Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Rear vs Side exit exhaust

I'm currently selling off some of the contents of my shed, plus a couple of body organs so I can get myself one of those lovely Stainless Sports Manifolds from Librands (I've tried looking for cheaper options but without much success).

I'll have the rest of the system knocked up by one of those 'Powerflow' companies and am debating whether to go for a cheeky little side exit, or keep the pipe at the rear.

I'm quite keen on a small performance boost (particularly acceleration) so a shorter side exit would seem better, but don't want to lose any mpg (which a longer rear system would help with).

Any thoughts/experiences?

Thanks

Phil

I had thought to have side exhausts when I specified my +8, but suspected that having the pipes even closer to my ears, whilst amusing, might actually be a pain on long distance treks into the Continent. I went with rears in the end and am happy.

I prefer the quieter long exhausts. The Librands manifold on my T16 +4 really released torque.

Had a short drive in the factory Aero a while back.

This had side exit exhausts and I found the noise from them a bit tiresome even on a shortish drive, it would drive me mad on a long journey so I am not a fan of them.

I have a side exhaust and enjoy the sound , it doesn't seem to effect mpg which is around 40mpg .
I have a dog box on my luggage rack and was concerned about fumes ,I think the side exhaust fixed that.

I have recently moved to a side exhaust (just ahead of the o/s rear wheel) from the standard rear exit on "Possum", the Ecoboost Plus 4 . Motive for this was fumes being sucked forward at certain times with hood down and sidescreens up. In the past I had managed to reduce , but not completely eliminate, this by lengthening the outlet at the rear by about three inches. The new side outlet I have crafted entirely cures the fume vortex issue, reduces weight a bit without the need for an over-axle pipe and I notice little increase in exhuast noise. However, the damping effect of the turbo plus the cat and original silncer mean exhaust note is muted anyway and considerably less than the standard GDI volume.

As per other replies it all depends upon what you want from your Morgan, and how you want to enjoy it.

If you are into track days, short trips and making a statement on entry , then a side exhaust is definitely for you.

If however you do longer trips, value comfort, and have a passenger/s who feel similarly then go for the longer rear exits.

However on my TR engined +4 , the loudest noise was generated when I used a +4 silencer and long tail pipe exiting at the rear, it produced a real rasp on acceleration and failed several noise meters at tracks like Castle Combe and Zandvoort. This was cured with a +8 oval silencer and a very short side exit exhaust. However I think this was a special case because it had a full race engine.

My current +8 has Librands crossover manifolds , cats and long rear exit exhausts with resonators. This is very quiet indeed and comes in well under the noise limit at tracks, in fact I would like it to be a little more melodic and have plans to release a few more decibels.

Thanks to everyone so far, it's been really helpful and food for thought.

My current usage varies between predominantly long distance for holidays/touring and stuff and a bit of 'round town blatting'. So I'm erring towards a rear exit at the moment.

Currently, she's on a rear exit, with the rear silencer removed so I get a good sound out of her, but as others have mentioned, she does get a bit 'boomy' with the hood up.

My Dad used to have swappable tail pipes on his Plus 4 - he called them his summer and winter pipes - summer was a side exit, winter was quite a long rear exit. I could always go for that option and have the best of both worlds....

Does anyone want to buy a kidney so I can get the manifold?

Side exhaust every time ...just do it !

Agree that a decent manifold will have the most benefit to both tone and performance.

Notwithstanding that your 4/4 has 40 years head start on mine, there are probably some similarities. Here's what I found after fitting a side exit.

People are right to say that a side-exit exhaust can be wearing on the ears, but this depends on how you drive. My 4/4 (Sigma) on side pipes is only loud when accelerating (hard-edged howl, not tuneful) and when lifting off the throttle (lots of rumbles and pops). But for 95% of the time - ie on constant throttle, accelerating and decelerating gently in a higher gear, you wouldn't know it was there - my has never commented. I do sometimes drive it harder when alone, but if the noise gets wearing it's easy to switch to a relaxed driving style and save the ears. It's nice to have the choice.