FTE 4" Exhaust Resonator Review......

[smitty3500]

To try and make a long story short. My 04. 5 in my Sig has had a Silverline 4" Turbo back installed for a few years. The finish and fit is great. The system comes with a "muffler" that is about 1" larger diameter then the 4" piping. The louvers inside the muffler when installed are pointed down exhaust stream flow, so no exhaust goes into muffler packing.



I was tired of the drone when towing my 44' Pace American two car trailer loaded(24,500 cat scale). I orderd a 4" FTE Resonator and installed it under the cab. I would say under the passenger front seat on my quad cab. The drone at highway rpms, 2000-2200pm pulling grades is now gone. The resonator really does what it claims. The noise out of the tail pipe even has more a "whistle" turbo noise, which I am sure is caused by the air spiraling through the resonator.



I am happy with this mod except for one downfall. When pulling a grade loaded and getting into the throttle the truck with Smarty JR and mods listed would make 35-37psi of boost. The power from the amount of boost at highway speeds was very nice and I became use to it. With the resonator installed the turbo does NOT spoil as quick from a stop and at speed when rolling onto throttle my max boost is now 32 on the gauge.



I guess this proves you can Not have the best of both worlds. I will be heading West mid August and will see how the truck peforms on some steeper longer grades. EGT has not increased but maybe 50-100 at worse.



I would love to get the 5-6 psi of boost back but not sure if any other mod will help. Was leaning towards a Intake horn but not sure that will help since the resonator seems to be a culprit.

 

[cerberusiam]

Sounds like the placement of the resonator is wrong. IIRC, the resonator in a turbo charged system should be to the rear not the front. If it is using exhaust energy to spin the exhaust then that is probably the answer.

 

[smitty3500]

Hmmmmm... . Interesting. I was told by FTE to mount as far foward as possible, and the resonator does not hurt power or increase EGT.

 

[cerberusiam]

Then again maybe it is increasing the flow and you don't need as much boost, thats why its lower. Where they should be mounted on a normal aspirated motro as opposed ot a turbo charged one may vary.

A cheap test, wrap the down pipe and turbo hot side with exhaust wrap and see if anything chnages.

 

[smitty3500]

Then again maybe it is increasing the flow and you don't need as much boost, thats why its lower. Where they should be mounted on a normal aspirated motro as opposed ot a turbo charged one may vary.



A cheap test, wrap the down pipe and turbo hot side with exhaust wrap and see if anything chnages.

I would wager a lot of money that the flow has not increased. I am not a flow expert but I would think that only a decrease is flow is possible when adding a spiral type to the system that was once 4" open pipe. Power is definitely down a bit from before with upper 30 pounds of boost, now barely reaching 31-32 pounds. What will wrapping the down pipe do?

 

[cerberusiam]

Yeah, as a guess its robbing flow speed to swirl the flow which is slowing down the overall exhuast flow. Wrapping the down pipe and turbo housing will keep the heat in the exhaust stream will keep the speed up and make it easier to move which should improve spool.

Your sure you didn't do any other maintenance that could cause this problem?

 

[tuffs93]

Smitty, You might think I'm crazy and full of ****, but for years I have been running a strait pipe,with the exception of a small baffle inside the tailpipe. I started using a product from Spiral Turbo Specialties many years ago in my streetrods. When I started running CTD in 89 I new running strait was the way to go but hated the drone in the cab. I got a 4" spiral and put it in the tailpipe about 10" from the end. No Drone... . I have had 7 different trucks and have ran them all the same way including a newly aquired 04 SRW with only 24K on the OD. Give them a try.....

 

[smitty3500]

tuffs, at this time I dont think I am going to try another "spiral" design, as the FTE is the same thing just in a different location. I will try some exhaust wrap for my tow west in a couple weeks and see how it pulls the long steep grades until I reach the "flat" space.....



If is down on power and not perfoming to my likings then perhaps will be taking the FTE off.

 

[WalterJ]

smitty3500; Pls update your results re: FTE [with P/N] & heat tape experiment. The additional noise from installing my MBRP "test pipe" is getting old now. This is from a TDR member:

[TDR: outlaw1sammy] I replaced the cat with a FTE resonator this past spring. I did not notice any difference in temps, noise level seems to be about the same, but the drone is 96% gone. And as an added bonus you get a nose full of the good stuff!

I was going to go this FTE direction, but certainly DO NOT wish to compromise my max potential boost as a result. Anxiously awaiting your response. Thanks much.

Wally

 

[FJfonda]

smitty3500; Pls update your results re: FTE [with P/N] & heat tape experiment. The additional noise from installing my MBRP "test pipe" is getting old now. This is from a TDR member:

[TDR: outlaw1sammy] I replaced the cat with a FTE resonator this past spring. I did not notice any difference in temps, noise level seems to be about the same, but the drone is 96% gone. And as an added bonus you get a nose full of the good stuff!

I was going to go this FTE direction, but certainly DO NOT wish to compromise my max potential boost as a result. Anxiously awaiting your response. Thanks much.

Wally

I struggled with my Silverline exhaust drone on my 04.5, finally wound up installing a 52" Donaldson muffler M090544 and am quite pleased. They are not stainless and last about 5 years before developing a hole, on my 2nd one now. I am running about the same boost level as the OP and did not notice any reduction in boost. The Donaldson certainly made a huge difference in reducing the towing drone. On a side note, the Donaldson M085171 40" version only made about a 30% difference in the drone level.

 

[WalterJ]

Hmmmmm... . Interesting. I was told by FTE to mount as far foward as possible, and the resonator does not hurt power or increase EGT.

--------------------------------------
How different were then atmospheric/environmental conditions before & after FTE install? That can make a drastic difference in perception.

My understanding [now] is that "drone" is a product of resonance [sympathetic vibration], where the exhaust system is the 'guitar string' and the cab is the 'guitar body'. This spiral design is decades old & works by altering the velocity of some of the exhaust gases. When this portion of different velocity gas mixes with the remainder flowing thru the center of the resonator, it produces another vibration quite different that the original. This different vibration frequency [from a tuned resonator based upon a specific vehicle] no longer matches the resonant vibration of the cab, thus no sympathetic vibration is established, thus reduced "drone". As far as placement is concerned, the 'sooner the better', or any piping upstream of the resonator will be unaffected & remain a source of vibration energy.

A 'flow thru' muffler can be less effective in this regard, because it is designed to adsorb sound energy. whereas a 'resonator' is designed to alter vibration frequency such that the vibrations/sound energy is self cancelling. This concept is used in the [expensive] "noise cancelling" headphones, where they are equipped with a microphone to sample external/ambient noise patterns, then recreate that complex sound structure 180 degrees out of phase to cancel it within the speakers in the ear muffs. Cool eh?

Wally

 

[thashane]

Any update? Im resonator hunting

 

[avvblanc01]

Id love to hear updates on this too. Im absolutely stumped on trying to find something I like for my 1st gen.

The banks muffler thats on it is too quiet and a straight pipe just drones too much while towing
I like the aero turbine but I was leaning more towards the FTE resonator.

 

[RAndrae]

On my 02 I put the Banks 4" system and it had an annoying drone. I used a 4" x 12-14 long straight through race muffler from Summit. I placed it about 2 feet in front of the muffler, worked great no drone.

 

[Straightsix81]

I have a 06' megacab with CAT only, I can't remove because of Kalifornia! Where would you suggest I place the resonator, I can barely fit a 30" behind CAT? But I hear you put them before CAT? How is this possible seems like not enough room? What do you suggest!!!!