Exhaust Options?

[sommmatt]

The exhaust on my car has more than a few holes in it.

The car came with a pace setter header which looks to be in good shape, but the rest of it is very old. Not original, but old.

What options are there for exhaust? I've seen what RB has to offer and that's definitely more money than I have ever paid for an exhaust on any car in my life. No one else seems to offer complete exhausts.

I'm rather good at fabricating exhausts myself but without a Catalyst on the car I am not sure what muffler/resonator/silencer combination would do the trick. I'd like to hear the engine, but not go deaf or attract too much unwanted attention. Does anyone have any recommendations?

The car is an 81 12A car with no emissions equipment. (The catalogue I have from BDA says there are exhaust differences year to year but I don't know if any front to back system will bolt up).

Thanks.

[TOOL]

The RB headers are a nice item. You could just get the headers and then build whatever system you want. The thick wall on the RB heards will give it a nice note. Thin stuff will make it tinny.

No need to go long primaries if you want something a bit quieter. Go 2.25-2.5 inch single system with decent mufflers that are designed for rotaries heat.
1.5 foot resonator underneath and the biggest back box that will fit.

I've got the RB long primaries system on one of my cars and it's really nice. It came with the car, so why change it. They are expensive.

[Lucky]

My system is made up from off-the-shelf muffler boxes with home-made joining pipes. Admitedly the guy who made it was an automotive engineer, but any exhaust fab shop would be able to supply over-axle bends and weld them up, the rest of it's mostly straight pipes. The headers are the bit you'd want to get right, and RB would seem the way forward there. Mine's plenty quiet enough, it's got a proper interference baffled rear box rather than absorption only. Still sounds fruity though

[turntune]

my 12a system (have used same on multiple cars/different final tips but same) is a RB header converted to duals,sched 40 mild steel ran to where final cat used to be (at the hangers) and a super 44 flowmaster (no packing to burn up) dual in dual out (acts as a x pipe) dualed out to ss wool packed resonaters with whatever tip floats your boat...below 3k no worries, 3k+