Our "rust free project" is getting close to running. Cleaning up a couple heat exchangers I found them to be of the stainless steel variety. Nice treat. Now searching for a muffler, it does not seem to be many options available. The car is a 1975 with a 2. liter/4 cylinder.

I have not found many options, but she is close to 50 years young also.

thanks,

do you have a ‘75/76 HE, or back dated HE?
there are several options , but i’d say your best for sound and performance with out being loud are Chris Foley at Tangerine, and Ben McFarland at 914-6 Werkshop .

otherwise,
also there is a company in Taiwan making a version, and one in Germany, and Dansk makes the stock type you can get from Stoddards and Sierra Madre Collection.l, and Auto Atlanta

here is a sneak peak of mine with the stock one right behind it- mine is custom tip, he makes a GT dual tip or single at stock location

I am cobbing parts/pieces from a few different sources. I have a set of stainless steel heat exchangers from a 1974 1.8 (I think), it came to me in many boxes. They are oblong at the cylinder head connection, appear to be steel exhaust pipes wrapped in stainless jackets.

You will want to backdate the exhaust to 2L pre-75.
That will get you many more options.

Zach

Don't forget Dave at Triad. He can make a muffler for you in any configuration.

I think Ben has a SS 1.7/1.8 muffler or one in the works.
Chris at Tangerine mods the SSI for one of his mufflers but you have to send him your exchangers. Nice sound but fairly quiet.
Triad will make you one.

If you were closer I'd give you a used but useable 1.8 muffler. Needs the tailpipe.
I have a new Bursch I'd give you a good deal on, but IIRC it's too loud.

I am trying to be a cheapskate with this part of the build, I would entertain a used system. $800.00 or more is not in the budget.

Pm if something useable is available.

Are the heat exchangers different from 1.8 and 2.0 motors? 1974 to 1975 model year?

truthfully I have no idea and not sure how to identify what I have

yes must not forget Dave at Triadwest! i had his 1.7/1.8 for a good while and just sold it. You have what sounds like 1.8 stainless steel heat exchangers, you just need a hanger for that and a muffler made for those flanges. it doesn’t matter what motor you have.
Yes Mark, Ben makes the 1.7-1.8 version, that’s what i ordered because i have that type ,very mint SSHE .

i will post a video next week when i get it mounted.

The stainless steel HE's appear to bolt up to my cylinder heads. Hopefully I can locate a muffler to connect the dots

try living in australia. any of the options come out at well over 1K aud landed!

carefully examining a standard muffler for the late VW kombi sold here (type 4 engine), revealed it was almost exactly the same as one for the 914. i say almost.
the difference is in the inlet pipes mounting flanges. they are upside down (the other way around on a kombi). the kombi tail pipes exit rh side of car (passenger side in USA).
and the strange dents in the muffler accomodate the fit to the u/s of the fan housing etc.
i had a ss kombi muffler, very well made and probably about 25/30 years old. we cut the mounting flanges off and re-welded them on the other way around. cost me a lot less than 1K. its one option for a 1.7/1.8 up to 74. you can still pick up standard kombi mufflers in the USA for affordable prices. if you are any good with a welder you can do the mod yourself.

it is in fact all dansk are doing too (as per originals in 70s), they also remake the muffler for kombis and type 4s. its the same muffler. during manufacture they weld the tapered inlet pipe flanges on the other way around. check what a dansk kombi muffler is sold for on some vw sites. prices can be lower i have noticed. makes you wonder?

one thing to note. the tone of the ss kombi muffler is not as good as the original straight steel mufflers. its kind of higher pitched sound. as per ss heat exchangers.

if i lived in the usa i'd be seriously considering the beautiful mufflers made by a member here and mentioned above. they look the goods.

back in the day, there were mufflers and there were mufflers, even from the factory.
they looked the same on the outside but had different internals with different levels of restriction (and noise). i think the 914s often ran what is called a sport muffler, often as a replacement to improve the sound by owners. these mufflers were available from the factory dealers. the external appearance was the same.

Just found an NOS muffler from Stoddard on Ebay for cheap. With a little luck it may fit and I will run it for awhile. Heck, I don't even know if the engine runs, or anything about the car, other than it is "rust free".

However, we all know there is no such thing

-'74 is the 2.0 and 1.7/1.8 versions of heat exchangers the 2.0 the pipes are flat at the muffler flange area, the 1.7/1.8 bends up almost 4" higher as it gets to the muffler. IIRC the pipes are a bit smaller ID on the stock 1.7/1.8 heat exchangers, but if you have SSI there's no difference.

1975- has a single pipe configuration that takes an odd ball muffler. The whole system robs some HP, but they can sometimes be had for cheap. I have a customers complete system for sale and I likely have a second system for sale if anyone around here is looking.

Thank you Mark. again, I am trying to cobb together bits of this and that for now to get some seat time.

From what I can tell the website for Triad is down. I would at least like to explore their system.

I know @mepstein has a used 1.7 stainless muffler from me. Not sure that helps.

I've had several exhausts on my '72, and my '72 has been a 1.7L, a 2056, and is now a 2270.

First I had some custom-made exhaust on the 1.7L. It was fairly loud but had a nice low grumble.

Second, put a Triad on when I switched to 2056. I ran that for a couple of years, and it was ok, but a bit too loud for me. Just wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. And it was fairly heavy.

Next, put Tangerine's EVO II dual exhaust stainless steel on my 2056 and on the 2270. I liked this one a lot, it sounds good, and it was at least a little quieter than the Triad. Chris puts in a pre-welded bung for the O2 sensor. It worked great on the 2056, but for some reason on the 2270 with Microsquirt I could NEVER get reliable air/fuel ratio readings at low RPM's. That's important for tuning and closed loop idle, so it was throwing me off a bit trying to get that thing running right.

I liked the idea of running even a bit quieter, so not long ago I put Ben's quiet 1 outlet exhaust on the 2270. It is definitely more mellow, and as a bonus my air/fuel readings seem legit now. I'm happy with this one and plan on sticking with it. If quiet is a main requirement, I'd recommend Ben's over the others.

I may end up putting the Tangerine EVO II for sale cheap at some point.

Forget Triad. Problems in Olympia.

I found a NOS muffler and will give it a try.

Now I see how the 1975-1976 are configured differently. I will be using the older system HE's

How crazy is it to fabricate one??

I had a Triad (2 outlet) as well on my 2056 for two years and became weary of the sound level. I was fun as first but just too loud after a while. I went with a new Dansk 2.0 version with a single outlet. The acceleration between 4000 and 5000 is slower than the Triad but the mid range is about the same. That makes sense since there would be more backpressure at the higher flows. The sound level is much better.

That's a good point about HP, and I should have mentioned it, too (in case anyone is interested). I do like Ben's muffler, but there seemed to be a very slight, but noticeable, loss of one or two ponies, probably from going from two outlet on the EVO II to the single outlet on Ben's setup. For me it was well worth it for overall more mellow sound.

My early design required mods to the HEs. I didn't make many of those.
My current design bolts on to stock location flanges, and is more compact.
The single tip mufflers I make are not loud. The dual or twin tip ones are a bit throatier but well within comfort range.