Can you make the engine sound better?

[nextcar]

I think one of the few weak points of the ms3 is the engine sound. When rev'ed up, it doesn't sound very good to me. I know it's all relative: the ms3 motor sounds better than the civic si's, but worse than most 6 cylinder motors (such as the bmw 3 series). I find myself turning up the stereo volume to drown out the engine noise.

Is there a cure for this? Does the Cobb sri make the engine sound better (in an aggressive way) or add to the raucous? Can I try out someone's ms3 with the SRI installed (anyone in the inland empire in southern CA?)

 

[dandydaniel]

I guess you just answered your own question... Its a turbo charged 2.3l i4. since its turbo'd it should sound a more aggressive since it has that low end grunt compared to the high revving little beast that the k series engines are. but then if you compare a inline 4 to a v6 even if the i4 is turbo'd, the v6 will just sound a lot more "growlier" if you would say.

with any intake on any car whether it be a 4 cylinder or a 6, it will give you much more grunt when you're at WOT. also, when you give it a nice amount of throttle, you should hear a vacuum type sound which is basically the intake at work (sucking in more air) and with the turbo'd 2.3l, you can also slightly hear the turbo spool up as well as the stock bpv in action. there are tons of videos on youtube with people's setups that include a cobb sri, aftermarket bpv, dp/rp, cbe's anything you could imagine.

 

[MicaSp33d]

is it only me or did putting on the stiff motor mount changes the exhaust tone ...

 

[3.slow]

4 Cylinders will never sound good no matter what you do to them, except subaru's with boxer motors which are just godly sounding

 

[UHATEIT]

I'm not in the IE, I'm in the valley. But I have the mazdaspeed cold air and it makes the turbo and bpv sound nicer. Obviously a nicer bov will also make more engine noise. I also chopped off all the resonators and the muffler and have a test pipe. Thats exhaust noise but still kind of made the turbo sound a little more whiny with the freer flowing exhaust, obviously its not larger diameter piping but there is less restriction.

 

[CWPspeed3]

is it only me or did putting on the stiff motor mount changes the exhaust tone ...

I think it did, I thought I was the only one that thought that....

 

[nextcar]

is it only me or did putting on the stiff motor mount changes the exhaust tone ...

can you describe how it sounds now? does it sound better?

 

[haberdashery]

i agree, it makes it deeper jussst a bit.

 

[CWPspeed3]

Yeah a little deeper and more noticeable at idle, I really like it, makes the car sound more aggressive. On top of that I put my cobb sri on about a week ago so now theres even more great sounds coming from the car.

 

[hectik1]

Another vote for motor mount changing exhaust sound.

 

[dkswim]

wtf are you guys smoiking and can you pass me some? SRI and CIA will increase engine noise its more of a succking noise not like what it dose on hondas and you will be able to hear the BPV. you can change the exhaust sound by taking car to a muffler shop and have them cut out muffler and one resinator and weld in streaght pipes. i really like the soud of a cut out exhaust.

 

[nextcar]

ok, so far the only descriptions for the SRI are words like "vacuum type" and "air sucking."

these are hardly sounds that i would consider nice and aggressive. i listened to several youtube videos but the sound recording sucks (or it's the fault of my teeny computer speakers), so i can't really get a good idea of what it sounds like.

 

[dkswim]

some people dont like the sound some do you should really find some people in your area w one installed to see what it sounds like. the performance increase from the CAI / SRI offsets the noise prety well though.

 

[mrjoshyman]

ok, so far the only descriptions for the SRI are words like "vacuum type" and "air sucking."

these are hardly sounds that i would consider nice and aggressive. i listened to several youtube videos but the sound recording sucks (or it's the fault of my teeny computer speakers), so i can't really get a good idea of what it sounds like.

thats pretty accurate. plus u will b able to hear the stock BPV under hard acceleration. i didn't like the noise at first, but I've become accustomed to it and now like it

 

[Rotus]

is it only me or did putting on the stiff motor mount changes the exhaust tone ...

I don't think it's the exhaust you're hearing, I would think that installing the MM would increase the engine resonance of the cabin as you are passing more vibration to the body.

 

[lestat13]

Another vote for motor mount changing exhaust sound.

Agreed!

As far as the intakes go, they change the engine note from behind SLIGHTLY. MOST of the extra sound it the sucking sound which covers up a lot of the exhaust note. It does change the sound when wot, but the more noticeable sounds (with stock exhaust) come from under the hood

 

[mrjoshyman]

I don't think it's the exhaust you're hearing, I would think that installing the MM would increase the engine resonance of the cabin as you are passing more vibration to the body.

+1 agreed

 

[techspeak]

I think one of the few weak points of the ms3 is the engine sound. When rev'ed up, it doesn't sound very good to me. I know it's all relative: the ms3 motor sounds better than the civic si's, but worse than most 6 cylinder motors (such as the bmw 3 series). I find myself turning up the stereo volume to drown out the engine noise.

Is there a cure for this? Does the Cobb sri make the engine sound better (in an aggressive way) or add to the raucous? Can I try out someone's ms3 with the SRI installed (anyone in the inland empire in southern CA?)

I know exactly what you're saying, it sound blurbly kinda like a Subaru. The cause is the stock turbo manifold; all of the runners are really unequal in length. Change your turbo exhaust mani to a custom equal length unit, and the engine will sound perfectly uniform.

 

[Kain]

LS7 swap.

 

[Kindred]

LS7 swap.

Either that or we need to get Travisdee over here to hook us up with VQ swaps.