Anybody Using A Varex Muffler?

[getyayayaout]

just doing some research on these varex mufflers which allow you to control the noise of your vehicle through a remote controlled butterfly valve. anybody using one of these and any issues with back pressure?

[PM-R33]

There is a few threads about them, just search "Varex". When it is closed it runs like dogs balls but it does its job and makes the car silent when your in "sticky situations". With it open its pretty fine. Maybe a slight loss of power but nothing you can notice too much. Havnt dynoed mine with the Varex. Mine is just a removable universal muffler under the car, not a rear cannon/muffler.

[R31Nismoid]

Still illegal, and they sound bad.

[PM-R33]

Lol you and your sound bad thing. Why do they sound bad? When they are open they are just a straight 3" pipe. I admit i have only heard one rear muffler on my mates skyline and it is pretty quite even when fully open so i dont get why they sound bad.

With mine fully open it just sounds like every other loud/lumpy RB with cams and no "real" mufflers.

EDIT: Here, this is a video my mate quickly made one afternoon about 6 months ago and 2 minutes into it you can hear my car.

Edited February 1, 2010 by PM-R33

[NYTSKY]

I just put a HKS silencer in my exhaust, it does quiet it down a bit but does not change the note of it.

Sucks are bit of power out if it though. Only use the silencer for day cruises.

I imagine the Varex would be much the same.

$380 compared to $80 though.

[R31Nismoid]

Lol you and your sound bad thing. Why do they sound bad? When they are open they are just a straight 3" pipe. I admit i have only heard one rear muffler on my mates skyline and it is pretty quite even when fully open so i dont get why they sound bad.

With mine fully open it just sounds like every other loud/lumpy RB with cams and no "real" mufflers.

EDIT: Here, this is a video my mate quickly made one afternoon about 6 months ago and 2 minutes into it you can hear my car.

Just the exhaust tone is rubbish.

I've heard them on a couple of cars now vs what they would sound like with normal straight through mufflers (not cannons)

As the "recirc" pipe does not seal 100%, i think this attributes to the poor sound, air/noise is bouncing off all over the place.

Everyone likes a good sounding exhaust as much as the performance benefits.

[ti2l]

had a HKS super silent exhaust on my old car... sounded really quiet but lost no power really.. mate had a fujitubo legalis super R whic was fir quiet too but stil sounded awesome. these are the only "quiet" exhausts i would consider really

[Birds]

Just had one of these installed on my car. Here's a lengthy review for anyone considering one:

I scrapped the mongrel 2.5" - 3" - 3.5" - 5" tip system I had before (which sounded great but was full of leaks/vibrations and consequently affecting my performance, not to mention the manhole sized cannon on the back). Went for 3" of mandrel bent mild steel from the turbo back with a resonator in the middle and one of these Varex twin tips on the tail. Massive improvement in low down torque now that I have some back pressure again and the engine feels alot smoother (amazing how badly vibrations and sounds can resonate through the vehicle and make you think there's something wrong with the engine).

In closed position it's as silent as a factory vehicle, if not more. Power is pretty restricted when you're on boost in this mode...but that's not what you use silent mode for is it? It's not recommended you drive on boost with the valve shut but mine seemed to manage a few psi no problems - it just didn't pull as hard due to restriction of the air flow. Not something I'd practice all the time but it certainly won't kill your engine if you somehow find yourself on boost. Drive it off boost and you won't notice the difference in power...therefore it's quite suitable throughout the course of daily driving and I imagine it to be most useful on the freeway where the annoying drone of a loud exhaust can get to you after a while. Can hear my induction note much more easily too

Open position is not offensively loud and certainly doesn't sound defectable (except for the Varex itself being an illegal item). It's actually a bit quieter than my previous cannon exhaust which never garnered cop attention itself. The exhaust note is pretty good: at no point in the RPM range from idle to 7000 would I call it shit. Just a sweet deep note with no riceyness to it and no horrible drones. It's really difficult to compare the sound before and after because I changed the whole system and not just the tail muffler. This included ditching my decat pipe which gave the exhaust note an awesome raspiness at high RPM - no longer there due to having a high flow cat now. So all I can really say is that I'm very happy with the note it produces when open. It's different to before but not in a bad way.

Muffler tips look a treat, much better than a cannon. However a mate has had the same muffler on his R34 for a couple of years and the tips have now turned fairly dull - probably an idea to give them a polish every now and then or apply a high temp sealant. All up the complete turbo back system cost me about $1100 including components and installation by professionals. Less costly than an off the shelf Jap brand and the functionality of stealth mode make it very worthwhile IMO. The other alternative is the cable operated Apexi butterfly valve which was a pioneer solution to variable exhaust volume - since been superseded by these mufflers which for the money and what they do are great value IMO.

