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06-06-2012, 11:31 PM | #1 |
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Micro Image center exhaust...
Today was a totally fun day because I got to visit Jeff at Micro Image to take a look at their really cool axle back center exit exhaust...
...and I went home with one. It's 2.25 pounds heavier than the stock exhaust. One reason is that the tubing is a lot larger. The muffler is a small oval 2 1/4 inch offset port Magna Flow Performance muffler. the ground clearance is superb as the whole exhaust tucks so nicely up inside the car without anything hanging down, and without anything touching anything else that it shouldnt touch. I sprayed the whole thing BBQ black (a personal favorite) so that none of the exhaust would show up except just the edges of the stainless steel twin tips. I really like the simple unobtrusive look with as little of the exhaust visible as possible. It utilizes the stock spring bolts and comes with matching nuts as the stock nuts are flash welded onto the flange that was removed along with the original exhaust. The flat oval muffler fits well and lays parallel to the ground. It has an understated look which I find very appealing. The exhaust uses the two original rubber donuts and lines up perfectly with them when the spring bolts are snugged down. The third mount on the twin tip is a self tapping screw with a small angled bracket that you attach to the crash bar behind the bumper. I just used a little piece of wire to attach the third donut to that angle bracket as there's very little room to work there. It hardly needs to support any weight, because almost all the weight is on the two stock donuts. It's just used to slightly adjust the height of the tip. ...and it sounds even better than it looks. It's basically silent at idle and you couldn't tell it from the sound of the stock exhaust. Running it has a rich mellow tone with absolutely no raspy ricey overtones. On deceleration it has a pleasant burble like a small European 60's sports car. You really hear it when you step on the gas, but even then it still retains its rich deep warm tone with no other extraneous irritating noises. In my opinion, this was a very well thought out product design. My thanks to Garm and Jeff for producing a really fine and unique product that no one else makes. Last edited by tooter; 06-07-2012 at 12:28 AM. |
06-06-2012, 11:38 PM | #2 |
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whoa, double post! :D
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Micro Image forums, online store and shop are now closed. It was a great eight year run, but it was time to focus on other things. I'm still selling parts on eBay under micro*image seller ID and customers can still make requests for anything specific. |
06-07-2012, 12:03 AM | #3 |
Drives: soarer Join Date: Feb 2011
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looking very good
it is good that you painted it |
06-07-2012, 12:17 AM | #4 |
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Drives: 2012 Yaris L 2dr 5sp Join Date: Apr 2012
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Hey Garm... what happened???
I was responding to your post and a message came up "invalid link notify administrator"... then my post disappeared. Again. If there were any notable negatives to your exhaust, I'd certainly say so. By the way, I resolved the stainless question simply by looking it up on the internet. Your exhaust is all stainless with the only exception being the small concave two bolt hole bracket which accepts the stock donut gasket. It had surface rust on it, but nowhere else was there even a trace of rust including the welds. The Magnaflow mufflers are listed as either "polished stainless", or "natural stainless" (unpolished). None of them are listed as steel. When chromium and carbon are added to iron, they make it strong and stainless which is typical of cutlery... and they also make it magnetic. (I personally verified this by determining that all of our stainless kitchen knives stick like crazy to a magnet... and none of them rust. ) The highly polished twin tip is nickel stainless, because when nickel is added the alloy becomes non magnetic.... but it's also softer. I believe the softer less structurally critical nickel alloy sheet metal is easier to form into the intricate contours of the tip. Last edited by tooter; 06-07-2012 at 01:07 AM. |
06-07-2012, 12:22 AM | #5 |
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06-07-2012, 01:02 AM | #6 |
Drives: soarer Join Date: Feb 2011
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06-07-2012, 09:31 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
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Micro Image forums, online store and shop are now closed. It was a great eight year run, but it was time to focus on other things. I'm still selling parts on eBay under micro*image seller ID and customers can still make requests for anything specific. |
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06-07-2012, 11:44 AM | #8 |
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It's ok... I saw your original post before it disappeared.
And thanks for the nuts! They worked perfectly. Now the original bolts can bottom to their flanges and compress the springs just right. It's amazing how well the exhaust reoriented itself with the spring bolts snugged down properly. There is almost no weight on the third non stock point of attachment at the tip which is good. I haven't yet figured out how to attach it because space is really tight up in there. If the donut is attached to the angle bracket first, the self threading nut can't be accessed to tighten it to the lip of the crash bar. So I just used a piece of wire to connect the donut to the angle bracket and tightened the wire to get the height just right. Since there is almost no tension on it at all I'll probably just keep it that way. Your exhaust sounds so nice even my wife likes it. ... and that says a lot. |
06-07-2012, 04:01 PM | #9 |
daily driver
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should have picked up some lowering springs! ;)
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06-07-2012, 04:14 PM | #10 |
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Oh there were plenty of them there as well as really cool coilovers. But I live in a rural area with some dirt roads and prone to winter flooding. Ground clearance has practical value here so I won't be giving it up. That's what I like about the MI exhaust. it Doesn't compormise ground clearance one little bit.
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06-07-2012, 04:38 PM | #11 |
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Tooter, is there a way you can get a sound clip of this? I've been eyeballing it hard since it is readymade instead of going forward with my own center exit exhaust. Looks great although I'll probably leave mine polished if I order one.
-C
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06-07-2012, 05:24 PM | #12 |
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Be happy to...
My wife took the car to town today and I'm working tomorrow, so maybe on Saturday if there isn't time later today. Garm also took a sound clip when I was there, so it may turn up on his website later on. A muffler shop would have a difficult time beating the superb fit. And that's the distinct advantage of a complete ready made assembly, the engineering has already been built into it. Jeff showed me the original prototype when I was there. |
06-07-2012, 10:08 PM | #13 |
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Here's a link to the YouTube sound clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQjo6...ature=youtu.be I put the microphone really close as the sound is pretty mild from a distance. |
06-07-2012, 10:54 PM | #14 |
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Drives: '09 5dr All black. Join Date: Dec 2011
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OH MY GOD! I am NOT that into exhausts, but that sounds AMAZING! It is like a lion!
Which Magnaflow muffler is that? AND does the fact that you have different headers change the sound? Thanks for a great thread AND the audio! |
06-07-2012, 11:30 PM | #15 |
Drives: soarer Join Date: Feb 2011
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Is it loud?
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06-07-2012, 11:49 PM | #16 |
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I love it!
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06-08-2012, 12:28 AM | #17 | ||||
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Quote:
Quote:
It's an offset port muffler which makes the sound more mellow than a straight through. Quote:
Quote:
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06-08-2012, 01:03 AM | #18 |
Pirate Yaaaaris
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I'm sold. It being center exit AND being from a trusted source. Now to come up with...gulp...$449.
-C
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