I bought a full exhaust. Header, pipes, cat, and muffler. I put everything in and it's loud as hell in the engine bay. The muffler has a nice tone and when I cover the tail pipe it has good pressure but for some reason the engine bay is loud as hell. Could this be a vacuum line or a valve stuck open or is the exhaust? Has anyone else had this problem or can someone point me in the right direction?

 

what kind of loud. vacuum leaks generally hiss

 

Did you use a new gasket between the engine and header?

 

The thin wall header is way louder then the huge cast tank that you just took out. unless you have an obvious leak it's going to be way louder under the hood.

 

Did you happen to to replace remove or take of the old header gasket between the block and the header and forgot to put it back or a new in it's place...

The Fan if your still running stock fan will be loud in the engine bay

hissing or vacume is not that loud...

 

Did you by any chance forget to install one of the blockoff plates?

 

that is true there is a pipe that runs from the block down to the cat...And if it's not connected it will sound like an open header...It's used for smog, about a 1/2 inch in diameter and runs along the the passanger side of the car up through the side of the firewall on the passanger side to the back of the block...check that...

 

Yeah, I used all new gaskets. It's not a hiss and it's definately not the fan. I can't quite put my finger on where it's at either. I took three hours last night and screwed the bolts down tighter and that didn't seem to do anything. It sounds like I'm running a chain saw under my hood. What do you mean block off plates? And are you talking about the tube that goes from my cat back to my engine that opens the secondary valves?

 

are you talking about an SE or non SE??? remember, teh RB exhaust isnt exactly quite per say. i have one on my 85 S and the exhaust is fairly new and sounds great..but its much louder than teh stock exhaust.

 

It's a 13b gslse. It's not the exhaust that's loud. I stick my ear by the tail pipe and it has a nice purr at idle. I walk up to the engine bay and it sounds like a chainsaw. This is my first RX7 (I've put headers on honda h22a's and b18s) but I still don't think it should be that loud. Sounds like I have no header attached but it's there. Plus I can smell exhaust in the engine bay I just can't figure out where it's coming from. Where the hell else can exhaust come from besides the header?

I'm going out and checking it out again. Maybe I'm just missing something small.

 

I got it take the header off...and what im thinking is you probably forgot to take of the braker washers that go on the other side of the header...You have got to have a gap right there my friend...

 

O2 sensor bung as an exhaust leak?

 

thats my guess as well. when i put the RB header and presilencer on my car it was louder than it should have been. after inspecting it for a minute i found out that i accidetly put the lock washers between the header and presilencer.

check where your header meets the engine and where your header meets the rest of the exhaust.

mine made my car rediculously louder.

 

Problem solved. Racing beat headers come with garbage gaskets. Apparently I tightened the nut down too hard on the top right bolt of the header and it stripped (making it a pain in the *** to get off). I guess it didn't screw down all the way or it came off a little bit and then the exhaust blew a hole in the crappy paper gasket that racing beat sends with their headers. So now I'm going to order an oem one and put that on. Hopefully this ends my problems.

 

That stupid air pump tube?

 

Isn't the racing beat gasket a nice thick piece of crush metal? I just removed my RB header and the gasket was made from pretty thick material. You might want to hold off on getting a mazda gasket, everyone correct me if i'm wrong but the RB gaskets do differ in their sealing surfaces.
Does it look like this?
http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda1.htm

 

Thats very similar to what both my Mazda ones looks like. The only thing I am unsure of are the differing holes at the bottom...

 

Correction, I have a pacesetter header and a monza muffler ( I believe monza is made by racing beat which is where I got confused). The gasket is like a cheap *** paper gasket. As for going oem I don't think it should matter as long as the important parts are coverred. True, I'll have some gasket hanging over but there's no way I'm putting another one from pacesetter on. I'm not quite sure what I should do besides just order an oem gasket. Does anyone know what the oem gaskets are like? I took mine off a couple months ago and I can't remember if they're crushed steel or not. Also, there's nothing you can put on an exhaust gasket to help it seal that won't burn off is there?

 

oem is metal too

so with oem or RB youre safe

 

Get a vid of the car running...i want to hear the exhaust.

 

Pourke,
You are screwed. You have a full Pacesetter exhaust. It is going to be WAY loud. You might get by with the Pacesetter header, and a Racing Beat Muffler. But the Monza muffler (it's not made by RB by the way) is made by Pacesetter and will go from loud to obnoxious in a short time.
And you do need the OEM or RB gaskets.

 

I have a RB header, RB presilencer, and a MONZA muffler.
I finally bought a RB muffler which I haven't installed yet.
The Monza muffler is WAY loud.

 

Oh, and another thought. Pacesetter headers are notorious for not fitting up to the engine correctly. Make sure you have a tight fit all the way around.

 

Hanman you depress me. I'll let you know how it sounds. I over nighted the gasket from mazda.

 

wah wah wa grow a pair and BE LOUD