Greetings all! Sorry it has taken me a bit to get this last post updated, life is like that sometimes. Okay, without further ado - let's begin!
As you may have noticed, I have been on a mission to do something about the sound levels inside the cabin when driving around in the Car Destroyer. In short, they were very, very loud originally. So loud Cricket had to spend most of her first drive covering her ears. The original military warning sticker - in Bright-The-Pluck-Yellow - wasn't kidding when it said "Danger - High Intensity Noise. Hearing Protection Required". I had already gone through and added a layer of DynaMat to the floors, walls and ceiling and installed some acoustic foam, now it was time for the coup de gras, a new muffler.
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| Shoulder Launched Mark 1 Muffler |
I had originally specced out some mufflers for semis and whatnot, and discovered that the generic inlet and outlet diameter for a semi exhaust system is 5". When I measured the diameter of the exhaust pipe on the Car Destroyer, I found it to be "only" 3.5", so none of the ones I had picked out would work. Scratching my head, I decided I had been going about this all wrong. What I should have done (and then set out and did) was to
first look on
Steel Soldiers and see if anyone in the MV community had already solved this particular problem. As it turns out, of course they had, and instead of a couple to several hundred dollar semi exhaust, I was able to find exactly the right muffler on Amazon for under $60. And since I have Amazon Prime, it will show up at my doorstep in two days with free shipping, which for something like a four foot long exhaust is just ridiculous. I purchased my new
Walker Exhaust Heavy Duty Muffler early in the week, and it showed up in time for me to use it on the weekend.
Next I had to figure out exactly where and how to install it. The exhaust on the ICD
(Imperial Car Destroyer) exits the passenger side of the engine compartment and runs up vertically alongside the front corner of the passenger side door. It has a little snake through the passenger side wheel well first, then heads straight up. It is secured in place by a large metal brace that extends out from the cab body itself, and is further protected by the superstructure of the mirror housing. I decided to mount the muffler such that it would be contained within the mirror superstructure, slipping on to the old exhaust pipe just above where it exits the wheel well. I started out by spraying all of the various nuts and bolts that held the old exhaust in place with WD40, and then began taking them apart.
First to come off was the old heat shielding, held on by a few alternately rusted or missing bolts and a few layers of paint. Pulling it free, you really get the picture that the original exhaust on the Deuce is just a long straight through pipe. Stealthy these vehicles were not (despite their camo paint jobs). Next I noticed that the top part of the exhaust is actually a separate piece of pipe, held together with an ingenious rounded pipe clamp that locked the two beveled edges of the two respective pipes together. Undoing the clamp, it was a simple matter of lifting off the top part of the old exhaust and setting it aside. The insides of the pipes were coal black, covered in soot from a lifetime of service. Once I had all of the various removable parts of the old exhaust off, I was left with about three feet of remaining exhaust. I only needed about 6" or so (baby) to mount the new muffler, so I made some measurements and marked where I would need to cut.
A while back I had bought a
3" air powered cut-off tool from Harbor Freight, and it was hight time to try it out. Donning my protective gear and firing up the 'ol air compressor, I got to work. Sparks flew across the driveway and showered off the hood of the truck as I cut a ragged line across the pipe, eventually removing it. I wouldn't win any prizes for my beautiful straight line, but it would work. As the new muffler would be slipping on over the old exhaust, I figured I could get away without it being a flawless straight line. Resisting the temptation to fire the beast up and let it rumble across the entire greater Santa Cruz area, I proceeded to see if the new muffler would fit. I had slapped a coat of primer on the outside of the muffler by this point as well, as seeing all of that bare metal made me cringe after having dealt with so much rust on the truck so far. The new muffler slid into place snugly like it was designed for it
(which, I suppose, it had been, being built for all 3.5" exhausts, duh) and I was mighty pleased. I was a little worried that the larger diameter of the muffler would not fit in between the support bars of the mirror, but it just made it.
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| A nice, snug fit for the Car Destroyer's new muffler... |
At this point I just had to add a top. I went to the top section of the old exhaust I had removed and made some measurements for how much of it I would need. I then made some marks, and bolted it to my work table using some C-clamps. Redonning my protective gear, I once more let the sparks fly and used the cutoff tool to remove the top foot or so. What I was really after was the nice curved 90 degree bend at the top, as well as enough height that the exhaust would clear the roof of the cab. After a little bit of effort, I had the piece free. I was able to slip it into the top of the new muffler without and difficulties, and it was looking pretty good! I used some simple stainless steel hose clamps to hold them together for now, but I have plans to make the connection more robust in the near future. I also ran some steel strapping from the remaining mounting bar around the muffler and pulled it tightly into place. It is nowhere near as good as the original mount, but it would do for around town driving until I could fabricate something better.
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| Imperial Car Destroyer Muffler, Now with 100% More Top! |
At this point I couldn't wait any longer. I went ahead and fired the beast up and let her idle. I went and grabbed the wife and sat inside the cab, closing the doors. The sound was much, much quieter than before. Well, quieter is not really the right term to use. How about
less loud, but still very much on the loudness spectrum. That being said, I think I will really, really appreciate the dampened sound on long road trips to Death Valley and beyond. Cricket didn't have to cover her ears in pain even once! Calling it success, I packed it in for the day. Tomorrow would promise to be an assortment of odds and ends, which I will cover in my next post (which I hope to get out to you guys much quicker than this one).
First to come off was the old heat shielding, held on by a few alternately rusted or missing bolts and a few layers of paint. Pulling it free, you really get the picture that the original exhaust on the Deuce is just a long straight through pipe. Stealthy these vehicles were not (despite their camo paint jobs). Next I noticed that the top part of the exhaust is actually a separate piece of pipe, held together with an ingenious rounded pipe clamp that locked the two beveled edges of the two respective pipes together. Undoing the clamp, it was a simple matter of lifting off the top part of the old exhaust and setting it aside. The insides of the pipes were coal black, covered in soot from a lifetime of service. Once I had all of the various removable parts of the old exhaust off, I was left with about three feet of remaining exhaust. I only needed about 6" or so (baby) to mount the new muffler, so I made some measurements and marked where I would need to cut.
A while back I had bought a 3" air powered cut-off tool from Harbor Freight, and it was hight time to try it out. Donning my protective gear and firing up the 'ol air compressor, I got to work. Sparks flew across the driveway and showered off the hood of the truck as I cut a ragged line across the pipe, eventually removing it. I wouldn't win any prizes for my beautiful straight line, but it would work. As the new muffler would be slipping on over the old exhaust, I figured I could get away without it being a flawless straight line. Resisting the temptation to fire the beast up and let it rumble across the entire greater Santa Cruz area, I proceeded to see if the new muffler would fit. I had slapped a coat of primer on the outside of the muffler by this point as well, as seeing all of that bare metal made me cringe after having dealt with so much rust on the truck so far. The new muffler slid into place snugly like it was designed for it (which, I suppose, it had been, being built for all 3.5" exhausts, duh) and I was mighty pleased. I was a little worried that the larger diameter of the muffler would not fit in between the support bars of the mirror, but it just made it.
