Re: [DML] Borla/Flowmaster Exaust systems

[kayoong@xxxx]

Greg,

Leave the original system. Save your money. I had been down that route like 
so many others. 
Do it if you have lots of, money time and patience.

Read on if you would like my experiences.

I did a lot of research to find a custom exhaust and muffler shop. A decent 
sum of money was allocated for this project -- within a reasonable price 
range. Many shops refused to tackle the project regardless of the money. I 
live in NYC and the closest facility everyone recommended (including other 
custom installers) was in the Princeton, NJ area some, some 70 plus miles 
away. A shop in Princeton decides that they can handle it. Since the 
DeLorean is not a common vehicle, my car was a "first" for them. 

While I was down there the first day, I met an ex-DeLorean owner. I think 
his last name was Mr. Fleming. He had sold his DeLorean that he own for 14 
years and purchased a Porsche 911 turbo, a track car and is not street legal. 
The Porsche was impressive. It was towed in on a flat bed and he was having 
a "special" exhaust system installed. He said he had out grown the DeLorean 
and wanted "more speed and performance." He is now running this track 
Porsche to live his dreams.

Anyway, back to the muffler saga. The first choice, was a Borla muffler. 
The Borla Company doesn't have a muffler to the specs or configuration to fit 
the DeLorean (this was back in October 1998). A muffler would have to be 
made up, CUSTOM ORDER -- COSTLY (I could buy a muffler for my Bentley) and 
you would had to wait (Borla was swamp, and could not deliver on time.) Rob 
from PJ Grady has one on his green car with his own designed custom headers. 
His custom headers are no longer available.

The second choice was the Flowmaster muffler. It has no packing material, it 
has baffles and we decided that this would be the one. Next were the 
connecting pipes and other components. They had to be engineered or selected 
and to be installed by cutting and welding. After the installation of the 
system, the results? The difference in the performance was NOT worth it. 
Incidentally, Rob had been down that road too. I found that out, later on 
and it was too late. 

Getting back to the Flowmaster and its system. Here are the problems. 
Getting it right, was a trying some experience. The first time the system 
was together, the system produced a high pitch ring, it was a tinny sound 
from the exhaust tips. The tips were replaced with two "custom performance 
tips" which eliminated this dilemma. Next the system had a "burble" effect 
on deceleration, wimpy sound with an unusual engine behavior -- lost of 
power. To resolve that problem, they had to remove the muffler and insert 
small choke collars in the outlets necks to create a resistance at the 
outlets, this was the Flowmaster engineers' suggestions. This got rid of the 
burble, but it "choked" the system. This choking resulted right back to the 
original performance. Well, there goes the performance we were hoping to 
get. 

The next problem was the cabin's resonance -- internal pressure generated by 
the engine and the exhaust system. The resonance coupled the interior of the 
car. WOW. This internal pressure on long drives can be irritating if not 
tiring and trying some. The feeling is a heavy pressure on your chest -- 
After three months of daily driving, which is 3 to 4 hours a day, I had this 
system removed and installed the original factory system. 

Anyway, I spent over a thousand-dollar on this failed project. The system 
was a dual separate manifold pipes, dual cats, dual pipes to the Flowmaster 
muffler, dual exhaust tail pipes. This system has been sitting in my 
basement for over a year, anyone interested? Make me an offer.

Bottom line? WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. 

I believe the best or the better method for exhausting the DeLorean is the 
"header manifold" that our British DeLorean owners are using. I understand 
it is a good system, but we in the USA, we MUST have a catalytic converter, 
which must be included and fitted into the DeLorean (some states requires 
original system and no modification allowed). Remember that the problem is 
room and the sizes of all the components that need to be fitted. I think the 
British law doesn't require cats, so they have the room for a different set 
up which also help improve the performance, lucky them.

Kayo Ong
#05508
Lic 9D NY