One Ball Exhaust

All I can say is WOW! This is another mod where your money is well spent. I let me daughter drive the car to and she had the same things to say.

-My rear went up a tad because of the missing weigh. Maybe a 1/4 inch which isnt much but I notice it now when I look at the car from the side. 

-There used to be a small flat spot as you began to accelerate from a dead stop. I do not even notice that any longer.

-The car accelerates faster.

-RPM is smoother across the entire rpm band.

-A slight increase in exhaust noise and a very nice note. In fact the exhaust sounds much more hearty with no drone. 

I wont know fuel economy till later in the week but I think it will increase because the engine seems to spin and breath more freely. If you don't have the cash for a new cat back then this is a good step in the right direction. From others I've read the cost seems to average around 50 bucks. 

Now to decide about adding that Alta catless header.... hmmm?

There is nothing about a one-ball that should lower your fuel economy, but it will probably go down because you will be mashing the gas pedal more. 

My car gets essentially the same mileage as a Honda minivan because of very excessive pedal mashing. (about 17 in town, 25 on highway, unless there is no traffic / slowing down/speeding up, in which case I get 30mpg)

Any header will work fine if you don't have to care about emissions. Something like that would probably get you 10hp or more.

But the sound alone is definitely worth it. 

I fell in love with the sound my car made when I test drove it before buying, and found out later that it had a oneball mod.

Hi - just wondering where you got this done?

Seriously?? I guess there is no requirement to learn basic automotive engineering to work in an exhaust shop? Cats are always installed close to the engine and have one or more O2 sensors before/after the cat in the exhaust stream. 

 

To keep the one-ball thread on track, has anyone ever had the driver-side muffler removed, and then fabricated a tail pipe, rather than removing the passenger-side muffler?  Someone was lamenting that the weight comes off the passenger side in the one-ball mod, and could the other muffler come off instead, in the interest of better lateral weight balance?

Does anyone know where the pipe(s) go, between the inlet and outlet of the driver-side muffler?  I know there's a tight, 180-degree bend inside the passenger-side muffler, so maybe that's the one that really has to go, weight balance be damned.

My next trick will be to remove the center silencer that is located behind the cat.

So some time has passed and I can say that the sound has settled in and is very nice. It does not sound like a kid with a cheap 4" exhaust tip or someone being a ricer. I've not noticed any of the cheap tinny sounds. The nose isnt much more then normal when going around town at a regular every day driving pace. I do get more rumbling during deceleration then before but it is a very welcomed addition. At WOT it becomes a completely different sound all together. People "WILL" notice like a deer in the headlamps. For a factory R53 with or without mild mods this is a good bang for the buck. Hardy har... no deer puns intended . 

Maybe John (johnf36) can comment on the sound of my R53 as I passed him at WOT. 

John? 

As for power gains? Well Im not sure. Until we get a few owners that have dyno'd their MINI's before and after there is no telling. But who knows Im sure you are maybe going to gain another 1-3hp maybe? Sound wise it will sound more healthy in the lower frequency notes. And no matter what anyone might say you will get more flow with the factory R53 second muffler removed. Less pipes and channels to flow through for the exhaust gasses. Thats what exhaust tuning is mostly about. Getting those nasty gasses out of the way. Plus the tech can inspect everything while he/she is down there.