I need a new muffler.....1971, 1.7L, what are my options? Options

[wonkipop]

@nathanxnathan

an epilogue for you.
found this 914world thread on a search.
(are you in an earlier avatar on this old thread as nathansnathon?)

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=156190


there is always something more to learn when it comes to 914s.
the OP on the thread i linked had a muffler that came off a 4 that looks not quite like anything i have seen. if i am not mistaken its a proper left hand exit exhaust and it must have been for a 412 since it orients correctly to accomodate the fan housing and dipstick where it would tuck up under the engine on a 412.



i took a look at 412 brochures.
i knew there was something strange and inconsistent about 412 exhausts.
sure enough.
sedans (and probably fastbacks) had a lhs exit.
variants had a rhs exit. (twin pipe arrangement because gas heater exhaust is positioned beside engine exhaust).



i reckon there were lhs exhausts fitted to 914s originally - probably in 73/74, but definitely 74 that were likely 412 sedan exhausts? and likely somewhere along the way VW stopped making this part or discontinued it and simply made the spare part a modified bus exhaust? or different OE suppliers at the time had different ways of rationalising assembly of variations? there were several suppliers of OE VW exhaust systems.

here is another photo of mine showing how the exhaust that came off mine (the rusty one on the floor) is exactly like the bus one i modified. what i don't know is whether my car came from the factory with this exhaust as i picked up the car in 1989. it could have already been a replacement muffler by that point in time.
and what i can see is the pictures of dansk 914 exhausts form adverts when i look closely do seem to match the 412 sedan version pictured in thread i found. ie when fitted the dents in them would be oriented up.



pretty funny stuff.
so what i am saying?
there definitely must have been two different kinds of ways you could get the 914 muffler back in the 70s and 80s as a spare part.
one way would have been the unit that dansk appear to be making which is actually a LHS side tailpipe 412 sedan muffler. could also be fitted to 914.
the other type would be a bus or 412 variant muffler with the inlet flanges inverted 180 deg which is the rusty old unit i pulled off my 914 and had been on it since at least 1989 but may not have been a factory fitted muffler but a spare part muffler.

i reckon it would depend on who made the mufflers as to how these things got rationalised. the unit i pulled of my car was a LANGE.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[nathanxnathan]

@wonkipop Yeah nathansnathan was registered through an email address at my old domain, and when I switched the url a few years ago, I lost access. I emailed sirandy about it, trying to get access, but never got a response. Funny I forgot about that thread entirely..

There really are quite a lot of different muffler options historically at least. It does seem weird that they'd have just switched the orientation of the mounting flanges and put the indents at the bottom but maybe so.

I was looking at the JP group Dansk site. It's pretty impressive what they offer.
Here's I think the one AA offers
https://www.jpgroupclassic.com/product/?id=...&cmodel=914

The one in the thread you link looks to be the same muffler, but he has a different tailpipe that isn't working.

This one, The "sport" is hard to find in stock except at european sites
https://www.jpgroupclassic.com/product/?id=...&cmodel=914

Here's an option that looks really cool, gotta get it fromn Europe also, it's stainless steel though
https://www.typ4shop.de/Abgasanlagen/Auspuf...#horizontalTab2

[wonkipop]

@wonkipop Yeah nathansnathan was registered through an email address at my old domain, and when I switched the url a few years ago, I lost access. I emailed sirandy about it, trying to get access, but never got a response. Funny I forgot about that thread entirely..

There really are quite a lot of different muffler options historically at least. It does seem weird that they'd have just switched the orientation of the mounting flanges and put the indents at the bottom but maybe so.

I was looking at the JP group Dansk site. It's pretty impressive what they offer.
Here's I think the one AA offers
https://www.jpgroupclassic.com/product/?id=...&cmodel=914

The one in the thread you link looks to be the same muffler, but he has a different tailpipe that isn't working.

This one, The "sport" is hard to find in stock except at european sites
https://www.jpgroupclassic.com/product/?id=...&cmodel=914

Here's an option that looks really cool, gotta get it fromn Europe also, it's stainless steel though
https://www.typ4shop.de/Abgasanlagen/Auspuf...#horizontalTab2

yeah i shouldn't think too hard about this stuff. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

one of the interesting things is that the lhs single muffler with dents on top, probably originally for 412 would mount up slightly higher when you consider the geometry.
probably meaning that none of the muffler is visible below the shorter later valence.

with mine the bottom bit of the muffler is visible. its to do with the geometry of the inlets. if you look at photos you can see this.

its kind of interesting. that muffler that was on mine was obviously some kind of genuine part and its an alternative to the other type.

anyway. VW? what can you say.

i guess my only point is if as you say you can find a high quality OEM german made muffler lying around you can do as i suggest which would mimmick at least one of the variants that was around in the late 70s/early 80s and get a pretty good muffler set up on your car that might be better than a dansk.

i did read that these big single chamber mufflers that came in 73/74 offer better flow than the smaller earlier mufflers that had the seperate hot dog tail pipe. probably made the engines run just that slight bit cooler. might have even been offsets to the emissions laws that were retarding ignition at idle and cruise that do make the engine run hotter, so it might have helped with that. there had to be a reason they altered the exhausts, and being germans it would be a rational engineering reason.

