Need Help, New Exhaust Systems Being Developed!

[positron]

Sounds nice.. keep 'em coming..

Launch, through the gears and high rev pass by please...    oh and a smoky burnout while your at it... 

[silver]

just for you positron I'll get that done......well I won't be the one doing the burnout...but there is one available.....keep checking the other post as I'm adding the links as they become available.

[positron]

Not that I would condone such an activity ... but if my mouse where to accidentally double click to a site that had such material I'd be compelled to watch it... for disavowing purposes only you see...

[bolus]

Goddamn that sounds awesome!  If I wasn't doing the turbo I'd be ordering that exhaust right now

[Bottoz]

Very Nice Aaron... and good work Ray!

[fishkiller]

Sounds very nice,
Thanks Aaron for posting the video clips and most of all, making your car available to Ray.
Kudos to Ray for design work and a Get'R'done attitude.
Great job guys.
Can't wait to get mine.

[Gage]

Excellent job providing sound clips.   I'm impressed.  Opening it up really has eliminated most of the tinny/fart can sound, if not all of it.   Really, that is as good as I thought it could get.   For sound improvement, as well as easy access and removal, that exhaust is a great way to go.   For Stealth, those guys need a Frame Trapped exhaust system.    I still want a dyno comparison between stock and YOURS Ray/Silver.   
I think that open flow design is going to OWN.

I even liked the tips in a retro mucle car kind of way.  They looked symetrical and well placed.     

[silver]

oh in case I hadn't mentioned, there will be a dyno once the system has it's "military grade" ceramic coating.  At least I think that's what he said.  Anywho it's from Jet Hot so I'm pretty sure their reputation is very good.

What we're looking for more than HP gain from a dyno is the ability for the system to remove heat from the engine.  I can't tell if it gained any power on my butt dyno, however, I've only driven the car 5 times in 5 months, so It's way out of calibration hehe

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

The drive by sounds incredibly cool!

[silver]

close up of header and custom copper gasket



following behind



following behind from a stop



following behind from a stop again



ok that's all the videos

[Mr.Woolery]

Well, it certainly makes the Ecotec Atom sound as it should have.  I like it. 

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

Ditto.

[bolus]

I got an email from Ray at fortress performance and they are working through group buy plan.  Expect a post with pricing soon. 

[foobar12345]

looks and sounds great, let me know the pricing.

-Brad

[FORTRESS PERFORMANCE]

Before I get to the details of the group buy, I'd like to explain the details of the benefits and design of the Fortress Performance Exhaust for the 2.0 Ecotec motor.


  First I would like to go over the problems that I found with the stock system.

1:  The first thing that all atom owners have noticed is that the flex pipe fails causing frame/paint, license plate,and  rear light damage.

2:  Failure of the hard to find 3 bolt flange gaskets.

3:  Removal of the factory exhaust is very difficult due to the different sizes of head on the the same fastener/ bolts, and location of the bolts/ nuts.

Once the exhaust is removed, a much closer examination reveals  that the exhaust is extremely constricted in many of its design elements.

1:  First the top of the header port where the primary's were "stamped" or "pressed" to make room for the lock nuts to be secured to the header flange/head. This causes the almost 1500 deg + exhaust not to free flow and offers almost no room for upper port work where it is most need.

2:  The length and shape of the"Ram" shaped header. This is largely responsible for retaining heat close to the engine producing a great deal of heat soak and the reason for all the factory heat shielding.

3:  The  header collector and the 2 1/4" exhaust. This exhaust is entirely to restrictive for the ecotec as the 245hp 2.0 S/C GM Cobalt uses 2"out of a factory manifold then to 2 1/2" cat back. Keep in mind this set up is for a car that weight's 2 1/2 times as much. In addition the system is tight to the body ( unlike all other cars this engine is used in)of the engine both receiving and making vast amount of radiant heat.

4:  The packing material in the stainless muffler. This causes heat build up and eventual self destruction as it can not handle the flow the Ecotec dishes out.

