Sounds good. I have a 3VZ in mine. Its sounds pretty nice too.

Here is the car without a muffler, just the stock y-pipe.
http://youtu.be/jNeZ4wByPNA

It now have a muffler, just a cheap Raptor but it sounds pretty good. Quite a few people at the AutoX said my car sounds really good. I don't have one of the exhaust from outside the car but you can hear it here in my autoX video. FYI - word of the day - Slalom!

***Big spin near the end of the video***
http://youtu.be/9hx63OJgc2A

 

It can sound much better as long as you have close to equal length exhaust manifolds, and also equal length Y-pipe (with proper merge collector). Having the engine in the rear or the front doesn't matter... It's due to the motor being inside the MR2 which yields a better exhaust path / more equal length, and these swaps always have custom Y-pipes and whatnot.

The high note that most of us are liking, is simply due to all six exhaust pulses grouping together evenly. The closer you can get the manifolds, then you will achieve an inline-6 type note, or what a modern sports car with similar manifolds/exhaust systems would sound on an even fire V6.

Our 1MZ's have big bores too (and great rod/stroke ratio), which makes this engine sounding better than almost all other V6's we see (3.2/3.5 TL J-series Honda V6, or Maxima/VQ-series, etc..) if you really get to the magical spot for exhaust manifold tuning.

Here's my Camry:

 

Sounds good. The turbo spool and blow off sounds like a space ship .

I am not saying its because the engine is in an MR2 that it sounds that way. Its cool having a car that sounds like an older muscle car which you don't get with the 4cyl engines.

 

Ah, the turbo 1MZ sounds ridiculously good.

Exhaust length doesn't affect sound much (other than being louder since there's no room for resonators), but rather power delivery. I didn't expound on that. Longer exhaust systems tend to have increased low-mid range performance, while shorter systems tend to be suited for upper mid-high range performance. That's usually why you see race cars in stock bodies using side exit exhausts just after the front wheel well, since the engine will mostly be operating at high RPMs most of the time on track.

Unfortunately, the stock 1MZ cams don't allow that to be shown as the cams themselves are suited to low-mid range RPM performance anyway. Normally aspirated race engines tend to have a large amount of valve overlap, cam duration, and valve lift, which make them more sensitive to exhaust length and routing.

The stock 1MZFE and 2JZGE use 6 degrees of valve overlap without VVT-i, while some race engines use around 50-70 degrees of valve overlap, high duration, and very high lift cams.

 

I am apeaking of exhaust manifold runner length and timed pulses, not exhaust system length...! :headbang:

On the side note, exhaust system length rarely has anything to do with top-end or low-end power on NA cars if the header was properly designed for the motor. When we speak of race cars, I assume there is enough R&D and making decent power. Near-OEM engine race cars simply run side exits due to weight savings and simplicity. An exhaust turn down is done sometimes due to noise regulations. I have tuned some of these cars, both sponsored racers and hobbyists alike


It's all about exhaust scavenging and exhaust velocity during overlap cycle. Where the best power is made vs RPM, is when peak VE occurs due to scavenging based on the header design. Race cars (circuit or drag) rarely have any exhaust piping after the header collector. The exhaust pipe length is really only 6.0 - 12.0" of piping aka "megaphone".

More about megaphone:
http://wikiscootia.wikidot.com/expansion-chamber

Whether it is side exit at the fender, or a straight downwards dump under the shifter console, solely depends on the header length/design. Short stroke/long rod engines will prefer headers with long primaries, stepped up diameter and into long secondaries, then into a long collector due to its slower exhaust pulses. Long stroke/short rod motors will like long primaries/short secondaries and collector, due to faster pulses. Both, can be tuned for the same type of intended RPM usage with cams/heads to match. The differences in motor design, will have different header requirements.

It's a major misconception that people think "short exhaust system" is for high RPM. It's always the header itself. You can have a lengthly 12-ft exhaust system with a nice properly designed header, and you can still make power up to 10000RPM. As long as the exhaust system isn't a physical flow restriction, the pipe length after the header is negligable for scavenging. For example, a 3.0" exhaust system in a 180 WHP 1.6L NA motor (approx 130 BHP/L) using 12.50mm lift / 300+ deg duration cams, can easily still make power up to 10K RPM regardless of exhaust system length.

The above example is actually a typical Honda Civic B16A with Skunk2 Pro2 cams and a nice HyTech/SMSP Tri-Y header + 3.0" exhaust system, mildly built. This is also a car that you will notice no power gains or shift in RPM band if you went with an open-header or a short exhaust setup.


But anyway...

Exhaust runner length among cylinders, and how their pulses are grouped at the last "merge point" is really all there is when speaking of different exhaust notes among cars with the same cylinder count. Besides firing order, this is what separates from a typical even-fire V6 with unequal headers and Y-pipes (raspy 1MZ/3VZ, or Honda J30/J32/J35), to a Nissan VQ35 G35 or 350Z (longitudinal RWD layout, symmetrical Y-pipes) in which we are all familiar with their nice exhaust note.

Which is why I linked my video up here to show everyone why my Camry sounded like an R35 GTR/350Z alike. I have stock cams, stock bore/stroke, stock valve angles and such.
I have close to equal length side-winder exhaust manifolds, close to equal length merge pipes (before the turbo), single exhaust.


Why a Subaru boxer engine sounds the way it does, it also due to the same principle. Put equal length exhaust manifolds on a Subaru boxer motor to replace its stock "very-unequal length" header, and you will notice that the Subaru now sounds pretty much like any 4-cyl.


Subaru, equal vs unequal length header:

As another example, here's my Camry with....

Twin turbo setup, true split dual exhaust with unequal length downpipes:

Current close-to-equal-length manifold/pipes/single turbo:

Besides the useless torque from my previous twin turbo setup, the boring exhaust note is also what lead me to scrapping the TT setup within a few weeks...LOL But that's another story for another time...

 

Jason, it sounds very nice
I like the acceleration growl (kinda), that's what made me fall in love with my 1mz-fe
mine is way more muffled though (stock exhaust for automatic, calif specs).

I like how your Magnaflow sounds quiet at idle and the deeper notes it produces upon acceleration, very pleasant on my ears

 

"Exhaust system"

:lol:

I got it, I got it!

 

So basically if I want my 98 Camry V6 to sound a lot like a VW Golf R32 ( I love this sound !! ) I need to keep the Y pipe at an uneven length correct ?

 

The y-pipe is actually considered "equal length." The manifolds themselves, because of the EGR pipe on the rear bank, are uneven. Some of the MR2 guys use a shorter pipe at the rear bank for a smooth y-merge, and it sounds interesting as well.

The same thing occurs with the Subaru turbo engines. The actual exhaust manifolds are different lengths, which leads to that signature Subaru burble. Replace the manifolds with equal length ones, and it'll sound like a regular 4-cylinder.

 

Ok now thats interesting. So in theory when I get a custom Y pipe fabricated, Getting the rear bank to merge in the shortest path ( as most custom Y pipes seem to be ) would be more inclined to get me the sound I am after. Just what I want to hear

 

I'm using the stock equal length y-pipe, but I plan on changing it because the y-merge is HORRIBLE. It's more of a t-pipe than a y-pipe. I just had to use it for CA smog certification.

 

Bummer so the sweet sound I like may not happen....Not to worry, I guess I will just have to chase up the even length pipe for maximum efficiency instead and settle for whatever note I get.

 

I have an 3VZ is the 1MZ worth a swap ? Or should if im thinking about swapping, its better to go with the 3sgte ?