[MD_X]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone with the 2nd gen has done an aftermarket or custom exhaust on their car? I'm leaning towards making it growl a bit on start up. Something you'll hear on the Infiniti FX35, nothing loud, nothing annoying, and no drone on highway. So any of you guys that's done one, please share.

Or if there's any ill effect with doing an exhaust, please let me know as well.

found this older thread, but no progress - http://www.mdxers.org/forums/84-g-m-performance/40507-exhaust-system-development.html

 

[sgkent]

a lot of the growl you hear inside cars these days is a transducer on the firewall that plays to you what you want to hear. That way the manufacturer can make the car sound mean to those in it, quiet to those outside and not be annoying long term. The best custom exhausts are probably Magnaflow if they have one. That said, we chose the factory system for our 2014 because they are robust and tuned for the car. Mine was damaged in a rear ender that totaled the other car, The factory exhaust bent where it was supposed to and there was no damage forward of that point where it bent. Well designed system. The bumper on our car and spare tire took all the other force that totaled the other car,

 

[skirmich]

Making a custom setup on the X might be quite expensive as the Resonator to Cat back design has come intricate corners that might be only doable in a more expensive mandrel bent exhaust...

I would personally only do a custom exhaust if I could get my hands on a second pair of mufflers (Mufflers on the MDX has a solid exhaust pipe welded into it that connects to the resonator) so I could open them up and straight pipe them leaving the shell intact for the OEM Looks with the stock resonators to keep drone at bay... If you can straight pipe the mufflers you will get the exhaust note you want.

 

[dzionassi]

get the test pipes and j-pipe, it will change exhaust note a bit. And some EXTRA HP is a plus

 

[MD_X]

get the test pipes and j-pipe, it will change exhaust note a bit. And some EXTRA HP is a plus

could you elaborate a bit more on this? test pipe as in get rid of the cat, and do a straight pipe? j-pipe, is this the same one from RV6 performance?

So those parts mention but keep the rear muffler? Might be hard for me since CA requires smog inspection and having a cat is part of it. I really don't want the car to reek of exhaust fumes.

 

[skirmich]

Test Pipes = Straight Piping the Cats (The MDX has 3 "Cats" = 2 Pre-Cats, 1 Main Cat).
J-Pipe is the same in all Honda & Acura V6´s

If you live in CA you cant use the Test Pipes unless you have "Your ways" in the Smog Centers..
Doing my Muffler Delete method but leaving the shells on the other hand is not "illegal" as you wont surpass the legal db limit without them under Idle or light acceleration and to the eyes of DOT the mufflers are there... WOT is a very different story though.

 

[skirmich]

This is what it could sound with Rv6 j pipe 3rd cat delete/muffler delete:

In my experience J-Pipes and Cat Deletes affects the sound tone very little..
The Nature of the J Series high revving engine makes it suitable for muffler deletes without getting a bad tone by itself.
I will do mine when I can but I will just delete the rear Mufflers I am confident this will be enough given my prior experiences with Honda V6s.

 

[MD_X]

skirmich - you live in CA as well so you know what we have to do every two years. The muffler delete might be what I'm looking at. Do you happen to have any sound clips to share?

Also, what does the J-pipe replace or really do? Sorry I'm still new with the MDX so my questions might be repetitive.

 

[skirmich]

Supposedly these ones have the same exhaust setup (Its the same guy).

Inside Cabin:

Another one:

 

[MD_X]

gosh you read my mind and posted a clip before I can even finish my typing....very cool. Yea, that clip sounds pretty close to what I'm wanting to do/make my car sound like.

So your suggestion is to gut out the stock rear muffler?

 

[skirmich]

skirmich - you live in CA as well so you know what we have to do every two years. The muffler delete might be what I'm looking at. Do you happen to have any sound clips to share?

Also, what does the J-pipe replace or really do? Sorry I'm still new with the MDX so my questions might be repetitive.

I know the pain man... Its hard to get good mods done without having the DOT crap all over you.

The J-Pipe replaces the Stock J-Pipe, The Stock J-Pipe was made with a budget in mind so it has some issues regarding flow specially the bend from the rear engine bank (Closer to the firewall) The RV6 J-Pipe fixes that Bend with a higher flowing design with a bigger OD Pipe so in general improves the flow of the J-Pipe allowing the Engine to breath easier and making more power specially in the Low End.

