OMG (RPi GT's + GruppeM)

[r4gs]

so, ups delivered my brand new rpi gt exhausts late this morning and i've spent the last 2 hours under the lift turning wrenches et al. exhausting cos i wasn't 100% sure how to remove everything (turns out to be very easy) and i had to troubleshoot the pair of bolts that came with the rpi's being too short to fit through the stock white rubber hanger thingy that slots into the rubber grommets. shall have to give eloy a call and some feedback to clarify how exactly i was to use the two provided bolts, crush washer and washer.

OMG indeed. started her up and an instant transformation in exhaust note from stock. will add more feedback on this pairing (have not had a chance to open the taps yet, but later tonight) and am going to put some miles on the setup this weekend traveling to san antonio.

pair of pics:

[tekmoe]

envious is all i can say!

you've pushed me that much closer to ordering the rpi.

must. hide. credit. card.

[3002 tii]

i always liked these style of tips

[ZStig]

thats gonna be one loud SOB. I really like the tips too

[esqu1re]

Hey, nice exhaust. It might be the angle of the pictures, but the tips seem like they're hanging a little low. It took me a day or two to figure it out, but you can tighten the top bolt (may have to loosen the bottom bolt a little too) on the back of the exhaust to raise the tips up.

Enjoy man!

[l4zy]

nice upgrade! i'm loving the heck outta mine too!

[Eccentric]

i will be joining the exclusive, "I'm an obnoxious SOB" club too. Just about to order mine

congrats on the buy, dude

[sabbanick]

Post some sound clips...i am tired of listening to the same ones over and over again on youtubes!

i am awaiting install of SS xpipe/sport cans and gruppe M...we can compare the music our cars make!

Enjoy your new additions.

[r4gs]

Originally Posted by tekmoe

envious is all i can say!

you've pushed me that much closer to ordering the rpi.

must. hide. credit. card.

if u're really keen on giving it a listen, i will be at cupcake meet #9 in austin next saturday afternoon? i think an in-person audition will seal-the-deal.

Originally Posted by Dubbedown

i always liked these style of tips

fond of them too. they're unique among the many aftermarket offerings, and mimic the older 996 carrera s tips.

Originally Posted by Roffle Waffle

thats gonna be one loud SOB. I really like the tips too

have had a number of people listen to the exhaust from outside and inside the cabin, and albeit under certain amounts of throttle in certain gears produces quite a harsh drone, i've so far tested the in-cabin sound through my most common speeds (30mph, 60mph, 70mph, 90mph) and it's acceptable. it is NOT as loud as straight pipes.

Originally Posted by esqu1re

Hey, nice exhaust. It might be the angle of the pictures, but the tips seem like they're hanging a little low. It took me a day or two to figure it out, but you can tighten the top bolt (may have to loosen the bottom bolt a little too) on the back of the exhaust to raise the tips up.

Enjoy man!

thanks! came back tonight from dinner out in town and it's truly a blast. i'm trying to break them in as soon as possible to let the tone mature and settle, so hopefully the droning also gets a little better. yes the setup is too low for my taste, but i was so exhausted (did the swap all on my own) and had a debrief to attend tt i decided to tweak the alignment another time. it's a very simple fix as u describe, since there's a circular floating piece in-between the 2 flanges tt allows 360-degree adjustment of the mufflers left to right, up and down, and any combination in-between. need a spotter to help perfectly align them.

Originally Posted by l4zy

nice upgrade! i'm loving the heck outta mine too!

Originally Posted by Eccentric

i will be joining the exclusive, "I'm an obnoxious SOB" club too. Just about to order mine

congrats on the buy, dude

grazie! it's honestly not as obnoxious as i'm guessing u're expecting. speak directly with eloy.

Originally Posted by sabbanick

Post some sound clips...i am tired of listening to the same ones over and over again on youtubes!

i am awaiting install of SS xpipe/sport cans and gruppe M...we can compare the music our cars make!

Enjoy your new additions.

would take some sound clips if i had something decent to do so with. i would say the gruppe m weaves its own aural magic above 4000 rpms, and does well not to be overpowered by the rpi's. accelerating through the ENTIRE rev range is downright, pardon the immature use of the word, ORGASMIC.

[crfine88]

Very nice combo,
Tone will deepen a bit. Burbles and pops during downshifts like a real GT race car. I recomend drving through canyons and tunnels with the windows down for a real treat . Didn't Know we were in a club, but welcome to the "exclusive I'm an obnoxious SOB club"

Nothing beats the engine sound of the gruppe M in my opinion without going full blow CSL. You've got a great paring for engine and exhaust note.

Here is a picture of my flange orientation; my tips are aprx 1/8 inch from the bumper.

[Z4-VILLA]

i will be addding CSL headers very soon....so that with RPI and maybe an x pipe delet or something i think it will sound awesome

[r4gs]

^z4-villa, seriously, how can u stand it!? put on close to 400 miles already, and the drone is mind-numbingly loud. 60mph, 6th gear is bearable. leave it in 6th, accelerate to ANY speed above 60mph, the drone only gets more high-pitched + louder. on long journeys, this becomes headache-inducing. i'm seriously reconsidering the merits of purchasing the set of rpi's. gruppem induction noise is drowned out entirely by the exhausts at anywhere below 4500rpms (which is about 95% of the time).

would like suggestions from those who've opted to go the sound deadening route. i'm looking at ensolite as a means to reduce the volume and dynamat to reduce the reverberations. please tell me this combination, over the removal floorboard directly above the mufflers in the the trunk area, will reduce the volume + amount of drone to an acceptable level? volume is the bigger concern, since if it wasn't so crazy loud it'd maybe be acceptable. if there's really no affordable solution to the drone, my set of rpi's will be on the market soon enough.

