Calmini Hi-Flow Exhaust

[X-Phile]

I was thinking about going with this as the exhaust upgrade along with a new air intake(undecided on the make for that), to grab an extra 15 horses or so to offset the loss from larger tires, but im curious to know if the calmini exhaust is overly throaty on take off.

[OffroadX]

First of all, don't expect 15 hp. Don't all exhausts supposedly offer "15 hp" anyway, it's like the generic number. Yeah, a big V8 might see 15 hp from an exhaust, but a smaller engine with less hp probably won't. It's more of a % increase than a straight 15 hp.

As for the sound, I dunno. Maybe call Calmini and ask 'em to put the phone up to their X and listen

Brent

[X-Phile]

First of all, you cant have a "first of all" unless theres a second, lest it becomes an only of all, which just makes you sound stupid.

Secondly, you WILL get somewhere in the range of 15 or so horsies out of upgrading the air intake and the exhaust of your X with higher capacitiy components. You do however need to do the exhaust at the same time as the intake or you will only end up generating a bottleneck in your trucks breathing ability. The brandname is still going to be up to personal preference, but the fact remains that you could throw your X on a dyno after doing the upgrades and you'd see the difference. The results of which seem to be muddled as the computers in the trucks recalibrate for the lack of resistance due to being on a dyno. You end up having to disconnect them to allow the system to reset itself so you can do it again.

Ive done my homework on this, and the only thing that im left to decide is with what brand I should invest.

Borla has a nice product, and Calmini's looks just as yummy, but the nub of it is that I dont want to drive down the street sounding like a yo boy toolin' around in the truck that mommy's money bought, and annoying everyone with the annoyingly loud WOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMPPP WOOOOMMPP, everytime I shift a gear.

Maybe ill end up callin Calmini and asking them to let me talk to their truck.

Thanks.

[ChuckH]

I think Brent was thinking of just the exhaust, in which case he's right. A good exhaust and intake will yield at least 15 HP though...I think it added more like 20 in my case. I did the exhaust first and maybe got 5 HP max., but once the intake was in and things were breathing the number rose considerably.

As for the sound, I have heard the Borla and it's pretty nice...not too loud and fairly deep although I'm not fond of the sound it makes at high revs. My understanding (what I've heard) is that the Calmini system is more noisey, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's loud. I have the Gibson exhaust and as far as I'm concerned it has perfect tone and low noise levels inside the cabin. Outside it's plenty noticeable, but not obnoxious.

[X-Phile]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

I have the Gibson exhaust and as far as I'm concerned it has perfect tone and low noise levels inside the cabin.

Did you go with the aluminum Gibson or the more $$ stainless one? Dont know if that makes a difference as far as the sound resonance, but you never know.

As far as just the exhaust goes, im gonna do the exhaust, air intake, battery, hubs, and if I have enough left over after all of that im gonna upgrade the alternator to a 180(Ive heard good things here about em), but I havent looked up the price yet.

[OffroadX]

Here are a couple of clips of an X with the Borla exhaust, both about 1 MB mpegs:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/offroa..._hillclimb.mpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/offroa...ockclimb_2.mpg

Brent

[X-Phile]

Sweet.

Wheres the hill?

[OffroadX]

In Dumfries, VA, though the place is even more off-limits than it was back then.

[Dave Griswold]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

I have the Gibson exhaust and as far as I'm concerned it has perfect tone and low noise levels inside the cabin. Outside it's plenty noticeable, but not obnoxious.

Ditto. I have the gibson stainless and it's gotta nice, mellow sound and is unobtrusive in the cabin.

The intake kit, however, that's another story.

That's quite a bit louder on acceleration and about the same cruising.

[iampercival88]

Originally Posted by Dave Griswold

Ditto. I have the gibson stainless and it's gotta nice, mellow sound and is unobtrusive in the cabin.

The intake kit, however, that's another story.

That's quite a bit louder on acceleration and about the same cruising.

what is the intake kit that you use? also, do you know if there is a way to get dual rear exhaust with that gibson?

[Dave Griswold]

Originally Posted by iampercival88

what is the intake kit that you use? also, do you know if there is a way to get dual rear exhaust with that gibson?

I've got the Spencer Low Racing intake kit. Happy enough with it, though I realize it doesn't have all of the heat shielding of the K&N.

Not sure about dual exhaust.

Certainly nothing straight forward. You've probably have to go custom.