The used Triad I got recently had something banging around inside of it so I cut a window in it to find out what was in there. There were two pieces of tubing with small holes in them welded together as some kind of baffle. Nothing to direct flow through the bottom leg of the "T"... the 1-2 side goes directly at the 3-4 side and they fight for access to the next leg of their journey. I'm happy to hear that folks like these mufflers, and will probably use this one since the engine was tuned using it, but I would like some advice on making a baffle, or "Y", or combination of the two to fit in window before I weld it back up. Pictures attached.

Thanks, John www.ghiaspecialties.com

and...

They don't fight, they share. Remember that the exhaust pulses occur at different times, so they take turns flowing though the pipe.

That's why one 700 CFM Holley 4 barrel carb and four 300 CFM Weber carbs are both correctly sized for an American V8 - every cylinder "sees" the whole 4 barrel while each cylinder only gets one of the Weber's barrels.

If you were to divide the pipe and the chamber before it, you would increase velocity, but lose some scavenging. So would it be an improvement? Can't tell without changing it and retuning to match.

While the flow transition could be improved at that point, it is probably not worth it as it is a large pipe and the flow has slowed and changed directions in that first chamber already.

The above points are simplified and we really don't know what's going on until flowing it, but the point is that is is not obvious what change to make and it is probably best to leave it alone.

Weld it back up John. James nailed it.


B

I understand that they are taking turns, but I'm thinking the path of least resistance is straight ahead, not around a corner, so perhaps the exhaust flow from any particular pipe tends to go towards the others until taken over by the increased pressure from the next one to pulse. Wouldn't this make for a lot of turbulence instead of a sharing of the outlet? In other words, it seems to me that none of the pulses would go directly out through the lower leg of the "T", but would go across the top of the "T" until forced by the higher pressure of the next pulse back the way it came and then out. If this is true, wouldn't it be better to have a "Y" type baffle at the top of the "T" to direct most of the flow out, or is some turbulence a good thing? Any thoughts about that?

Thanks, John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Hi Brad,

OK, I re-read James' post. I guess I will just weld it back up, since it works fine the way it is.

Thanks guys, John www.ghiaspecialties.com

You knew what your where talking about and your are correct air doesnt like to turn corners.. but when it is being pulled into the 90 degree bend... its the same as a single pulse thru a smooth 90.


B

Since I first saw the Triad muffler I have wondered about the flow. It has square corners, opposing flows, and it joins primaries from 1-2 and 3-4. All of this contradicts typical header/extractor design. But then, when you see a cut-away of a stock or sport bannana muffler you see similar things.

I guess one thing to remember is that there are no claims of big power gains, just a few HP. The Grassroots magazine's dyno test of the Bursch showed a gain of only a couple HP at some RPMs. I guess this tells us that there probably is not a lot to be gained with a sport muffler on stock heat exchangers as far as HP goes. But a good sound has to be worth at least 20 HP!

Mike

John:
Do me a favor and weigh that thing.......I can't seem to get a weight out of Triad.

Its a tank. I personally feel it weighs more than a stock banana muffler.


B

Hi JP,

It is just over 22lbs! A little ballast huh?

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Hi Mike,

It also has interupted flow where the two mufflers are welded on. The radius at the end of a cherry bomb was shoved inside the "T" and welded up. But, it sounds like this has not hurt any according to the testimony of others. I'm not messing with it. The engine with this muffler did 140 in a heavier car than mine at the old SIR so I guess it works OK. Can't wait to get this "914afied" Ghia on the road.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

Thanx, John.
I've bench pressed my Danask about 200 times....a few at a time. My estimate for it is 34.5462 lbs.
It gets heavier as I get older.

Shipping wieight on mine was 27.7lbs, subtract 3-4 I think.

I'm still happy.

I need to have this thing coated.



M