A review of what's gone - period 240Z exhausts

[ajmcforester]

Stebro

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Supersprint

Like Ansa, Supersprint still exists today, although they haven't built anything for a 240Z in many years. Supersprint is another Italian maker, who offered yet another variation on the classic Italian exhaust.

The Supersprint system (at least in the late '70s, when these ads were printed) used three bullet mufflers, probably glass-packed. One in the center section, and then a pair at the very rear with short chrome tips. The second picture below appears to show the rear mount and that the dual rear mufflers and tips were mounted vertically as was typical for 240Z.

I've seen pictures (but can't find any right now) that seem to show that later Supersprints may have had a single rear muffler with dual vertical tips, similar to how Monza did it. Can't confirm that right now.

Modern Supersprint ads frequently make note that they apparently have what they call an "Archival Tooling Program" and to contact them about that for info on out-of-production systems. I've tried to inquire about that several times over the past 3 years, with absolutely no response.

I have the front muffler shown in the pictures I just got it this week. I checked for muffler material their is none it actually is a resonator. I made a new post http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36681 trying to find more out and I added pictures that will show it better than the one above (not to say I'm excited to see the ones above). If anyone finds either one the end muffler I would be very interested in it.

[Arne]

Finally found an image of the Abarth system, so I added it to the very first post in the thread.

[Mike B]

I came across this ultra rare quad Monza exhaust on an ebay car a couple days ago ROFLROFL.

-Mike

[Mike]

Nice work, Arne.

[geezer]

Here are the descriptions that belong with the pics below for a vintage Thunderbird system, mentioned but not yet on your list Arne.

"Thunderbird's 240-Z header scavenges the six cylinders into two intermediary pipes before entering the collector. Provisions have been made for all emission control fittings. Installation hardware included."

"Thunderbird Products designed this muffler for use either with a header system or the stock exhaust. It is a straight-through design with smart twin tailpipes. For the Z-cars".

Taken from "Petersen's Complete Book of Datsun".

Edited January 26, 2010 by geezer

[geezer]

I did some research on the Thunderbird Products exhaust system for the 240Z. The system in post #29 is the only one I found for the 240Z but there were several other systems for most other Datsun models. The product line doesn't seem to have lived past the 240Z era. All but the product name seems to have been discontinued long before being aquired by Pertronix. Thunderbird Products was originally a division of Ermie Immerso Enterprises. Then, I got side tracked reading about Ermie Immerso himself. Very interesting read.

I got the Ermie Immerso Enterprises lead from this list of Datsun Accessory Manufacturers.

Edited January 26, 2010 by geezer

[preith]

I should have said that "there are some theoretical benefits to NOT having a cross-over on an inline six, and leaving the two as true dual pipes all the way to the end."

Arne, sorry to drag up an old post of yours but would you mind elaborating on this? Have you found any publications supporting this theory?

I ask because my road racer currently has true duals. Power is wonderful at high rpm, especially with the large cam, but from the reading I've done the h-pipe would seem to be the perfect fit for boosting low-mid power without sacrificing the high end.

Ultimately back to back dyno tests would provide the concrete answer but I have neither the time or inclination to do this.

[Arne]

Nothing I can cite for certain right now, Phillip. Just stuff I remember reading here and there over the years. May well have been aimed at top-end power, in fact.

It may be significant that the old Clifford system was that way, as well as the Trust in Japan. Many BMWs (about the only inline sixes left) and their tuners still do separate pipes all the way back to this day.

[preith]

Nothing I can cite for certain right now, Phillip. Just stuff I remember reading here and there over the years. May well have been aimed at top-end power, in fact.

It may be significant that the old Clifford system was that way, as well as the Trust in Japan. Many BMWs (about the only inline sixes left) and their tuners still do separate pipes all the way back to this day.

Thanks Arne. After posting I googled the topic quite a bit. As just about everything x-pipe related is V8-centric it took a while to find, but I managed to dig up a page that explained it fairly well, 1/2 way down: http://www.performance928.com/cgi-bin/page_display.cgi?page_nav_name=exhaustuPp&pass_parent=1128

In summary, it all comes down to firing order/exhaust pulses. A traditional 3-2 header has the luxury of pulsing on alternating collectors whereas a typical V8 pulses in succession on the same side thereby overlapping/overloading the piping on a given side.

