New Tunable Solo System

[mrbrans5]

Spent another day down at Solo Performance in Hamilton Ontario today. For those that are not familiar with Solo, they are a performance exhaust specialist. And I do mean Specialist. I got to see and hear their systems first hand on some C5 members cars, (thanks Rick Ray RCLap, TJ91 and... sorry I forget the rest of you). Although I believe a beautiful exhaust note is very subjective... after much research, I knew Solo was the system for me. I was told these guys are great and how they bend over backwards for you. Well, I got to test that theory first hand. Shortly after I bought my system, a few weeks back, my Stock 2LT RS M6 had a terrible drone issue. Yes I heard RickRay and TJ91’s drone at 2k RPM, but it was nothing like this! This was MEGA DRONE! I got the car back to them they agreed that something was wrong. They changed out parts to make sure they were not defective, and even added drone cancelling resonators but I was not satisfied. Then they told me about a system they developed for the G8’s that had severe drone issues.

Solo “J” pipe G8board: http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28454

The system included what they called an adjustable “J” pipe that you use to “tune out” the frequencies responsible for the droning in the cabin. The pipe in the shape of a “J” is “T”ed 90 degrees into a straight section of the exhaust pipe. It then dead ends, into an adjustable cap. This cap slides in or out much like a musical instrument and must be tuned such that the total length of the dead ended pipe is a certain length. The idea here, as I understand it, is that the actual exhaust travels past the “J” pipe and out the tail pipe. The sound waves on the other hand, travel into the “J” pipe, bounce back off the end of the pipe, then return back to the main exhaust pipe cancelling out the drone. The only problem here is that the system was developed for the G8 and would not work, or fit on my Camaro. Their solution... They made a “J” pipe system for the my Camaro LT engine. So after spending 10 hours down there today, while they fabricated, tested and fabricated then tested some more, I am happy to say that these guys really know what they are doing! My drone is completely gone! I never would have believed it, if I had not seen it for myself. The good news for all you Camaro V6 guys, is now you have another exhaust option... and you can actually (tune) change the note of the exhaust by simply sliding the end cap of the “J” pipe in or out.



Here’s a few pictures I took at Solo today, from a happy customer!

[RickRay]

Looks Great George..hope it will work for the Automatics V6!!!

[shevyman]

very interisting

[KMPrenger]

Wow. Neato stuff.

I'm sure its not much, but I wonder if this 'tuning' option causes any slight performance decreases? I would think if any exhaust does happen to get in that J tube, it just trapped there and will end up causing interference with the exhaust trying to escape through the other piping.

But I'm no expert...it might be a perfectly fine design.

I'm also more curious about the tuning itself. Can you really....noticeably change your exhaust note with it? Or is it just for controlling the drone levels?

[Shuffler]

Interesting and odd looking. You realize if you run over anyone they will see these pies.

While it may cause some turbulance I don't think it would hinder performance.... only dynos would tell. This looks like it was designed by a plumber. They do something simular to negate the water hammer effect in homes.

[zepcom]

Originally Posted by mrbrans5

The system included what they called an adjustable “J” pipe that you use to “tune out” the frequencies responsible for the droning in the cabin. The pipe in the shape of a “J” is “T”ed 90 degrees into a straight section of the exhaust pipe. It then dead ends, into an adjustable cap. This cap slides in or out much like a musical instrument and must be tuned such that the total length of the dead ended pipe is a certain length. The idea here, as I understand it, is that the actual exhaust travels past the “J” pipe and out the tail pipe. The sound waves on the other hand, travel into the “J” pipe, bounce back off the end of the pipe, then return back to the main exhaust pipe cancelling out the drone. The only problem here is that the system was developed for the G8 and would not work, or fit on my Camaro.

Awesome post, Mrbrans5. You got it. There is a specific frequency (measured in Hertz) that the drone is at, and that frequency is louder than all other normal "exhaust sounds". The J bends target that frequency's soundwaves (remember math sine, cosine, etc? Soundwaves look like that!) and reflect those soundwaves off of the capped end in the exact opposite pattern... which eliminates them.

Similar to "the sound of silence".

Since the end of the J-pipe is sealed, no real "exhaust gasses" go into here, and if they accidentally do, they harmlessly return to the exhaust stream immediately since there's no where for them to exit out of a capped end. In fact, with the car running, if you were to put your hand on the J bends, they'll be cool to the touch, further proving this point. Be careful not to burn yourself when you touch other piping on your exhaust system, as where the exhaust gasses pass through, it's most definately quite hot!

The end result is that the target frequency "drone" is elliminated, without destroying the greatness that is aftermarket exhaust "rumble" and "muscle". The best of both worlds!

These are adjustable because if you mod your car for additional performance later down the road, that specific frequency that your car currently "drones" at may shift to a higher pitch or lower pitch, slightly. So lets say you add a CAI to your setup, and you've had the SOLO setup on for several months, completely drone-free. Now with your powertrain change, the drone is back, alebit slightly. Well, simply make the adjustment on the total length of your J-pipes, (in or out on the Tuba, so to speak), and you can re-target the drone-zone and make it once again, drone-free, while it's still on your car, in your own driveway!

Here's an example: If you've ever heard two people "Humming" a constant note, and then just one of those people goes a half (sharp or flat, for those into music) step away, you'll hear the difference in those sounds as they both continue to hum. Amplify that by 304hp and that's kinda like the engine drone. What you're doing by adjusting the J-pipe, is you're having the second singer bring their "note" up to what the first person has been humming, now they're both singing the same note, and the 'drone' is gone. It's fascinating, at least to me.

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

Wow. Neato stuff.

I'm sure its not much, but I wonder if this 'tuning' option causes any slight performance decreases? I would think if any exhaust does happen to get in that J tube, it just trapped there and will end up causing interference with the exhaust trying to escape through the other piping.

