Hey,

So in the past 2 years I've owned and driven 2 7's that you could call "noisy" (ported full exhaust bla bla)

So I'm currently driving my FD. Basically about a year ago a neighbor left a note on my car saying i need to fix my "illegal noisy muffler" and that im waking them up (i leave at 7:40ish am) and how if i dont do it I'll receive citations or whatever basically they'll call the cops.

Today I got my second letter, as follows:

"Dear Neighbor,
Could you please fix your noisy illegal muffler! This is our second request and we do not want to cause you any problems. Thank You"

Now I agree my car is loud, i dont argue that but I don't leave till 7:40ish, i come home at 5-6pm and after that my car rarely gets turned back on. I don't fly up and down the street, i roll down the hill in the morning only hitting the gas to get the car moving.

I'm pretty confident in my knowledge of the laws and I am pretty sure that all that would be done about a registered complaint is possibly a cop rolling around at around the time I leave who'll pull me over and wind up giving me a "noisy exhaust" ticket ($44, whatever i've learned to deal with that if i didnt i wouldnt own any 7's)

However, I would like to know if there are any more strict policies I may not be clear about. I'm pretty sure I don't have to deal with an on-the-spot inspection emissions wise nor visual, I'm also pretty sure they can't tow my car for a noisy exhaust.

Does anyone here know any different? Could they do a "sting" vehicle inspection? My route to work would avoid all possible roadside inspections as i travel like 2 miles maybe to work.

Basically I don't want to get my car towed or get stuck in an inspection debacle (emis*wink*sions). So i prefer to be aware of what i *COULD* be facing.

Altho it won't matter soon, the FD goes away for winter and by the time it comes back out it'll be registered as a "collectors" vehicle (i turn 25 finally and will be elligible for collectors car insurance) and I won't be subject to this harassment.

Thanks,
Kevin.

 

Thats probably the only thing they can do. Is have a cop stationed on your block waiting for your leave or arrival and he will make his determination on the "loudness". If its too loud, he will obviously write you a ticket.

Now if you're lucky and this does happen, he might not think its too loud and just let your complaining neighbor deal with it. It all depends on your neighbor, the cop and your car. Hopefully you get a cop thats into cars and will let the exhaust note slide.

FYI, even if your car is a collectors car, that doesnt exempt you from a high decible ticket, you are only exempt from emissions/inspections.

My advice is maybe throw a resonator on it? See if that helps. Or move. lol

Im in the same situation as you, i live on a dead end block and its QUIET. When i attend the local meets, i get home like 1030 and i know people on my block can hear my car. So far i lived here for about a year and a half and i havent heard one complaint about my car. I dont drive the car much so thats probably why.

Its also the fact that theres alot of modified cars in my town. So maybe the people here are used to it.

Like i always say, "if its too loud, you're too old".

Good luck kev.

BTW, why dont you attend our tuesday meets? We need more FD's there.

 

LMAO I have that quote "if its too loud, youre too old" on my toolbox at work haha. Anyway, yea I'm somewhat confident in my knowledge of my rights and risks of driving my car as far as tickets etc (my open wastegate for instance). If they can only wait me out and give me a noise ticket then whatever, $44 isnt such an inconvenience. I'm mainly worried bout the emissions/inspection part which is why i cant wait for collector car status. As for changing my exhaust setup, bleh I built it specifically for flow and spool (i didnt build the apexi muffler tho)

As for how loud it is, I've gotten an exhaust noise ticket while practically idling (idle is 1300rpms, was at maybe 2krpms coasting along). Picture an open Apexi N1 sound level, then up it a tad. I haven't gotten caught for my open wastegate tho, altho if a cop caught me for open wastegate I'd give him credit for being able to keep up and take my ticket.

I was at one tuesday night meet, but i work from 8-5/6pm get out and then from 7ish-11ish i work at my own personal home shop almost everyday, sometimes it's harder to get out of my personal work then to get out of my actual work lol. But I have been weeding out my personal work slowly to give myself a brief timeout (I've gone as far as now "hiring" a friend to help do some of the work in return I have to build his turbo setup) but of course during my timeout I'll be shopping for an actual "legal" shop for my business, not buying anytime soon just feeling out the current market.

Anywho, keep any input out there coming just in case someone else has an alternate point of view or understanding of the situation.

kevin.

 

IMO, good neighbor relations are important.

Could you maybe make/buy a plug (dunno what they are called) or silencer thing that goes in the muffler outlet and use it in the morning at least until you leave your street?

Something similar to this http://www.modernperformance.com/all...xtendedtip.jpg

Whether you are legally right or not, having civil relations with the neighbors is worth something isn't it So you jam that thing in before you start it, drive up the street or whatever, and remove it if you wish. When you come home, you wouldn't need to use it because their complaint relates to being woken up in the mornings only right?

 

why not just quiet the car down a little? Im sure you will enjoy driving it much more

 

You can try a Spin Tech insert. They are made by Tech Line Coatings in Waxahatchee, Texas and work well without restricting.Available from Summit. As far as local noise ordinances, they usually are specific as to time of day. I'm not sure about Wayne, but when I lived in NJ most referenced either 8 or 10PM to 6AM as being restricted hours. On the road is another story, but your neighbor is complaining about the noise when you are starting in the morning. It might help to talk directly with the neighbor and find out why 7:40 in the morning is an issue for them. Good luck!

 

i have a silencer i can throw in, but driving down the street and removing it sucks cause it gets pretty hot pretty quick.

Maybe I'll look into another system and just get an electric muffler cutout for the dyno/track.

