115 exhaust ruminations

["Luke M. Kowalski" <interfaces@domain.elided>]

Greetings;

I am finally settled in my new job and my attention is once again
focusing on the newest Alfa project.
:)
On my 1974 Spider, I currently have a Shankle header, followed by a
straight pipe, all the way back to the rear Ansa muffler.
I was told, and heard via study publicized here by John H., that the
stock exhaust actually generates better numbers than the header. It
also became clear with further research that the benefit of the header
is realized at higher RPMs, at the expense of low-end grunt.
So...I just sent a standard used exhaust manifold to be jet-hot coated,
but I am left wandering about the front and the center muffler's
effectiveness. Larry at APE says that the front one is actually needed
beacause of the backpressure it creates. I beleive him. What about the
center one?
Then, as another factor, some vendors (IAP) are selling the front and
middle together.
Is there a benefit in deleting either the front or the middle muffler,
once the standard exhaust manifold is installed instead of the headers?
(Assuming that we take smog out of the equasion)

thx
luke, San Mateo, CA

74 Spider, 82 GTV6 3.0s, 95 164LS, 99 Audi A6 Q (hers), 89 Cannondale
SR 400 (today's ride)


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