ls1chevy2

Is an aluminium mufflers feasable I know I can easily fab some up.

?exhauste corrosion a problem when dealing with aluminium.?

?I think aluminium might have bad resonating qualities.

maybe atleast the tubes ( or would i run into problems with different expansion rates. bettween the steel and aluminium parts)

I know this would save a lot of weight.

technical

Aside from being easily dented/bent, the heat wouldn't be so kind to the Al.
Go Ti if you want to save on weight.

BJM

iTrader: (1)

Aluminum has far less material damping than steel. Titanium is far worse than aluminum but I believe the Corvette exhaust is titanium.

ls1chevy2

dents won't be a problem they are going to be tucked up between the frame rails, this is going in the LS1 powered 66 nova.

Heat,

I think anything 36 inches back or more would be far enough away that it wouldn't experience 1200 degree.

ls1chevy2

From O/A welding I know anything with a good coat of carbon on it becomes a good deal more heat resistant,

technical

I'm not talking about melting, I'm talking about warping.

ls1chevy2

WARPING Not buying it.

how could a free floating object only solidly attached at one end warp.

I could see that if the temperture through out the pipe length was at near melting at one end and 180 degree at the other.

but alumnium spreads it heat out very quickly.

The temp should not get very high as long as the fuel ratio's are not to rich.

This will be staight back, to the mufflers then dumped before the axel not a bunch of bends an h pipe or xpipe. will be the only detours.

technical

Warp, twist, rotate...

What gauge are you planning to use? If you don't want the mufflers to deform at all you'll need a much heavier material to resist the warping, then you're right at the same weight as a lighter gauge stainless.

If you've worked with aluminum enough you'd already know this.

technical

I did have another thought. You could build the inner baffles using stainless and use aluminum for the case. It would resist twisting and still be lighter than an all steel muffler, but it would present a challenge mating the two materials.

ls1chevy2

So I guess no one has or know anyone who has tried this.




Last week I welded a 3/8 inch thick plate to my A-arms to mount the airbags.

Month before I took 1.5" out of my IRS camber arms and welded those back together.

That far down the exhaust path warping won't be a problem the temp is just not great enough.

Besides warping is caused by uneven heating. IE welding in one place for to long. not hot even gas spread out over the entire area.

Now headers being solidly mounted and red hot at the start would warp


Rivits on the outside of the case would work temporarily, the aluminium case would expand slightly greater than the Steel baffels this might cause the rivets to work loose and cause some major rocks in a coke can sound effects.

technical

I'm sure others have thought about it, but it looks like you'll be the first to try it. I have never seen an aluminum muffler in any catalog: show, race, etc.

I didn't think you were planning on using anything near 3/8" for a muffler. I assumed you were planning on using Al sheet (at least for the case).

You also have to deal with pressure. If the Al is too thin it will bellow and reverberate with exhaust pulses. I can't imagine that would sound good. There's also the problem of cracking. I've seen plenty of steel mufflers crack...Al would be much worse. There still is enough heat in the exhaust, even that far back, that would cause the Al to fail.

Seriously, go the Ti route or just use 20 gauge stainless. Still very light, but more durable than Al.