I'm also more curious about the tuning itself. Can you really....noticeably change your exhaust note with it? Or is it just for controlling the drone levels?

the "tuning" aspect of the J-pipes allows for "fine tuning" of the cancellation of the soundwaves of the 'drone zone', as your mods change over time. For example, you may be at a stock intake now, but if you get an aftermarket CAI later, the specific Hertz frequency of the 'drone' may be shifted slightly by your CAI mod. Thus, simply loosen up the bolts on the adjustable part, slide the "tuba part" in or out, and take a test drive. If it get's worse, that's easy, it just means you slid it the wrong way, so crawl underneith and go back to your starting point, then back the other way and re-test.

Since the ends of the J-bend pipes are capped, it's a "high pressure" area, so no exhaust gasses will go in there. Similar to blowing through a straw with your finger firmly covering the other end. Just won't happen. These only target the soundwaves, which are present throughout the entire exhaust system, and can travel through high pressure areas like the capped J bend without issue. There are no performance decreases either, once again, as this technology only targets the soundwaves as they exit the rear of the car. Exhaust gasses bypass the J-bends harmlessly, while the soundwaves get cancelled out effectively by this technology.



The J-pipes have been a huge hit on the G8 SOLO offerings, and I've been proud to be a part of the initial testing phase with my own car. The L76 engine, like the v6 camaro engine, is a "harmonics nightmare" ... and I worked with Jeff and the crew at their Buffalo shop to bring this J-bend technology to SOLO to see how it would work. The rest is history, and I'm really glad that it now is being applied to the V6 camaro.

I've had a SOLO Catback on my g8 since Thanksgiving 2009, and had the initial pre-alpha "proof of concept" J bends on my G8 in January 2010. That led to the development of the adjustable J bends from SOLO for the G8, and it is one of two "drone free" exhaust offerings for the G8 community, and has turned out to be a very successful product for the G8 guys. Really glad to see the technology can be used in other similar zeta chassis applications as well!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me!

--zepcom

[KMPrenger]

Awsome response zepcom!

I've added a link to this in the SOLO section of the V6 exhaust sticky thread.

[RickRay]

Originally Posted by RickRay

Looks Great George..hope it will work for the Automatics V6!!!

[GOINGSOLO2]

MrBrans5, that was an awesome day yesterday. We made some great progress and it was very exciting to duplicate the J-pipe technology on the V6 Standard Camaro. We made a ton of progress yesterday. Thanks for making the 2+ hour drive both ways and hanging out for 10 hours to get this done.

Hi Zep. Nice to see you over here on the Camaro board. Once again thanks so much for all the time and efforts on your part to get the original G8 J-pipes perfected. Thanks for the fantastic post and all the information. All I can say to add to it is the J-pipe technology is near magic. If you can measure the drone frequencies ( that in itself is not at all easy ) you can eliminate them using J-pipes with no adverse effects.

Rick Ray give Jeff a call when you get a chance at 905-703-1557. I know he wants to talk to you.

All of us at Solo are very excited about this and we would like to duplicate the J-pipes on another Camaro V6 Standard and then expand our "Exhaust Kit" offerings.

Thanks very much.

[Edge.128]

can anyone make a video showing all the various tones the car can have? that would be great.

[zepcom]

Originally Posted by Edge.128

can anyone make a video showing all the various tones the car can have? that would be great.

Drone is an unpleasant/uncomfortable sound to the ears, it's not reproducible on videos. In fact, most speakers and headphones are designed NOT to reproduce these types of sounds, because it would be unpleasant to the listener.

Sorry, you need to experience drone in person. Drone generally comes in two flavors on AFM equipped cars. a low-rpm (~2000) 6th gear highway speeds vibration or sound is the main drone. I tried to give the example where two people are humming (loudly) at the same note, then one goes slightly higher. The human ear now picks this 'differencial' up as an unpleasant sound and that's the closest 'real world' example of drone that I can think of.

Additionally, on the L99 cars with AFM enabled, the factory exhaust system is near quiet stock. When the car goes into AFM mode (4 cylinder mode to save gas mileage) with an aftermarket exhaust, some have described the sound as a low "thrumming" sound like a fast drum. This sound goes away when the v4 mode goes back into full v8 sound, but it's noticable if you're listening for it. The J-pipes also serve to limit/minimize this thrumming sound. Some people call this drone (I do not) because it sounds 'different', it's simply a side-effect of the AFM doing it's job without the extreme-silence of the factory exhaust system hiding it from the listener.

Introduce a better flowing, better sounding, aftermarket exhaust system, and now you sometimes have a 'side effect' of GM powertrain harmonics, or drone.

Just like videos do not do catback exhaust systems justice, best to experience these in person for the full effect.

The crew at SOLO spent countless hours perfecting this V6 kit to be one of the only "drone free" aftermarket exhaust offerings. Once more people who buy this kit post their own experiences, it will in turn prove further how great SOLO's extensive R&D that went into this has paid off.

And Steve, Although you are forced to conform to GM's underbody design, wouldn't these be more appropriately called "7 pipes" instead of "J" pipes? lol just kidding!

[mrbrans5]

“7 pipes” ... I like that. On the Camaro LLT we’ll call them “7 pipes”.

I can tell you that as we changed the length of the “7 pipe” not only did the sound change, but I felt the performance of the car as well. Jeff said this may have been due to several factors including the cars computer making changes as we drove?

My goal was to completely eliminate drone on the highway as that is where I drive the most. There was actually a better setting for scooting around in the city... for me anyways.

[2010 SSRS]

wow, that is a cool exhaust

[Shuffler]

Wondering if this has to be behind the muffler. Most systems have the mufflers where the old stock cans were located.