RB - Road Race True Duals - Does this sound right?
 

The exhaust is incredibly loud and sounds abnormal. The noise comes from mostly the engine bay. I believe I have a leak at the headers, but we double checked it twice.. I know headers are loud, but this doesn't sound normal.....or maybe it's just us?

Yes, I do have a header gasket placed.

Please view a small/quick clip of my exhaust

http://media.putfile.com/Full-Road-Race-True-Duals
^ Sounds about 2x louder in reality...

After viewing a couple clips of other ppl cars...defiently something wrong with my exhaust!

I can't diagnose what is wrong, but that does not sound good. Hope you get it fixed soon.

maybe you dont have the hole for the 6 port actuators plugged?

i know this is obviouse, but you did replace all your gaskets and ^^^ make sure the 6 port actuators are now covered/plugged? if you reused your old gaskets you could have a nasty exhaust leak.

TR

Well did you watch vids of other people's cars with true duals or collected exhaust? True duals will sound different. But check for leaks just to be sure.

Nope!! All gaskets are brand new, although, I don't believe we covered the 6 port actuators. This may sound newbie, but where is the actuator? Pictures are appreciated!

Thank you all for your comments!


http://www.racingbeat.com/photos/16326.jpg
Air Control and Check Valve Cover Plate*
1981-92 RX-7 Non-turbo


^ This item came with my exhaust system. I had no idea what it was. Is it required? If so, where does it go? Is this the part that you guys were talking about? The six port actuator?

To be honest, I couldn't find any true dual sound clips, but even then, at idle, it shouldn't sound that loud. The video clip is nothing compared to real life. It's very ANNOYING!

make sure you are using metal gaskets. the paper ones burn through in like 5 seconds and thats what they sent me.

Hmm...really? I didn't notice any major burning after taking it off for the second time.

Can anyone help....?

You need to remove the ACV and block it off with that plate you got with your exhaust. You had to have removed your air pump in order to get those headers on right? Well the ACV is the valve bolted to the side of the motor that your air pump hoses plugged into. Look at the FSM to find out exactly what the ACV is if you don't know what it is.

uh I didn't have to remove anything to install the headers... and I have the rb true dual road-race as well.

It really sounds like a leak...like all of the sound is coming from the engine bay...can barely hear the exhaust

Mind snapping a pic of the header-side of the engine for us?

sure ill get a pic up some time today...that could be the problem.

also if we can't seem to fix it...do you guys recommend a shop look at it?

my car sounded like that until i replaced the disintegreated gasket after the header, very very bad leak, i bet you can smell it pretty good too

thanks for the response! I've emailed racingbeat about my problem already, and they believe it was a bad gasket, even though I used the new one they gave me.

I blocked off the Air Control Valve with a Air Control and Check Valve block off plate. I actually took out air control and check valve, and covered the opening. I beleived it fixed the leak a little(maybe its just me) bit, it's not as loud anymore(still loud though)...but I heard blocking this off will disable my 6th actuator and cause a decrease of power(I have a S5). Is this true? Should I put this back on?

You have an exhaust leak at the header, nuff' said.

Alright!

Can anyone answer my question about the block off plate? Is it really necessary? Am I losing power?

The Air Pump just drains a little power off via the belt driven system, however, it also dumps air into your exhaust (to prevent bad emissions and those nice pretty flames you see on most RX-7's).

You can remove the air pump, and block it off, but you'll need to get a double alt pulley as your waterpump wont act right at high rpms.

AFAIR the S5's use vacuum/solenoids to run the ports, not exhaust back pressure, so you shouldnt have any problem.

Thanks..Tech! Where can I purchase the double alt. pulley?

So, it doesn't affect the 5th and 6th port actuators at all? I've read that the ports are actually runned by the air pump...

I feel a torque lost as well.

Directly from Racing Beat, you'll need to buy an extra Alt belt though.

AFAIK, the 5th/6th port actuators run off of the vacuum and a few solenoids on the rack, however I could be wrong as I haven't had a working 5th/6th combo in the past year I owned my car and I dont drive it anymore.

You lost torque because you're using a true dual system, you'll loose a little down low (and combine that with the exhaust leak, which is probbaly melting whatever gasket you had on there, ask me how I know! :D) but your high RPM power will be better than any collected system could offer (according to Racing Beat anyway) so you'll have to launch a little higher but the added power should be better.

Im pretty sure you should gain power down low with true duals...

No, the exhaust gases are seperated the whole way out, I believe the Racing Beat said something about longer primary tube than the secondary so it in turn adds for higher rpm power instead of lower rpm with collected.

The collected system is specifically tuned for low-mid rpm torque.

You need your air pump for your 5/6 ports and vdi.

I noticed more power low and high, but there was more power GAIN high. I also just kept the air pump and ACV because it's still the best way to operate the aux ports and VDI, and yes you will lose power without these. And tech geek, the ports are run by pressure from the air pump and solenoids, not vacuum. JMY952, have you checked to see if all the nuts attaching the header to the engine and to the exaust piping are fully tighened? Sometimes you really have to torque them down.