A Full review and installation guide to the Racing Beat rear muffler

There is a wide variety of exhausts available for the MK3 (NC) MX-5 from makes such as Borla, Magnaflow, Goodwin Racing and IL Motorsports to name but a few, so why did I choose the Racing Beat one ?    

Photo 1

Well, I like many would have ideally liked the MX-5 to sound as good as it looked, I wanted a slightly more aggressive sporty sound but still only modestly louder than stock.  I also disliked the standard chrome tail pipes as the inner exhaust pipe could be seen at the end (In my opinion the exhaust should have been cut back and then the chrome tailpipes attached, see Photo 1 left). One thing that Mazda did get right on the new generation MX-5 was that the exhaust had 2 exits one either side, obviously Mazda had listened to the general public as a very popular modification to the older cars was to install a twin exit exhaust and adapt the rear bumper to accommodate this.    

Other benefits I wanted was a nicer appearance from the rear (as the muffler canister is visible hanging under the rear bumper, see Photo 2 right ), this corrodes very quickly leaving it unsightly on such a wonderful car. I did think about painting the muffler black to try and take your eye away from it but thought that I would never really be happy with it, and of course that would not improve the sound.

I was happy enough that an after market exhaust was going to have larger tail pipes but I did not want them to large so as not to look OEM. The stock exhaust incidentally uses 3" diameter chrome tailpipes. 

Photo2

1. It was reviewed to be about 15% louder than stock.
2. The size of the chrome tailpipes at 31/2" were just 1/2" larger than stock.
3. You do not see the inner exhaust pipe, as in Photo1.
4. Quality, that has become synonymous with Racing Beat products.
5. The cost, £335 (although not the cheapest)

The quality of the welding is exactly as I would have expected from Racing Beat and is very nice indeed, as is the overall finish of the exhaust.

The chrome tail pipes are superb with the discreet etched Racing Beat logo.

One of the nice design features is that on the older versions (for previous generations MX-5 / Miata's) the end of the tail pipes were cut at an angle, while I liked this on my old car I am pleased to see that Racing Beat kept them square on this model as Mazda had designed on the OEM exhaust.    

Racing Beat Exhaust : 29 lbs

So the Racing Beat is about 2 1/2 lbs heavier than stock

This is a shame as most after market exhausts are lighter than stock, I have calculated it is like driving with 2 pints of milk in the boot, in the real world (not on the race circuit) that is hardly going to effect performance on the road. I am certainly not at all concerned about this.

Depending on how difficult the nuts are to loosen the installation should take no more than 1 1/2 hours for the novice (that does however include 2 tea breaks !!)

Tools required:

1. A 14mm deep socket with rachet.
2. Screwdrivers (flat)
3. Lubricant (washing up liquid or silicon spray)
4. WD40 (penetrating oil)

Start by loosening the two 14mm nuts that hold the stock muffler to the main exhaust pipe, these can be quite tight and depending on the age of the car would probably benefit from a spray of WD40. It is a good idea to do this say the night before so that the nuts have to time to 'free up' a little.

Take the nuts off, the muffler will stay in place as the bolts are still protruding, now we have to take off the muffler from the rubber hangers. I chose to leave the hangers attached to the car and removed them from the exhaust.

This can be a bit fiddly, spray a little lubricant (washing up liquid, WD40 or silicon spray) around the area that the muffler goes through on the hanger and gently prize it off, you may need to ease it with a screwdriver.

First remove one from each side, now I used something to support the muffler in the middle (say a stack off books or a tool box) so that when you remove the other two hangers the exhaust does not drop.

Once all the rubber hangers have been removed (4 in total) gently  (with the help off a friend or wife !) ease the exhaust out of the back of the car.

Remove the old exhaust gasket, clean the area and install the new gasket (I would apply the new gasket to the exhaust remaining on the car) 

A smear off washing up liquid will then ease the hangers onto the muffler this should be much easier than removing them. Remove anything under the car that was used to support the exhaust and tighten the two bolts that were installed earlier.

Have a cup of tea and stand back and admire !!     

The Racing Beat Exhaust Installed

I took it for a spin for a few miles to test everything, and all was OK.

I now have a couple of hundred miles on the exhaust and it sounds better than ever !

Here are some of the noticeable things :

Good Points

1. When you start the car it sounds like a sports car without waking the neighbours up, when you are stationary if you rev the car slightly there is a lovely sound on the deceleration.
2. You can drive with this exhaust through a town and no one will know you have a different exhaust. This was important to me as I did not want to attract attention.
3. Higher up the rev range (3000 to 6000 rpm) the sound increases to about 15% louder than stock just as others have said. It is a nice sound, although perhaps slightly deeper than I would have liked.
4. I have tried it with the top down (windows up and down) at all speeds (including motorway) and it is more than acceptable and certainly does not drone, as can be the case with other exhausts.
5. It looks brilliant, and the 3" tail pipes look OEM, looking back the Mazda tailpipes look a little small.
6. The tailpipes sit perfectly in the centre of the cut outs in the rear valance.
7. Seems to be a slight increase in performance around midrange.

Bad Points

1. It can be slightly boomy when coming off the accelerator around 20 to 30 mph and around 1000 to 2000 rpm
2. If I am getting really fussy, standing in the middle of the rear of the car close to the rear bumper the left hand tail pipe does not protrude as much as the right hand side I'd say by about 1/2 ". But this is not noticeable when looking at the rear of the car under normal conditions (i.e. not really close to the bumper)
3. I have noticed that when first starting the car (normally from cold) it idles a bit faster at around 1600rpm and then drops to normal after about 2-3 minutes. The stock exhaust used to idle around 1300rpm when started from cold. It may be to do with the exhaust is more free flowing, and not really a problem just worth pointing out.

This is a clip from YouTube supplied with thanks from renisis27