[crfine88]

Originally Posted by r4gs

^z4-villa, seriously, how can u stand it!? put on close to 400 miles already, and the drone is mind-numbingly loud. 60mph, 6th gear is bearable. leave it in 6th, accelerate to ANY speed above 60mph, the drone only gets more high-pitched + louder. on long journeys, this becomes headache-inducing. i'm seriously reconsidering the merits of purchasing the set of rpi's. gruppem induction noise is drowned out entirely by the exhausts at anywhere below 4500rpms (which is about 95% of the time).

would like suggestions from those who've opted to go the sound deadening route. i'm looking at ensolite as a means to reduce the volume and dynamat to reduce the reverberations. please tell me this combination, over the removal floorboard directly above the mufflers in the the trunk area, will reduce the volume + amount of drone to an acceptable level? volume is the bigger concern, since if it wasn't so crazy loud it'd maybe be acceptable. if there's really no affordable solution to the drone, my set of rpi's will be on the market soon enough.

I feel your pain. I did the sound deadening and it helped out a lot. The RPI's are perfect for the track, but not for long journeys. They do mellow a bit after 1000 miles or so, but the drone is still there. This is the most aggressive motorsport sound coming from an axle back system for our cars. It is a beautiful exotic note under load, but the volume of the drone between 2500 and 3500K is brutal.

For more of a compromise between motorsport and street use, you might like the Super Sprint Race. Very nice sound, but much more mild than the RPI's. Another option would be the Rogue set-up. They are louder than the SSR but not as brutal as the RPI. RPI is straight performance with no regard for comfort.

I wrestle with this decision all the time. We I track my car or take it for spirited canyon runs, I love my RPI's and would not want anything else on the car. Then when the wife and I go on long road trip I begin to wish I had something mellower because of the drone at FWY speeds.

I have tried others, but I keep going back the the RPI's. Good luck in sorting it out. IMHO, if they are tacking away from the joy of driving your M it's time to switch it up.

[r4gs]

^thanks for the response. really do need to know, did ur extensive sound deadening of ur entire trunk reduce highway drone to an acceptable level? by acceptable, i mean comfortable and relatively near quiet stock levels.

incidentally, when i spoke with eloy, he mentioned the rpi mufflers being extremely popular in the uk (rpi's number 1 market apparently) and canada, with ratios of rpi gt mufflers sold in those markets to those in the usa at 10:1 and 3:1 respectively. cited the reason tt certain classes of racing require mufflers and these being the closest to straight pipes (can most definitely see through them).

[Z4-VILLA]

dude you will learn to love your rpi sound....it will mature.
i drive in NYC....no one has this car here but just a small few....it turns soooo many heads......ha. when the CSL's are on i will post clips....

[Z4-VILLA]

as far as the mats just wait a few more weeks and see if you havent loved it yet....either way doing anything that CRFINE has done to his ride is just WIN, anyway you look at it. HIS RIDE IS THE GOLD EFFING STANDARD. hands down

[ga41]

r4gs, sorry to hear that you're having second thoughts about the RPI's. I say give them another shot and put down 1-2k miles (if your eardrums dont explode in the process :P) and then reconsider the situation. They do mellow out and stop droning at around 77-80 and above in sixth. They're still loud at that range but at least it's only volume, not drone.

Please, please post some vids with the GruppeM and the RPIs though because i'm seriously considering getting an intake of some sort for my car.

sabbanick, i've got several in-car videos with the RPI's here in case you havent seen them. http://www.youtube.com/user/MotoristCY

[r4gs]

thanks for the encouragement, the only thing keeping me sane now is accelerating from a standstill all through to redline. coupled with the gruppem (it struggles to take over but does so as the revs climb past 4500rpm and the rpi's start screaming at a much higher pitch). i just might use a pair of earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones (crazy i know) in the meantime on the long trips i'm about to make over the next couple of weekends. short drives out to town and such are a blast but passing through the range of drone just rattles the entire cabin and pummels the eardrums without reprieve. i need this thing to mellow asap!

will try and get some vids put together today. do not have a youtube account or any of tt sort, so might be hosting under a friend's account or something. also wanting to adjust the rpi tips to something a lot more level, but don't have access to a lift until tuesday. no ramps available either, hur.

[RBull]

^listening to a few sound clips I can understand why you're saying that about the RPI's.

I'm interested in the diablos but am starting to think even they're over the top. Having to sound deaden the cabin seem like too much to go through to enjoy a little more aural performance from OE.

[onebluemcm]

I forsee some RPIs on the classified list soon....

So sure, people talk about exahusts "maturing" - maybe, maybe not. I think it's psychological "maturing" or just getting used to it. Funny how the time it takes to get acustomed to something is just about as long as the exhaust supposedly maturing.....

Sound deadening is not going to stop the drone or come any where close to getting rid of it. The RPI mini-cans is exactly what was on the Z4M Grand Am car essentially - they had one small straight-through resonator on each side with one outlet.

Wouldn't be too worried, it'll sell. Plenty of people around here want to give it a try.

[Eccentric]

Originally Posted by crfine88

Didn't Know we were in a club, but welcome to the "exclusive I'm an obnoxious SOB club"

Oh it's a club alright!

[r4gs]

took a sound recording with a friend's iPhone 4 in hd recording mode this afternoon. sounds pretty close to actual reality. listen to it on headphones at a volume u're not entirely comfortable with and tt's about the actual volume in real life.

conditions were: fully warmed up engine and exhaust, in neutral, revving from idle to 6000rpms and with the mic pointed towards the rear of the car itself.