Header Noise - Opinions needed!!

orange04

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Another thing I noticed is with some exhaust the noise is masked. I originally had Borla on it and the exhaust tone resonated with the noise. I first noticed the noise when i installed my Magnaflow catback. Just another obeservation.
 

mikesfagent

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Interesting...

I never noticed mine until after I had the headers put on...

In fact, it did not do it when the heeders were first installed, but after a few miles. I would not describe it as an exhaust leak sound, but more of a "buzz' , Like a resonance more than even maybe a rattle.

It also does not always do it. Sound is sometimes intermittant, and other times I drive the car it is there all the time.

When it does it , it is very loud. I had a friend in the car, i said I have this noise that is a rattle/buzz under my feet in the pedal/dash/firewall area or something, He looked at me like I was crazy. I took him for a drive and the car did not make the sounds no matter how hard I tried for a few miles. He thought I was nuts. Then it did it...his head snapped around and he said WHAT WAS THAT!

I just got the second skin material a couple weeks ago, and have been too busy to get back after it. I went all under the car when it was on the same friends lift, and the only thing I could find that would make a similar pitched noise when I tried ti make it rattle was the old factory cat heat shields. While not touching anything, it just seems like they are very tinny, and that is the type of sound... a very tinny "buzzing" almost at 2200-3000 under part throttle, when under load only. I can play around in the driveway all day long revving the thing and it will NEVER make that noise...

It is not a ticking type exhaust leak that I am experiencing..
 

M1A....

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I have an 08 with JBA LT's-3" collector, with a 3" JBA off road X pipe fitted to a Magnafow 3" system. I had rattling problems all the time. Under the passenger floor pan, under the driver floor pan, under the rear pan on both sides, and over the axle. I tweaked and played with it for 6 months. Fix one rattle, and then I'd get another. I got tired of it. I had an opportunity to pick up a flowmaster 3" system for cheap. Had it installed 2 weeks ago, and not one rattle. And it sounds a whole lot better to me than the magnaflow system. Not as raspy. I'm impressed! Good luck on tracking down your rattles!!
 

Gearslammer

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I strongly feel that it is some type of resonance. The EGR delete was the only thing you've tried that made some type of difference with the noise. I had mac headers on my 98 z28 and had the same type of noise. I tried everything, but could not get rid of it. Eventually went with slp headers and gone was the noise.
I know some people have the same headers, with no noise, but I think it is related to the entire exhaust and how the pulses travel through it. I wonder if an individual primary pipe could have a slight imperfection in it, near where the EGR pipe is welded on.
Is there any way you can try a different header?
 

orange04

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Got some time under the car today with no luck.

Insulated the heat shields and noise was still there.

Stethoscoped the entire exhaust and found no leaks.

Removed one stage 8 bolt thinking it was bottoming out on the head.... It had at least another half inch.

Thought the exhaust was just vibrating too much so wedged a piece of wood in between the cross member so it was solid, no change.

I put the rear end up in the air and ran the car to try to duplicate the noise, can not duplicate the noise, not enough load on the engine.

I'm don't have any ideas on what to try next.

I thought about getting a set of ARH headers but if I do and the noise is still there that would suck!

Gonna play with it some more and see what I can find. Next step might be just to reinstall stock manifolds.

This sucks!!!
 

evasive

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Since you no longer have cats, why don't you remove the heat shields?

They are great for any quick visual scrutiny one may encounter.
 

orange04

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Since you no longer have cats, why don't you remove the heat shields?

I thought about removing them but the hold up insulation that is around the trans tunnel. If you remove them you would have to find another way to hold up the insulation or remove that too. I insulated the heat shields and no change in the noise anyways :(
 

orange04

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So I played with this thing all afternoon again and cant change anything.
I decided to throw in the towel for the day.

I took my 04 Cobra for a drive which has ARH Longtubes and Offroad X and low and behold, it has the same noise!!! Its just harder to hear since I'm running Flowmasters on it. The sound comes in at the same RPM and then goes away after 3000 RPM. So either both of my cars are broken or this is some sort of natural occurence with headers and the exhaust pulses.

I wonder if Kooks headers sound any different due to them being a 3/4 header rather than a full longtube??

So I guess back to my original question.... Do you guys think there is a different in power from a long tube to an offroad X? Is all the power gain from the removal of the cats?
 

2Sharpie

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Check out my video here............ is this kind of the same noise that you hear?? I only get it around 3300 rpm or so when driving -- I can sit there and rev all day long and nothing, but as soon as I'm mobile its there. But it is definitely coming from behind me, so I dont think its the headers. I haven't done as thorough of a search as possible, digging through everything, but the heat shields all seem secure and everything else feels tight.


2010 Shelby GT500 - ARH Headers/H-pipe - MMS mufflers - YouTube
 
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orange04

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It sounds pretty close to that but you were accelerating pretty quickly there so it would pass by pretty quick. If you have a boost gauge you can accelerate at about 7 inches to 0 inches of vacuum and the noise is there from 2500-3200 rpm. Anything under that load you can not hear and above that load it goes by too fast!!

In the back of my mind I'm thinking back to when headers were mild steel and they didnt make any of this type of noise. MY 04 had BBK headers on it and never heard this type of sound, now I can hear it on my 04 with the stainless headers.... maybe a byproduct of the material that is used these days. Another reason why I say this is when you ping the stock cat back tubes they sound a lot different then the stainless ones!!
 

BURGESS04COBRA

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Man I am glad I am not going nuts I am having same problem on my 04 cobra think its the headers but been told the fuel pump might be going out and it could be detonation hope its not going sat I hope to find out what's up at my tuners shop. And I will see about the egress delete and other issues.
 

az20115.0

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Got a set of long tubes with off rd x pipe and gt500 mufflers (2011 GT).. Had it for a few days, developed the same exact sound you all are talking about.. 2-4k rpm under load.. raspy rattling sound from passenger side. annoying, but I expected something like this from long tubes. Will probably take it to the shop that installed and hope the find the rattle in a few days.. I'll look under the car, but I'm sure I wont find anything.. o well
 

orange04

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I still have the noise until this day. I was able to minimize it or mask it with the current exhaust combination I have.

Like I said before, it will go away with all stock exhaust on it so I honestly believe it is a resonance or exhaust characteristic when using long tubes and removing the cats. If I didn't tell someone the noise was there, they would never notice it.

Please let us know if you do find something.
 

az20115.0

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OK, found my problem and fixed it!
Took it to the exhaust shop, told them to fix it. The next day they told me there is no leak, so they cant fix "it". It was a clearance issue. So it seems under heavy load, the motor mounts got weak. The engine would shift and torque over, and the passenger side headers would actually touch the frame. That is what made that awful sound.. Had my mechanic lift the motor mounts a little and that did the trick.. Didnt want to wait till the new motor mounts came in from ford..
Problem fixed for now
 

69b302

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Another suggestion, on my 07 the rear hanger bar for the drivers side mufflers was a little to close to the bumper support. Under load the exhaust would shift and the muffler support bar would then slightly hit the bumper support, making nasty rattle.
 

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