 

[MD_X]

in that picture, it seems like the aftermarket jpipe eliminates the cat as well?

 

[skirmich]

gosh you read my mind and posted a clip before I can even finish my typing....very cool. Yea, that clip sounds pretty close to what I'm wanting to do/make my car sound like.

So your suggestion is to gut out the stock rear muffler?

What I would do specially in California is to get Muffler Replacements from a Junkyard (Get another set of the 2 mufflers)... This is a backup in case some cop find out about your little mod to the exhaust you can swap them out.

If you cant get a hold of the extra pair of mufflers then You will have to be careful when and where you WOT, The noise wont be that noticeable under idle or low to medium acceleration but it will be CRAZYYYY Under WOT (Been there, done that to my TL-S). So by removing the guts of the muffler and doing the straight pipes inside of them you accomplish your goal of sound improvement by keeping a sleeper OEM look on the mufflers.... Nobody will notice the mod has been done unless they look very close at the muffler end.

In my TL-S I didn´t even bother with the Sleeper Method I went full on Straight Pipes with Flanges so I can go back to stock any day I want to (Stock mufflers are inside my garage) when I have to pass Emissions I just bolt on the mufflers..
Here is a video of my Straight Piped TL-S:

 

[skirmich]

in that picture, it seems like the aftermarket jpipe eliminates the cat as well?

There are 2 versions, One with a Test Pipe and one with the Flange for the Cat.

 

[MD_X]

I'm not looking to wake up the dead, so keeping it subtle and to give that extra growl on start up and wot is all i'm looking for. What about using a hi-flo metallic cat in place of a test pipe?

 

[skirmich]

If you could do Mandrel Bent straight pipes for the MDX to keep your OEM Mufflers and be completely swappable it would be Ideal...
But one stop at any muffler shop and getting an estimate will quickly steer you away, The Muffler Setup in the MDX is way over complicated and too hard for any easy straight pipe job and too expensive for a good job just to get a louder car..

Using my idea is doable by any self-respected muffler shop (Internal Straight Piping a Muffler) and getting the extra pair of mufflers should not cost what a Mandrel Bent Setup would although part of the muffler does cost a **** ton in ebay: 2007 2008 2009 Acura MDX Exhaust Muffler Pipe 18307-STX-A02 | eBay

 

[skirmich]

You can also get the Hi-flow cat but I dunno which one sells it.

 

[skirmich]

I will be dead honest with you... The main issue of the 2G MDX Performance is WEIGHT..
Unless you can get an extra 100HP or shoving 500lbs out of it you wont be getting the MDX to be much faster.

IIRC all the mods available for the MDX (Including the Test Pipes not High Flow Cats) with an ECU Flash gained about 25whp... Which is down right pathetic for the Performance to $ ratio, Remember all of these mods will run you down about 2000 bucks and while it will make it faster than a stock MDX it wont suddenly compete with the likes of BMW X5 V8 in a 0 to 60.

I sincerely will be just happy If I could get the DAMN noise my "Sporty" MDX should be making..
Not the dead in the water generic V6 sound is making today.

 

[MD_X]

RV6 has them but after reading the details, they are just magnaflow cats welding on with a flange, so I should be able to fab something up similar to it at half the price

 

[MD_X]

I will be dead honest with you... The main issue of the 2G MDX Performance is WEIGHT..
Unless you can get an extra 100HP or shoving 500lbs out of it you wont be getting the MDX to be much faster.

IIRC all the mods available for the MDX (Including the Test Pipes not High Flow Cats) with an ECU Flash gained about 25whp... Which is down right pathetic for the Performance to $ ratio, Remember all of these mods will run you down about 2000 bucks and while it will make it faster than a stock MDX it wont suddenly compete with the likes of BMW X5 V8 in a 0 to 60.

I sincerely will be just happy If I could get the DAMN noise my "Sporty" MDX should be making..
Not the dead in the water generic V6 sound is making today.

Same here, and I do agree with the amount spent just to get an extra 25hp is not worth it. I just want the exhaust to purr a bit and make the car give off a nice healthy exhaust tone. Not a modded honda rice rocket sound, and I'm not trying to compete on any levels with other cars. Just trying to mod the MDX to more of my liking.