My take is the x-pipe rarely hurts performance on a 6, it just isn't needed.

[Arne]

My take is the x-pipe rarely hurts performance on a 6, it just isn't needed.

Very logical. That makes sense. Edited March 30, 2010 by Arne

[ajmcforester]

Hear is the pictures of my Supersprint exhaust.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459829784/" title="100_1468 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5179/5459829784_1cd7236c80.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1468" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459787694/" title="100_1450 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5176/5459787694_5bcceaa167.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1450" /></a>

Specs.

Front resinator is ID 1.75”, body 3” diameter X 12” body with 1” each side taper for total leignth of 14”

The bends on the pipe are in the same place as factory, except the two right angle bends are a little greater to allow for the longer rear section witch make the exhaust kick a little forward behind the rear wheel.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459208373/" title="100_1458 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5298/5459208373_e218c8f950.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1458" /></a>

Rear section is 1.75” ID splitting into 2 1.25” ID resonators

Resonators are 3” diameter X 13” long body only showing 12” (tips cover about 1”) and are welded to each other in three spots on left and right side.

The chrome 2.5” diameter X 7” long decorative tips, with the tail pipe painted Ferrari red running the same length of the tips.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459213793/" title="100_1461 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/5459213793_d4e1320159.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1461" /></a>

The rear section is in total 26” long.

The inside of the resonators have the same type of perforated surfaces on the inside pipe, with different diameters matching the diameter of the intake. The perforation is round 1/8” holes every 3/8” apart (looks like the holes were stamped out or drilled). The perforated pipe on the front resonator does not go the whole length of the body and is welded to two rings, unlike the rear.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459219705/" title="100_1467 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5258/5459219705_ffcaaff4b9.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1467" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459217719/" title="100_1465 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/5459217719_d94489373f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="100_1465" /></a>

Things to note is that the two sections have some things that hint to me that their may or may not be two different construction types and different years of construction. The front half has hints of being older than the rear. The Marmitte and Supersprint decal on the front resonator, I found on a picture of a late 60’s car, and that it has an earlier style construction with the welded ends. The rear two resonators have decals I found in pictures of for a Pantera exhaust system and have rounded bodies. The decals hint more of this to me than the construction, because they might have made them this way, the resonators do have different inside diameters.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459806052/" title="100_1456 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5100/5459806052_363a6d75e4.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1456" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459195955/" title="100_1455 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5052/5459195955_6177b8a5ef.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1455" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15770711@N05/5459798996/" title="100_1454 by ajmcforester, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5133/5459798996_a2db1430bb.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="100_1454" /></a>

[24 Ounces]

I was at the International Parts store in Columbus today to look for a Monza muffler for my stock '72. My plan was to use the MSA exhaust pipes with a Monza muffler (sorry, but MSA's Dynomax muffler is FUH-UH-GLY!). Anyway, the parts catalog came up dry, but the parts guy said he still had a Monza muffler for a Datsun 510 in the back. I took measurements and realized it was small enough to fit the tight space between the diff and the rear valence panel. I paid $23 for the muffler since they said it was an orphan and they just wanted rid of it. After reading this thread I now realize that Monza still makes a muffler for the Z...I will probably now use the "correct" Monza muffler fabricated to fit the MSA exhaust. If there is a mismatch between the MSA pipe and the input flange to the Z muffler, I will take the muffler to a machinist and have the input flange from the Dynomax muffler welded onto the Monza, then use some VHT high temp satin black to seal the welds. I looked inside the Monza muffler and you can see right through it...virtually no back pressure (or noise suppression...who needs that anyway?. The 510 muffler is so small I may just have it modified in the aforementioned fashion, then have the dual tips sliced off and rotated 90 degrees like Enigma suggested (hey, great idea!). Attached are some photos of the 510 muffler.