Project, we are going to do today is a Super Sprint Exhaust installation on a Cooper Works, Cooper S. We are going to do a complete exhaust system. It already has the Cooper Works exhaust on it, but we'll see what the difference is and we'll show you how to install it and will have sound clips along with this.
Here we are underneath this Cooper S and it's a pretty straight forward exhaust system that runs right down the center of the vehicle out the back. It has a single muffler in the rear, it has a resonator up front. What's interesting about the system is the center pipe goes into a "Y" connector and then the muffler is 2 in and 2 out. I don't like that design. On the Super Sprint, we've got a better design where we are going in with 2 and there is a larger "Y" section inside the muffler that splits out into 2.
It gives you a little bit more of a free flow "Y" characteristics right out the back of the vehicle. The can is also a crimp rolled edge design -- if there ever any leaks when these edges are not welded and it's just rolled over like a coffee can they will leak at some point.
The nice thing is the exhaust is all stainless steel. Another thing that you might be aware is the factory tubing started off with 55 millimeter outside diameter and in some cases, it's actually crushed down to 52 millimeter diameter tubing.
The Super Sprint Exhaust System is 60 millimeters from front to back. As we move forward you'll notice, the resonator has the same design as the rear muffler. It's crimped edges, fold it over. Then we come forward in the thinnest part, that I found, the most crushed component is right under the sub-frame here where it actually goes down to about 52 millimeters.
So, when one piece of a pipe gets down to 52, it's essentially no more free flowing than 52 millimeters from front to rear. Mini Copper has opted to use an accordion thermo coupler here which later on I'll show you what a thermo coupler versus a ball socket design of a flex coupler should look like.
Then they've got a typical "V" shaped "V" band that holds the two units together and then goes up to the up pipe. Okay, to install a new exhaust system, we got to first remove the old one. We've got two hangers at the rear that we are going to pull off, we've have a cross brace in the middle, just in front of the resonator, we have two more hangers and then we got a "V" band at the very front.
These will come off with screw drivers, looks like we've got about a 10 millimeter bolt. There will be four of them that hold the plate on, actually six. And at the rear we can either take the brackets off the body or we can just slip the hangers of the hanger points.
We've already removed the "V" band at the front, now we are going to remove these two hangers on each side. That can be done by prying gently against the sway bar with a large screw driver or a pry bar. We'll do the same on the other side. Now we'll go to the back of the car and do two back there.
Here we're at the two exhaust system side by side on the ground so we can do a little bit of comparisons. The factory exhaust is right here on the right side of the vehicle, we've got the Super Sprint Exhaust system on the left side of the vehicle. A couple of differences that they have is the factory uses an accordion style coupler, flex coupler that's designed to allow the engine to move independent of the exhaust. Super Sprint uses a ball socket design which is far superior, gives you a lot more movement, obviously when these bolts are tight, it's more resistant and if a seal goes bad, the only thing you have to replace is the seal that fits right inside of this ball socket right here.
When this unit goes bad it breaks and you get an exhaust leak. Both systems are designed to use the factory "V" band and there is factory seal that you can reuse or if it's not damaged or you can purchase a new one. Super Sprint uses a steel band or a steel "V" joint that's welded to a pipe. It appears that the factory uses just a pipe that's molded on a molding machine to turn the pipe into a "V" band coupler.
As we move down the pipe you can see that the tubing is much larger on the Super Sprint. It's 60 millimeters versus 55 and this is the area right here where there is some serious crush in the pipe. It goes down to almost 52 millimeters right here, uses the factory hanger, same quality hangers both units are stainless steel.
Now here is the difference we've got in resonators. We've got -- Super Sprint uses a shorter resonator, gives you a little more sound and you'll notice all the joints are welded, where the factory uses a crimped rolled edge design. The crimp rolled edge design is a lot easier to assemble, is basically done on a crimping. You will get some leakage, this material gets heated and it gets bent pretty severely and it'll typically get some cracks around the edges over a period of time.
What Super Sprint offers is for a little more sound, you can eliminate the resonator and purchase just a connecting pipe. All components slip into each other and you receive built in clamps. So they just slip over each other, you tighten the bolts and it's a snug fit.
You can see the factory unit uses the resonator that's about twice the size of the Super Sprint. So let's go at the back of the car and compare some more. Looking at back of the system you've got two mufflers, they look very similar in design. The Super Sprint uses a 60 millimeter tube, the factory uses the 55.
Now if you are only going to replace the rear muffler for a little bit more sound what you're going to want to do is use the adapter that's supplied by Super Sprint to reduce the 60 millimeter tube down to the 55. That's included with the kit. If you go with a complete cat-back system, you'll be replacing all of these components going from the down pipe from the turbo charger to the rear muffler. Then you'll select the option of a straight through pipe or the resonator depending on how much sound you want to have, if you want a little bit less sound, you go at the resonator if you more sound you'll go with the connecting pipe.
Looking at the rear muffler design. The factory rear muffler design has a single pipe going into a short wide pipe. That short wide pipe enters two single pipes inside the rear muffler. Super Sprint System has a single pipe going into the rear muffler and it has a 'y' section built into the muffler that is a longer 'y' section for smother flow transitions.
Both systems have polished stainless steel chrome plated tips. The Super Sprint system has two individual tips that exit the back of the vehicle in the same position as the factory unit. Then we've got the factory hangers same identical design, good quality designed strong hangers and we use the factory hanger units.
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