i wish......They do have cams coming out which is a plus being its all covered under warranty but i dont have any numbers on HP gains as of yet......I think PROMINI.COM has a turbo kit or maybe it just on there silver project car which is my friends old mini.

 

I'd like to start by saying that up to the point I received the exhaust from Alta, their components have been of the highest quality. This system has pros and cons, just like every other product on the market. On to the Eval!

This system is a 2.5", single sided (passenger side muffler), twin tip piece with a straight through muffler design. It uses a good sized resonator right after the cat, then continues to the back of the car with the in through the front/out through the back muffler can.

There is no drone at all with this system. It does have a different sound to it - similar to the Quicksilver and NRP systems - with a "whooshy" sound that is more reminiscent of a turbine than a recipricating motor. There is not much of the throatiness associated with the more conventional aftermarket exhaust notes.

There were some fitment issues with the eval unit we had here. Originally it was attributed to the Milltek header, but I believe it may have just been a pre-spec issue. I had the same issues with the system after bolting on the stock header. There have been no fitment issues with any other aftermarket or stock exhaust systems when used with the Milltek. I eventually ended up cutting the system and turning it to fit the valance, then rewelded it so that I could do the eval testing. There has been one other customer that had the same fitment issue, though not as severe. He also had one of the first pieces from Alta. I have since heard from one other customer, who also had the Milltek header, that his exhaust fit fine. Adam at Alta has said that they have sold more than ten, and all of them have fit. There are pics of the unit as I got it and the unit after the cut and weld.

The exhaust has the nicest looking tips on the market in my opinion. They are dual ovals that fill out the valance perfectly, but they also were one of the other problems I had with the design (ironically enough). The single side system creates a flow inertia that carries the exhaust to the far side of the system, and the outlets are large enough that the entire flow exits through only the far side. This causes one of the tips to bronze with heat and get coated on the inside with fuel soot, while the other remains brand new looking. On future units, the tips will be heat treated to give a uniform color, and the original units can use a propane torch to color the unused tip. Then, you can either be obsessive about removing the soot, or paint the other inside tip with high temp black paint. Take a look at the pics to get a good idea of what this looks like.

One of the biggest advantages to the single sided system is the weight, and the Alta is no exception there - 22 lbs. That compares to the 46 lb stock system, and 31 lbs for the lightest of the dual sided systems.

And now, for what you've all been waiting for - the numbers from the track and the dyno. This system does fairly well at the dyno - 8 hp and 5 ft/lbs of torque. These are peak numbers, but the improvement is over the entire RPM range. The numbers are at the wheels (front ones Wink ), with the car at operating temp. On the track, the first thing I noticed was the aural feedback. At redline, the unit screeches like a jet! Again, it was much different from the other dual sided systems. I had just removed the Milltek to do the Alta testing (although I also had the stock header, the Milltek header, and the stock exhaust in all combinations to check the fitment issues), and I felt the loss of torque coming out of Spectator turn - a low speed, low RPM exit corner. The Alta did make a 3 tenth difference over the stock system, which jives with the dyno numbers we saw. It was only down 1 tenth on the Milltek (on average), which has the same times as the Magnaflow by the way.


Pros
Lightweight
Nice tips
Good power
Two pieces
Quiet

Cons
Fit issues may or may not be an issue
Tips have differential flow and associated problems
Whooshy sound (totally subjective on the con side)

Bottom Line
This is a tough one. It is strange in the fact that it has the nicest looking tips, and the biggest issue with the tips. It is quiet, but it sounds different from the throatier systems. It is only two pieces, but I had issues mounting mine (and I've installed almost all of the systems on the market on a gazillion cars). In short, this is my favorite system, and my least favorite system.

The numbers
Weight: 22 lbs
Horsepower: 8

 

I have noticed on most aftermarket exhausts with there one sided cans is that only one tip gets dirty due to the fact of the flow into the tip which is hard to control and is a factor on my exhausts also.....As for the "woosh" sound, im all set with hearing that. I like the deep sounds of an exhuast. I do like that you get a mid pipe with res and that muffler is smaller compared to stock and others out there.

How much is that system and can you get sound clips on here???

 

New to the site, and I am too interested in a cat-back system. I just had the reps from Magnaflow in here and I can get a bolt on system for about $550, but anyone use one yet? Other systems I found are a bit more pricey (and like someone else posted...the damn money tree is not producing a bumper crop this year), I had a vendor of mine wanting to produce parts for the MCS (they already make MC intakes), intake, cat-back, intercooler, pulley kits...but after using my car for testing, they have dropped the project....for now. I know that the intake they cobbled together made a 11 bwhp increase on the dyno (more on the street with a better air source) and I was drooling waiting for the finished product....alas gotta wait more. So on to finding that money tree in the back yard and buying one. So guys, Alta, Dinan, Magnaflow or.....(I can't buy Invidia, as we have sold their products in the past, and I have never been happy with the quality....).

Motor on....

G

 

how much for a Dinan muffler shipped to NY for a 05 MCS ?

 

I can get Magnaflow, Greddy, HKS, Thermal, DC Sports, Apexi....but not Dinan...a co-worker just bought an 03 MCS and is going the whole Dinan route...He has a friend at a BMW dealership in SoCal for the hook up. He's still spending close to $3K, helluva lot more than I can afford

 

Just curious......I sell Dinan if u didnt notice so i wanted to see what ya said.....

Ya i know its alot to buy it all but being i sell there stuff i get GREAT deals ( for myself that is ) and it only cost me abt 2k for everything they make.

 

Yeah, I noticed the Dinan link and signature...okay, so let's reverse the question...what's the cost of an intake and cat-back with shipping to SoCal (LA area)??

 

I would really recomend the Miltek catback exhaust. it sounds nice and subtle and throaty and is wonderful quality.plus the price on detroittuend.com site is 695.00. shop around like webbmotorsports.com and minipilo and outmotoring and others. shop and find the deal.

 

yea maximusmini is right the miltek is nice it creates the best torq and hp numbers of any mini cat back the borla creates the same hp, but its loses a couple foot lb of torq

i chose to run the borla race catback since it has the best looking tips in my opinion and the sound if complmented with a few mods sounds truley kick a@#

so hows it going zack

chris