I'm living with it.... Nate.... It needs a bunch moar quiet.... There is absolutely no fauna that exists in the neighborhood now.... They all gone.... Yesterday I saw a family of earthworms leaving the area.... They were mighty PO'd.... Trust me.... It needs moar quiet....
But Chuck.....Gnat is designed to wake up all those hippie folk that are living in the art galleries down there
I forgot to mention that so far the persistent CEL for the Cat Below Threshold is now out. So odd not seeing yellow lights.
I'm convinced the only way to make the MINI tolerable is with twin cans in the rear. You have a straight shot all the way through, coupled to a fairly aggressive header, correct? I tried multiple straight configurations to no avail, I really want a straight shot for rear diffuser fitment reasons, but I haven't been able to find a solution that doesn't drone or isn't ear splitting loud during acceleration. If I try it again, I would go with one of those corkscrew mufflers, something from hushpower, or one of the mufflers from an aeronautical dealer that Jan recommended, that can be packed with kevlar. None are cheap, and I've come to the realization short of twin cans there is no cheap reliable solution. Interested to see if you find one.
There has been no change as of yet. Shop has not contacted me to set up a time to start. Think I may look elsewhere.
Thought I'd revisit this. I've had other things going on with both me and the MINI since I started on the quest to quiet things a little. Now that these are mostly resolved I figured I'd jump back into thinking about taming the noise some. The shop I contacted back in April has told me they don't want to work on the car, not in so many words, but by their lack of action. They think they are something here in Columbus, they are. But I'm not going to denigrate them for not calling me back, ignoring my visit to them and in general showing an attitude that a MINI is beneath them. Ehhh, I'm over it with them, besides, the road construction around them makes it a pain to get there. I went to another local shop that has been around since 1978. They are known for their Hot Rod Exhaust Systems. They told me to bring them the parts, they'd be happy to install them. I've been there for some other work before and found them great to deal with. However, I have no clue as to what parts I want. Just know the outcome I'm looking for. Got a line on another shop that is an exhaust only place that has been around since 1978 as well. Just clear on the other side of town from the one noted above. Not a big deal, this is not a big town. I'm going to try and get there in the next week or so to see what they have to say.
I would think the only parts needed would be the muffler/resonators and tips.....right? They would have the rest. You could get whatever cans sound good to you (Magnaflow, Borla, whatever) and have them put together the system you want. There is a shop here that does the same thing. They will order the parts you want. There are some very nice sounding MINI's around here with the Magnaflow cans, but I think they are all in the OEM configuration and not a straight thru system.
The problem with making a system up is the drone at certain speeds/RPM's, right? Hope you figure something out that you like and that doesn't drive you nutso on the highway!