Ok, first of all I'm a very atypical Ferrari guy. I commute in my car almost daily, and the commute is 70 miles round trip. By the time I get to work I'm getting pretty tired of the drone from the car (hwy speeds = 3500-4000 RPM) I have a stock 3.2 exhaust with a Stebro test pipe. The test pipe is about to be replaced with a stock cat. Does anyone know of a way of quieting down the exhaust on a 328? Is there anything that can be done with perhaps the tips or something?
FIRST let me say LMAO!!! Har har! I remember when you put that pipe on the car to 'improve' the sound! Might I suggest some ear plugs? Are you getting old buddy?
[size=+2]Eh? Speak up, I can't hear you[/size] Actually, it sounds great. I just wish it were quieter inside the driver's compartment. Other commuters' ears can bleed, as long as the headaches go away for me It's part of my "improve the car, as long as it's not selling" plan. Working this winter to make it more temperate and better looking (IMO). Jim, Jano has some interesting ideas on redirecting the radiator heat. We'll see how they work out.
This is exactly the problem I was facing with the tubi. After many iterations, I found that rear tip resonators made a big difference. Compared to open tips on a flow through muffler, the resonator effect was seemly to quiet idle and cruise, but still have the snarl when you get on it; i.e., the sound was sensitive to throttle. The resonators took out most of the boominess (resonance) at cruise as the 3.2 requires a very small throttle opening to maintain civil cruise speeds. I've documented my 3.2 muffler experience on this board and Brand X board (where I can still post how-to photos). The Ansa systems have resonators, the Stebros have removable resonators, the Tubis have no resonators. Although expensive, Larini will build one to your specific sound requirement. I hope this might give a start in what to think about. best rt
Depending on what state (as to whether you can wear a small headest while driving) you live in you might want to consider a set of inexpensive noise canceling headphones. I bought a set for my airplane passengers for about $40 and they reduce engine and airflow noise by about 10-14dB. They look like inexpensive sony walkman type phones and they run on a AAA battery for about 40 or 50 hrs. That makes a big difference on private and commercial flights or long drives in a loud car & would probably preserve your hearing. Good luck!
Due to the remarkable kindness of strangers, I can now post pictures: This is what I have found to be a good option for a 3.2 deep smooth tone, low creamy burble at idle and cruise, while a really throaty opening up at full throttle. It consists of a large Dynomax Ultraflow non-chambered flow-through muffler with one 3" in and two 2.5" out into 4 Ansa 10" resonators. The muffler is about $70 and the resonators are about $18 apiece. Installation was a couple hundred bucks here in San Antonio by a master fabricator at a local race shop. hope this helps
I too am interested in quieting down my 328 Euro with a stock exhaust. I currently have a Tubi system which is great, but the noise it creates is starting to upset neighbors (even in simple idle mode). A guy who did minor repairs on my car even said that my Tubi sounds louder than normal. It was suggested that to cut down on the noise that I should consider buying a ANSA brand system. Has anyone else replaced their Tubi's with an Ansa for noise reduction? If so, did the Ansa replacement make enough of a difference? If not Ansa, any suggestions on other brands that will really tone-down my exhaust noise without me having to mortgage the house? Thanks a lot guys!
Just a thought.... How about using some Dynamat. I'd start with some in the rear trunk area since that thing probably acts as a megaphone for the exhaust resonance. Then maybe move into the interior. The only drawback would be that the carpet would have to come up to do it. It may not even be feasible, but I've had luck using it when installing mega-car audio systems. I'm just throwing out some ideas. Hate to see another Ferrari "quieted". Or maybe you ARE just getting to old! LOL! Dave
Tillman - you might want to have the plumbing around the exhaust checked out. My 3.2 with stock was also quite loud for a couple of years before a shop identifed that there are some tubes that were worn out. They replaced these and the car is much quieter and also sounds much better. I think the tubes were called analyzer or equalizer tubes. The stock exhaust should be fairly quiet at highway speed. Another thing that might help is to change the spark plugs. I read in another thread that installing the NGK DRV8EIX (or something like that) Iridium plugs makes the engine sound quieter. I replaced the unobtanium Champion (AG6?) plugs with NGK's and it runs much better and did sound much quieter. I didn't replace the plugs because of sound, and didn't really believe it would make a difference in sound, but it was noticably quieter with the new plugs. Peter
Since you are obviously not concerned with concours originality, replace the mufflers with ones from Supertrapp and you can adjust the sound from quite for commuting to a little louder for weekends.