Side note: controlling the valve is basically a window winder motor sitting on top of the muffler. My installer told me previous customers have had him grind this all off so they can just freely turn the valve by hand as opposed to remote control. Also if you find yourself never using silent mode and get concerned about air flow / "air bouncing around" you could probably weld up the air redirection hole and run it as a true straight through muffler.

[R31Nismoid]

Dd you hear this exhaust note from inside or outside?

[PM-R33]

I've been thinking of ditching the remotes and hooking it up through a relay so i can just have a switch inside that controls it. I find it a bit annoying searching through the centre console for the remote quickly in an "emergency situation".

[Birds]

Dd you hear this exhaust note from inside or outside?

Both mate, sounds good to me inside and outside the cabin. They have changed the design on these mufflers a couple of times and I reckon the single tip ones would sound a bit different as they have a different valve / recirculation setup to the twin tips...might explain the bad sounding ones you've heard. Or could just be a case of each to their own. I'll start her up at next committee meeting and see what you think.

Yer the relay idea is a good one...remote fobs can be fiddly to reach for if you're rushing for an instant change of the exhaust note but they offer a bit of a cool gimmick at the same time. Solution: velcro a remote to your dash lol.

[Ruff Ryda]

I've been thinking of ditching the remotes and hooking it up through a relay so i can just have a switch inside that controls it. I find it a bit annoying searching through the centre console for the remote quickly in an "emergency situation".

Didn't yours come with a keyring?? If not that's the whole purpose man. Get one and you have it straight infront of you from the ignition.

The Varex sounds sweet fully opened, a little tinny when 1/2 closed but not awful. I LOVE it when it's fully opened but only when there is no cops or oldies to piss off. I got the cannon style one and it looks and sounds good.

Saves your ass in RBTs too .

[PM-R33]

I hate crap hanging off my keys. My alarm remote is enough. I've been caught out with a flat battery in the remote while sitting next to the 50 at lights and they just stared giving me dirty looks as my car sat there shaking next to them. So definetely would like a constant 12V switch, shouldn't be too hard to do. I have switches for everything else in the car, might aswell add another to the list lol.

[R31Nismoid]

I've gotta hear this "new" model varex then i think Adam... then i shall be the judge

[PM-R33]

Lol Ash shall be the ultimate Varex judge. X-Force should advertise it on their site "Finally after all these years, the seal of approval from Ash of SAU"

[R31Nismoid]

lol, nah i've just heard two varex mufflers, on different cars... and they ruined the "note" that you'd expect from them.

Just made them sound shithouse TBH. You could tell who had one and who didn't.

Perhaps they have changed design or something and they sound decent like most other mufflers... or... perhaps Birds is just trying to defend his money spending

Plus he is @ my house once a month for committee meetings, so it's not going to be hard to organise

[PM-R33]

Hahaha post up your verdict once u hear it. Maybe the rear mufflers sound different, i dunno, u can't tell any different note to my undercar one.

[Fastrotor]

Just for interest when dynoing a fwd N15 pulsar with sr20 turbo convo that had one of these 'varex' cannons , it was making 210 fwks's open. With it closed power dropped to about a 100 But very quiet though !

[TiTAN]

personally i would go with 2 large oval mufflers for a quiet system that still makes full power.

[Birds]

lol, nah i've just heard two varex mufflers, on different cars... and they ruined the "note" that you'd expect from them.

Just made them sound shithouse TBH. You could tell who had one and who didn't.

Perhaps they have changed design or something and they sound decent like most other mufflers... or... perhaps Birds is just trying to defend his money spending

Plus he is @ my house once a month for committee meetings, so it's not going to be hard to organise

Nah I heard the twin tip Varex on my mates R34 and decided to buy one after that...so it wasn't a blind purchase followed by post-purchase dissonance, I genuinely like the sound of this muffler. I never bother to defend my spend because I've bought some very shitty parts before and I've spent more on modifications for my cars than most people do buying a good condition R33 GTR

Perhaps the rest of the exhaust system helps the cause? Alot of people opt for stainless steel piping...I much prefer the sound of mild steel.

I'd actually sooner people didn't buy these as the less police who know about them the better. On the note of legality, if your exhaust is of legal volume when it's open then I don't think these should be illegal...at what point are you be breaking the law? To be honest I expected my Varex to be a bit louder in the open position cause I think it would pass the decibel test. Therefore silent mode's practical use for me is more late night / early morning start up or ridding yourself of exhaust drone on a highway trip rather than evasion of the police.

Hahaha post up your verdict once u hear it. Maybe the rear mufflers sound different, i dunno, u can't tell any different note to my undercar one.

Undercar one? Do you have a middle muffler varex?