As for "neighborly-ness" who the hell writes unsigned notes and leaves them on a person's car? If you have a problem with me/my car, I'll gladly talk to you face-to-face and we can find out what the problem is. That's what mostly annoys me about the situation. The first note a yer or so ago was handwritten and still unsigned, this one was typed up and again unsigned. What are they so afraid of? They can complain but won't speak with me in person? It's not like they think I'm uavailable I see each neighbor at least once a day outside.

kevin.

kevin.

 

just start driving the yellow car open dp I'll bet they'll write you another letter wishing you'd drive the fd more often

 

Electric cut out would be your BEST bet. If you wanna keep the flow of your current exhaust yet wanna tone it down a bit for tolerance.

But now that i think of it, you went with the loudest route ever. Straight pipe to an apexi n1 muffler? lol

I would sorta complain too lol

But nah, if you really like your setup, install an electric cutout.

As far as your neighbors, i wouldnt worry about who made the complain. It goes to show that he/she is a coward since they remained anonymous. IF that person were true jerks, they'll come out and confront you.

Not that that means who cares, i mean a complain is a complain and people will do crazy stuff if they are annoyed (dont know if you park your car outside or garage it) but its better just to appease them just a bit, or at least show you're trying to do something.

I would do an electric cutout anyway.

 

ok ill admit it....it was me....im sorry

 

meh... let them call the cops... they won't do ****. Probly tell the neighbors to STFU and stop crying... cops really do have better things to do. I highly doubt they are going to wait around for you in the morning... I think they are usually changing shifts right around then too.

 

lol my fd is parked outside but the HILARIOUS thiing is, they literally can't do anything to it, you'd understand better if you saw it in person.

I bought it and it was keyed from top to bottom by someone pissed at the previous owner, the fender's been hit by something, and the hood, well i gues they could scratch thatt but i paid 100 bux and it wouldnt bother me.

I think theyre just intimidated by my size (6'6, 190ish) altho im not confrontational i wave and say hello when i see most of them.

Maybe i'll go with a quieter system and install a cutout down the line, but the car goes into storage mode in a month or so.

kevin.

 

Damn you're crazy for parking it outside. Even though wayne is a nice area.

I highly recommend you trying to make it to a couple more tuesday meets before you store the car.

 

LMAO, i keep my nice looking car in a garage, i store my evo outside too. if anything id be more worried about the evo being stolen/messed with, i dont even know if a thief would figure out how to turn the FD on lmao.

Maybe i'll go this tuesday, have to see the schedule working on a supra for the majority of the week, maybe ill get a lot done on monday and can skip working on it on tuesday.

kevin.

 

The FD is not a nice car? lol

I would store the FD inside and keep the evo outside. Well if that was me since the evo would be my daily driver anyway.

Btw, were you at the evo/sti event at etown this past sunday?

I was there, lots of fast *** evos that looked stock as hell.

 

I would just install a small straight through muffler where the car normally is. That should quiet down the exhaust and make it sound better.

 

lots of evos are sleeper, not much out there in terms of affordable exterior stuff, and they resent anything other then coilovers for lowering the car. I've hung out with a local evo crew a few times, never been to real events tho. I know of more then one evo around my area that look bone stock except for wheels and exhaust that can spin the dyno at over 600awhp.

The FD itself is a nice car....MY FD is not seriously it's been hit with the ugly stick. Next year it gets painted and kitted and THEN it'll be a nice car. still wont be in the garage tho, thats reserved for my t2 which has wayyyy more money invested

i've been DDing my FD lately to get the tune perfect, got a super annoying stumble when i first get on the gas and the idle is slowly coming around. Mainy focusing on cruising AFR's tho as my boost setup is good to 14psi. Just ordered my new Rad, dual pump holder, second walbro and the rest of what i needed for my meth setup the other day. So of course once i have it tuned perfectly it'll be back to square one, but i'm aiming for 25+psi and 500+rwhp on 93 w/ 100% meth lol.

after all that stuff it'll still be outside, under a cover, but outside.

evo is waiting on new rubber before the cold season and then it'll be my DD again until april-ish when it's 7 season again.

kevin.

 

nice... me likes the evo

 

if you need help weeding out the bitch neighboor we could all meet at your house and park in random places and just rev the **** outa our cars and see who complains first....

then the next night we kick it old school and tp there house......lol jk

 

Well regardless if your FD is not in pristine shape, it should be cherished as a time piece because it is. Its a rare car thats one of a kind.

But i guess people treat their cars differently. You have alot of cars so i guess you choose what takes first priority.

I thought about getting an evo for my daily driver but i know i will pour money into it, something i dont wanna do. Thats why im gonna get a G35 coupe instead.

 

dude you know your welcome with any of those cars on tuesday nights....might actually be able to get other fd owners out too!.....

 

sounds like a plan, had that idea when i got the first note, have a rotary meet right on the street lol.

guess you dont want to hear that my FD is even more rare because it's a 94 chaste white which was originally automatic which makes it like 1 of 60 lol. its stick now tho but still white...and will be repainted white.

Yea it's on my todo list most tuesdays, but like i said my after-work work is killing me, guess its due to the time of year or something people getting **** done before storage.

kevin.

 

lol and i thought i had a rare car. I have your typical 93 VR lol

But yeah man, bring it to the meets. I need some more FD people to talk to.

 

that is whenever YOU show

 

lol if it was up to me only, i wont show at all.

I ONLY go hoping for a good turnout. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasnt.

At least if more FD's go, that just makes me wanna go all the time, regardless of my crazy schedule.

Til then, ill pick and choose my appearances.