[wonkipop]

@nathanxnathan

i pulled the old muffler down and took a good look at it.
its definitely a replacement not original from factory.
has a 1983 date stamp on it.



i thought it had a LANGE stamp on it somewhere but must be my imagination.
def not an ERNST or a LEISTRITZ because they did not weld the little reinforcement tabs on from the inlet flanges back to the body of the muffler as far as i know. but its german.

it is exactly the same as this one that was on a 74 1.8 that was sold on BAT a few months back that was a pretty original car.

you got to wonder what these cars might have had on them original from factory. i'm going for the 412 left hand side exit pipe like the unique one that was posted on a thread a few years back. but then they became unobtainable ? and the inverted bus muffler became the replacement part?



@potomacmidget
while i was snooping around i found this early car on BAT fitted with later muffler as per 74 and its pretty clear its got a unique tailpipe to let it get out the early valence.
must bend back slightly after it exits muffler and then bend out through the valence to get through the original tailpipe hole.
either its a custom fab tailpipe or you can / or could get them.

[Garland]

“while i was snooping around i found this early car on BAT fitted with later muffler as per 74 and its pretty clear its got a unique tailpipe to let it get out the early valence.
must bend back slightly after it exits muffler and then bend out through the valence to get through the original tailpipe hole.
either its a custom fab tailpipe or you can / or could get them.“

Here’s mine that’s been sitting in storage for awhile. I compared it to the Dansk NOS that’s installed on my 72, when lined up the exit is further outboard.
Not sure what the part number translates to. I acquired this exhaust around the year 2000 came with a 2 L motor.

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

and for the early cars with the long valance with hole, there was a shorty factory tail pipe made to use the later muffler

[dr914@autoatlanta.com]

[Garland]

I’ve never seen one, before. The tip I have is for a “arched” valance.

[CCE]

For my 74 I got the Dansk muffler.

It sounds nice. On my motor its actually tame, you really hear more the carbs, which I like.

[wonkipop]

@potomacmidget

latest car sold on BAT is a 72 with early valence.
late style 74 muffler, looks new and appears to be dansk.
has the tight side pipe. you must be able to get those pipes somewhere.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-porsche-914-68/

@CCE . nice muffler. but its a 2.0. different kettle of fish.
probably sounds good as well. i think porsche designed that muffler for the 2.0 - similar to a 911 muffler. we got the VW mufflers on our smaller engined cars.
thats either a good thing or a bad thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[CCE]

@potomacmidget

latest car sold on BAT is a 72 with early valence.
late style 74 muffler, looks new and appears to be dansk.
has the tight side pipe. you must be able to get those pipes somewhere.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-porsche-914-68/

@CCE . nice muffler. but its a 2.0. different kettle of fish.
probably sounds good as well. i think porsche designed that muffler for the 2.0 - similar to a 911 muffler. we got the VW mufflers on our smaller engined cars.
thats either a good thing or a bad thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySYOz6L9ZU



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2JRIZdLB1A

[wonkipop]

@potomacmidget

latest car sold on BAT is a 72 with early valence.
late style 74 muffler, looks new and appears to be dansk.
has the tight side pipe. you must be able to get those pipes somewhere.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-porsche-914-68/

@CCE . nice muffler. but its a 2.0. different kettle of fish.
probably sounds good as well. i think porsche designed that muffler for the 2.0 - similar to a 911 muffler. we got the VW mufflers on our smaller engined cars.
thats either a good thing or a bad thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySYOz6L9ZU

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
thanks mate.
i can confirm FYI in the case of our lowly 1.7/1.8s its a bad thing having the VW muffler thanks to your vid. where you cruising? mexico.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[CCE]

@potomacmidget

latest car sold on BAT is a 72 with early valence.
late style 74 muffler, looks new and appears to be dansk.
has the tight side pipe. you must be able to get those pipes somewhere.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-porsche-914-68/

@CCE . nice muffler. but its a 2.0. different kettle of fish.
probably sounds good as well. i think porsche designed that muffler for the 2.0 - similar to a 911 muffler. we got the VW mufflers on our smaller engined cars.
thats either a good thing or a bad thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySYOz6L9ZU

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
thanks mate.
i can confirm FYI in the case of our lowly 1.7/1.8s its a bad thing having the VW muffler thanks to your vid. where you cruising? mexico.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Yes Mexico, we live here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)