Something long overdue for work, mostly back-burnered because it wasn’t outright dragging on the ground, was the existing exhaust system. The stock dual 3 into 1 manifolds with matching <3″ piped canisters + flexible rusty crushed pipe just wasn’t cutting it. The Ghost’s exhaust was quiet enough, but cruising down the highway I had a feeling the back-pressure was high and the restriction too much to let the engine stretch out. I sourced some 5″ exhaust components, installed an industrial 6 into 1 (4″) manifold, and built up a custom system.
The industrial manifold (which you usually see mounted upright) points down off the back of the cylinder head with the outlet pipe parallel to the engine block. I installed an immediate 4″ to 5″ adapter at the output flange. From there it travels downwards about 10″ and then bends (about 85 degrees from straight) towards the front of the bus. Usually there is a bulkhead here (aluminium) however I cut out a 8-9″ round hole to allow the pipe to pass through without touching or rubbing. It them immediately makes a turn to the drivers side of the coach, where it connects with the 5″ resonator and drops out close to the ground through a 5″ turn-down. I lightly sectioned a undercarriage panel (non structural) so that the turn-down fit nicely up into the body without hanging out the breeze (making the coach wider) or being even closer to the ground. The end result turned out excellent and shy of installing a few rubberized exhaust hangers, the setup is done. A slip-joint coupling was used at the pass-through of the bulkhead; everything else being welded solid. The flange obviously unbolts from the manifold as well.
The end result is a very aggressive high flow exhaust. There is room for improvement in the overall noise level department, but the note is acceptable and we’ll see how it sounds on a long run. A longer muffler can could be installed in place of the shorter one if needed. It definitely lets you know it is a 426cu in 2-stroke…rat rod style.
A size photo comparison of the purchased 5″ muffler.
As you can see, it is a direct pass-through design with two resonant perforated sections at the inlet/outlet and a open area in the middle.
Here is a photo of the piece that connects (at the bulkhead) to the rest of the exhaust up to the engine.
While I was doing this task, I took the opportunity to do an acid was on the cooling system. I had seen scale buildup evidence in my coolant buckets/samples so, figuring it hadn’t be done in quite some time, gave it a strong shock of Oxalic acid for a few runs up and down the road. I then drained, flushed multiple times, and re-filled with my coolant.
The handy trick for filling a horizontal radiator cap which is eye level from a 5-gal bucket. Funnel + flexible hose + bungee cord + forklift.
All in all a very productive Saturday. I took a break from the work for Mothers Day and will resume re-assembling the sheet metal back onto the rear of The Ghost so it can make it’s trip over to the new house Emily and I are closing on this week.
Until next time…