames from your exhaust, it is only a matter of time before your exhaust breaks and/or your car catches on fire. 

Exhausts can break under normal conditions, but when you have a low quality exhaust or a low quality installation, wear and damage can happen relatively quickly. This is important as not only does it make your car sound bad and affect performance but it is a huge safety hazard. Exhaust gasses are HOT. We have seen these cars catch fire from only from two things, fuel related modifications and exhaust system failure.  

Case #1: Lotus Elise

Poor install and repair attempt :(

A customer recently brought his Elise in for a SMOOTHoperator install.  He complained that his exhaust seemed rather loud. We thought this complaint was odd because even though he had an aftermarket muffler, the can was pretty large and this is usually an indication of a quiet system. However, a quick inspection revealed the reason for the sound. The bracket that was welded to the side of the can had broken off leaving a large hole in the side. Looking inside the muffler we could see that much of the packing material had blown out through this hole. The entire system was loose and spewing hot exhaust gas out this hole. This failure can probably be traced to a less than ideal installation. The aftermarket cat pipe was cut (poorly), then some sort of adapter piece and muffler tape as used to attach the can to the cat pipe. There is also evidence of an extremely poor attempt to re-weld the hanger to the can. It is hard to say what came first or caused the failure but the point is that this exhaust was poorly installed and should have been replaced a long time ago. We were glad to get this customer setup with a Larini GT3 (formerly known as 8" side exit). He was happy to have a quiet car, yet still sporty and we were happy he had a safe car.

Case #2: Lotus Evora
Halloween is quickly approaching but it came early for us here.  We found something scary under an Evora we are working on for the first time - it came here from the SouthEast. This car spends most of it's time at the track so it has been stripped of interior and has a cage and race seats installed. It has received some "interesting" work during its life that we are finding and fixing as we go. 

One of these interesting things is the 'custom' exhaust and hanger. This car has a muffler delete system with some custom work done to it. It looks like a sheet metal hanger originally was fixed to a rivet nut in the subframe but that rivet nut loosened up. The previous shop's solution was to stick a bracket from a safety harness in one of the holes of the subframe and tie the exhaust to that with some bailing wire. We do not recommend this as a way to attach anything to any part of your vehicle. This is probably the most ghetto fix we have ever seen!  This type of "fix" belongs on a jeep stuck 20 miles out in the woods, not something that will be run on track. I am sure this was meant as a temporary fix, but it was obviously run like this for longer than was necessary.

The horror! 

Fixes that may happen in the middle of a race can be sketchy but are meant to last the duration of the race.  Most of us are not racing so it is important to take the time to fix the problem correctly.  We have a great network of reputable Dealers around the country.  Mistakes can happen but please inspect your cars - especially track driven cars - regularly.  Be safe out there!

White Rascal Update #3

The White Rascal, our poor little shop car, has not gotten much love lately. We finally made a little progress on it in the last few days. The car has been completely stripped down will all the interior and dash removed. I think we may have taken the "simplify and add lightness" just a little too far this time. We need to start bolting parts back on soon if we have any hope of getting onto the track.

The rear subframe was taken off, media blasted, then painted black. This car is going to live a long hard life on the track, it will not be a trailer queen. Low maintenance black engine enamel spray paint will keep this part looking relatively nice as well as hide track grime. 

We did need a little bit of bling so we had all our control arms powder coated a bright red. Why red? Because race car. We finished off the arms by installing a set of our MRbearings and MONOballs. This should greatly increase the steering feel of this track focused machine. The stock bushings and ball joints are fine for road use but a track car demands suspension that does not flex and deflect under load.

Expect some more progress in the coming weeks because we are all itchin' to drive her! 

Exhaust Development: Lotus, Alfa & Now Drakan

We have been working with an exhaust specialist who designs and manufacturers systems here in CA for many years.  We've had them make the RACEpipe for the Lotus, our new Alfa 4CRpipe and now have handed them our Drakan to develop a track system.  Chuck designs each system and has a keen ear for good sounding systems that don't drone.  He started back in 1983 so has tremendous experience.  Sound is tested on each car and then undesirable frequencies are tuned out.  The Alfa system he developed for us is excellent as it kills the annoying drone that exists with the factory 'race' exhaust.  Each system is built from T304 Stainless that is either MIG or TIG welded.

I dropped off the Drakan this week so they could develop a track oriented system that would delete the catalytic converters and add a more melodic/sporty sounding muffler.  The Drakan is designed to use the eRod LS3 with the factory cats from GM along with a larger off the shelf muffler that is quiet enough to meet sound at Laguna Seca or Lime Rock.  This new track system will be louder but we requested a sound that would also be a bit more exotic.  The stock LS3 exhaust manifolds will be used to maintain reliability.

I snapped a bunch of random pictures.  I was asked not to shoot everything as they produce exhausts for many tuners including some popular German-focused tuners.

Naturally, I can hardly wait to get our Drakan back to hear it roar!