Hi Folks, I need a technical answer here. I've noticed that our HHR EcoTechs sound throaty and deep when you add an intake or exhaust to them. Likewise, the old MG's and other British fours sounded deep when they were opened up with a freer exhaust. Why is it that the Japanese cars sound like a kazoo in the coffee can, or a really PO'ed bumble bee in your ear canal? I wonder if it has to do with the crank or the firing order? Those Japanese cars sound just awful to my ear.

That said, the recent Ferrari's I've heard in town sound like a Japanese sport bike with no muffler....with the pipe against your ear. Obnoxious, and it isn't like you need that kind of noise to get attention in a Ferrari (and yes, those are factory pipes). Now the Maserati's around here? Worth chasing down to listen to that mellow and mechanical purrrrrrrr. Nothing wrong with Detroit's V-8's either. :-)

God Bless, Marc

 

Marc, where do you live that you see/hear so many Ferrari's and Maserati's?
just sayin'

And I like how my Blackie "purrs" with the CGS.

@ngelita

 

The Triangle area in NC has a lot of exotics running around. I also see a black Gallardo downtown pretty often. Same sport bike sound, but at a reasonable volume. My old neighborhood was up against the "rich neighborhood" (no, my house wasn't expensive), and I used to see Lamborghini's, Ferrari's, and a grogeous Aston Martin regularly. This area also has lots of the big ticket Mercedes, GT2 and GT3 911's, M series BMW's, etc. Haven't seen the top dog Vette yet here, "just" the Z06. The Shelby Mustangs are pretty prevalent too. the new Camaro's are arriving, but the Challengers (be still my heart) are not too common at all. I even had a Caterham Super 7 in red and polished aluminum roll past my house a month ago. I wanted to go chase it down. This weekend I went to a nearby yardsale and the guy has a sweet chopped '50 Merc all done up really sanitary. I'll take the Merc. For now, "Elvis" keeps me entertained, is inexpensive, and economical.....all of which makes brain sense when saving for my son's college. Maybe someday....I can dream can't I?

God Bless, Marc

 

Hello,

I do not think it has as much to do with crank or firing order, as how the primary exhaust pipes are merged at collector, and the rest of the exhaust system installed on a given car. Also, a higher compression engine normally have a sharper exhaust note due to the resulting sound waves.

Also, many of the exotics are designed to make their horsepower at high RPMs and have less torque at lower RPMs per overall engine size. Therefore the driver must raise the RPMs higher to get moving from at stop (ie slipping the clutch). Find a Honda S2000 (not an exotic but a finely-tuned sportscar). They make 240HP from same size engine as most HHRs without a turbo, but rev to 8000+ RPM. Very buzzy, not much low-end torque...almost more of a large sportsbike engine installed in a car.

A weird example: a V8 with an aftermarket 180-degree exhaust installed (merging primary pipes come from both sides of V8 rather than just 4 merging to collector on each side). They have a much smoother but buzzier sound to them...not the V8 rumble we are all used to. These are found mostly on off-road vehicles such as road-racing or stock cars looking to smooth out the power delivery.

Side Note: The car manufacturers recently have spend mucho $$$ R&Ding their exhaust sounds for the pitch they feel their target market wants to hear. Some newer cars have sound tubes that route specific frequencies of intake noise to the firewalls so the driver can here that "cool" noise. And on many higher-end sports cars, the exhaust systems include an automatic bypass within the mufflers to reduce back pressure and/or increase exhaust noise over certain RPMs (Example newer Corvettes have an $1800-ish option that includes this type of muffler system - result is only 6 more HP but it sounds beautiful when you wind it up thru the grears).

We enthusiasts like our cars to sound a certain way...and will pay big $$$ for it!

Hope this helps, as there are many factors affecting a certain car sounds. And that is before some owner adds a coffee can in place of a muffler!?!

Dan

 

I noticed that as well. I was behind a Maserati's in downtown Durham the other day. I remember because I looked at the car and thought...what the hell is that? Got close enough to read the manufacturer on the back and then realized I was too close and should hit the brakes because I definitely don't want to rear-end THAT.

You have to understand this area of the country was one of the few areas that still saw some job growth while the rest of the economy was tanking. I worked for IBM for 9 years and they are a big factor in this part, plus SAS in Cary, and some other big names, all call the Triangle home. Cary is like the Beverly Hills of NC. The place is like right near Raleigh and such, but yet they have no crime. I think they had a murder there this year and it was the first one in like 5 years.

Its like a whole different entity. But yeah...lot of foreign people here and they like their exotics.

 

When I attended the CART race at Belle Isle here several years ago they had the pace cars running around the course during a schedule break.I remember being disappointed when I hear the Lamboghini Diablo go by.It sounded like it had loud twin Corvair engines in it!Which makes sense-the V-12 is like two sixes on a common crank.

 

I think I have gotten spoiled hearing big V-8's over the years. That is a hard tone to beat. I thought a Ferrari would sound so exotic my jaw would drop.....it was a big disappointment. Now that Maserati V-8? THAT is worth hearing. I like the HHR sound with my GMPP intake. No exotic, but zippy enough sounding with a great moan. God Bless, Marc

 

Maybe it has something to do with the exhaust being large diameter all the way from the turbo back instead of just opening up with a CAT-Back like many of them do. Either way, I definitely notice a huge difference in sound too and IMHO the deep sound of this motor is much preferred.

 

I went with IMCO T910 TURBO MUFFLER, several inches shorter than the T924 sounds good at idle and all thru the rpm range, i didnt want to wake the neighbors but it sounds good,

 

I have noticed that even totally stock the setup in this thing does have a decent growl in the mid range.

A lot of that has to do with displacement as well.

Most import 4-bangers (especially Hondas) displace less than 2 liters... the 2.4 is actually pretty large.

Also... it's ECOTEC... not EcoTech. Get it right... don't sound like a ricer.