Leash the Kraken!

Invention is a tough profession.  Less than 1 in a hundred inventions become products.  Thus, even assuming you are an average inventor, you can count on failing 99 times in a hundred tries!  This can get tiresome but this is also why God gave us the ability to invent beer!  The last invention that didn't make it to production, still taught you something, and very likely taught others something as that is a key requirement of the patent system, and that's worth raising a glass to!

One of my earliest inventions was a muffler.  I don't remember how I got onto that idea, but I wanted to make a quieter lawn mower.  I decided to try a spiral baffle in the hopes that it would have less flow resistance and still reduce the noise.  If I recall correctly, I managed to bend and stuff a prototype and tried it on my Dad's mower.  I think it was about as loud as the stock muffler but I had no chance of data acquisition.

Today, one can easily source a spiral muffler insert on Amazon and measure the performance with a free smartphone app.  This I have done!

In theory, this device does not reduce flow area since the cone angle allows a number of small holes to equal the flow area of the open 2.5" pipe.  Incidentally, I'm very proud to own an MGB that requires a 2.5" exhaust!

But, does this device do any better than I did at age 14?

Without evidence from my young, pre-smart phone years, it's hard to say but my summary is that thing does what it says.  The decibels were reduced at the driver's seat by 2-10 dB.  That's pretty remarkable.  It will likely still wake the neighbors but perhaps less violently!  

However, my first early departure for the office, left me less than convinced.  After all, measuring decibels from an engine with no load, is not representative of even VERY LOW THROTTLE sneaking out of your development at 7am! 

Shortly after I wrote this, I went auto-crossing.  Then things really went south.  I had been worried about many things falling off of BB; just look at previous blog posts.  But, I would never have thought my muffler would eject!

But that's car life.  My weld to the rear muffler hanger broke and that allowed the whole muffler (and cleverly crafted tail pipe!) to spin out across the parking lot.  I decided I had invested in the wrong muffler when the crowd decided that BB sounded better without the muffler!

It was a good chance to relive our earlier life with my brother.  After I had used two sticks to carry the roasting hot muffler across the Eastlake parking lot (the second ones I chose; the first were not stout enough!) I think we decided it was the 5th time we had cooperated on wiring up an MG exhaust system.  Good memories!

For those of you who think this might be sarcastic, there is nothing more satisfying than making a broken car roll on from the side of the road!

In any case, I decided to switch to an actual muffler and decided on a Walker Quiet Flow.  This did not meet its advertised claim of "OE sound" but who actually knows what a '67 MGB sounded like?  At least I don't feel guilty when I leave for work.  I do need to paint it black though...

Thanks for reading and keep having #funwithcars !