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99 VLX Muffler Replacement


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Blew up my engine and it fried the easy rider. Couple questions.

Do i need to replace this. how loud is it if i dont.

where is the cheapest place to get one?

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A friend of mine has a '70s inboard with no muffler, when you get on plane and expose the exhaust it's quite loud.

As an alternative, if you were into surfing, I wonder how an FAE system would sound without a muffler?

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Started with Centek mufflers & STE tips.

Replaced STE tips with FAE, nice & quiet out the back, still the same cabin noise.

Centek mufflers started to come loose/fail internally with an annoying ticking sound at low RPM.

Boat had 420 hours at this stage a few weeks back.

Planned on removing the Centek mufflers & replacing with straight either rubber hose or stainless.

Once I removed the mufflers found where some of my water was coming from.

The bottom of the mufflers at the rear had worn through rubbing against the bilge allowing water to escape inside the bilge.

Replaced mufflers with stainless.

Cabin noise is about the same as with the Centek mufflers but the ticking sound has gone as well as the leak.

Go the FAE with straight pipes & no mufflers.

Won't have headaches from the drone of a big day out.

Keep the peace on the lake from the early morning runs

Bugger all fumes if the engine is running while putting on skis from the swim platform

Loose about 0.5-1 mph top speed the only down side.

Larri at FAE will look after you.

Mate has a Lewis AU boat with straight rubber & flapper tips out the back.

It is loud as MadMan above said

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dang its only like 70 bucks more for FAE. so you're saying FAE will eliminate the noise with out reinstalling a muffler. Plus i will be able to have more room to work on my engine with out the big ole silent rider?

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dang its only like 70 bucks more for FAE. so you're saying FAE will eliminate the noise with out reinstalling a muffler. Plus i will be able to have more room to work on my engine with out the big ole silent rider?

Just to be clear, I have never heard a boat without mufflers and with FAE, it was just an idea. Actually, I've never been on a boat FAE at all.

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likely wont do both as that would double the cost. but if i can get similar sound dampening out of just the FAE for 100 bucks more AND the added benefit of lower CO2 when surfing i think its a no brainer.

Just waiting on andrew to clarify. I've re read his post a couple times and he flat out recommended to just go with the FAE and straight pipes so thats likely what i'll do.

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Do you have a pic of the old muffler, maybe it is repairable? They are simple fiberglass designs, I pulled the guts out of mine and made bigger outlets. Sounds fantastic. I also installed STE's and I think it's quieter with that combo than it was before.

So maybe you can repair the old one and still install the FAE.

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Just an FYI: your marine muffler's method to reduce noise is done via mixing the exhaust gases with water, so the water ends up being the major noise suppression device. Also, a key component of noise is line of sight (that is why it is much quieter around the corner of a building from traffic noise, etc) so the muffler also acts as a line of sight barrier. You can see that by looking at the in line silencers, you can't see directly through them.

I tried open exhaust on my boat and it was quite loud, actually to a gear head, it was a great sound, for the residents on the lake, not so much. As a slalom / barefoot aficionado that will hit the water early mufflers are mandatory. To my earlier line of sight comment, don't forget there are really no noise barriers out on the water so the noise will travel unabated across the body of water.

@jhart13: another option if cost is a driving factor, you can make marine mufflers yourself at a reasonable cost. PVC, ABS, fiberglass tubing works great for an outer shell and you can purchase stainless steel inline silencers from CPPerformance, Hardin, or similar vendors for a pretty reasonable price (~$60 each). You can actually even make your own baffles as half moons to hide the line of sight and get water to act as a noise suppressor internally to the tubes. Several people on this site have made their own, do a search. Michigan Boarder also provides an alternate, remember the unit is really just a big fiberglass tube so hopefully it is repairable. I assume given your first post, you lost water cooling and had a major overheat event that took out both the engine and the muffler.

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i like the concept of FAE from a breathing standpoint and not dying too. so i'll probably just go that way.

Well, I think it's more of a noise thing for FAE. You should not worry that much about the fumes, at 10 to 12 mph anything from the back of the boat is going to be non-existent.

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i'm leaning heavily towards just using the FAE. sounds like it will muffle the sound more and eliminate the emissions when surfing

Do this, talk to Larry at FAE, he will tell you cabin noise will be reduced going straight to the FAE by eliminating the silent (noisy) rider muffler.

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likely wont do both as that would double the cost. but if i can get similar sound dampening out of just the FAE for 100 bucks more AND the added benefit of lower CO2 when surfing i think its a no brainer.

Just waiting on andrew to clarify. I've re read his post a couple times and he flat out recommended to just go with the FAE and straight pipes so thats likely what i'll do.

Correct.

Started with the FAE while retaining the Centek mufflers.

Loved how much quieter it is out the back to the point one of my crew made a joke about taking the Prius out....

Cabin noise near enough the same withe the FAE & Centek mufflers.

Stage 2

Centek mufflers started to fail.

Could not see the point in replacing them since I had the FAE.

So I removed them & ran a length of stainless pipe.

Found down under price of rubber hose Vs stainless fabricated pipe was much the same.

Thanks to another crew member down under who makes a fantastic floating wedge replica who fabricated the pipes for me.

Cabin noise much the same withe the stainless replacing the Centek mufflers.

Performance has not changed, maybe 100-200 more RPM but I also had some prop work done the same time so hard to verify.

Still have the CATS inside the exhaust manifold.

I did remove the CATS awhile back to see if it made any difference to performance with less restriction, made no difference so I re installed them.

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sweet i think i'll go with FAE and get quotes for stainless vs hose out the back.

Thank you all for the input it was very helpful

Edited by jhartt3
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Not sure what size you need, but I've got my old exhaust hose from before I redid the engine, a couple of 5' lengths of 3" marine hose. I redid everything with 3.5". You are welcome to it if you want it, pay shipping.

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Well, I think it's more of a noise thing for FAE. You should not worry that much about the fumes, at 10 to 12 mph anything from the back of the boat is going to be non-existent.

Must be getting old, hang on, I am older...

Prefer the refined sound withe the FAE.

Big difference out the back with virtually no sound.

All you can hear while out the back is the water splashing from the hull, it is that quiet.

Big bonus you have all missed, one of the cheapest stereo upgrades you can get if you have tower speakers.

Surfing or just playing around in the wave at the back at 9-12 mph

Very noticeable the reduction of CO2 fumes.

You don't get headaches from fumes either out the back close to the transom or at the rear lounge from the station wagon effect.

Granted with more speed, fumes are not an issue without FAE

As far as any risk of hydro lock with mufflers removed, with the FAE, I would say non existent. Too many bends upward rakes etc.

No mufflers & no FAE, make sure you have flappers as there is nothing slowing down the water backing up the pipes from a sudden stop.

Edited by Andrew63
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