The reason the stock Ecotec exhaust fails is due to the amount of the egt's (exhaust gas temp) that it creates due to the combination of the light weight Atom and the time  and speed which it reaches  the upper RPM range. In my opinion the Atom was never intended to use the Ecotec, well at least in its conception. Due to the massive heat held in the rams horn header design they added a heat shield which isn't found or needed in the Honda version.

  With the limited space (even with rear frame extended) there is not enough room to do the much needed 3" exhaust needed to effectively carry out the exhaust in-frame WITHOUT creating another problem that the factory exhaust system already has...... radiant heat transfer. The more room you give the primaries , main pipe and muffler to dissipate heat, the quicker they cool off and the less heat build up they produce. (This is were Jet Hot ceramic coating does great!)

The Ecotec being Super Charged does not benefit any off of a tuned header when the trade off is heat soak. The faster you get it out the better. Now a small amount of back pressure is needed in all engines and the combination of the 3" exhaust and cross-flow muffler gives it exactly what it needs. We have redesigned the header from the ground up starting with our very own custom cooper header gasket designed to be used in excess of 5 times or more. The full use of the 1.75" primaries offer much needed port room.  For those of you who have had head work on your minds for extra gains in power the headers are ready to accept a ported exhaust manifold already.  Then the header with almost half the length of the stock primaries goes to a collector with the same amount of unrestricted volume as the primaries combined. Coupled with a 3" V-band collector that has no gaskets that can "blow out" The V-bands are designed to withstand 40lbs + of boost when properly installed.

Not only did we make the Header design to simply flow well but to be as easy to install without the use of a "wobble socket' or expensive custom wrenches. Once more EVERY single bolt and nut is 13mm from the header to the v-band. Now we may be offering a ARP bolt kit option for the header to head using a 10mm head but it is designed to give you even more access and strength.

Now, by taking the 3" exhaust directly out the back outside of the frame and then up, we give the header room to cool, more air going through both the header mid-pipe and last , the muffler.  We have found with our system the factory header heat shield is not needed( but I can't recommend its removal for obvious reasons) There are about a 10lbs weight savings with deduction of material's in the header and the mid-pipe. However since the muffler requires 14 gauge internals to be both durable and noise friendly the total weight saving from a stock cat system and ours are only about 2 lbs.( our coating has not been figured in, but its doubtful it will make up the difference).

Our systems will come with a Jet Hot ceramic coating inside and out, flat black header 2000 deg + and the mid-pipe and muffler will have the optional colors in 1600 deg in flat gray, flat black, flat blue and silver"polish" sterling coat gloss. All system's will come with tips in stainless unless ordered without ( which will knock down the the price a little)There will be an optional Super Trapp option will welded on V-band rings so that you can go from tips to Super Trapps a moments notice ( Honesty like 1 minute) if the track (or neighbor ha ha) chooses for you to have them.

Last but not least the O2 sensor location will be moved ( which will include a plug and play O2 extender) to right before the muffler on the right engine side for both appearance purposes for a lower heat, longer life more accurate reading of the O2 sensor with a added bung for a wide-band connection to better monitor you Atom. We are in the process of putting  a Wide-ban kit together so that may be an option as well.

  I will have Dyno results and more info available as soon as my final prototypes make it back from Jet Hot. For any questions or commits or even idea's  please contact me at the shop 817-449-4464 (Ft. Worth Texas) 8am-6pm cst ask for Ray


 
  Further more I hope that I can help as many of you out by the development of this system as it was solely engineered and built from the many comments that i received on the thread I opened with the thread development of this system in the fall of last year. I fully understand that this will not  be a solution for you all but in the Ecotect Atom world that you find yourselves, were your engine make has been dumped, your waiting for parts and service as been difficult at times and everyone else is looking to the future of the Honda A3 I just want you too know you have not been forgotten by us.
            Sincerely Your's
            Ray Bladyn & the rest of us @ Fortress Performance.



                              FOR PRICING AND THE GROUP BUY INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT THE NEW THREAD                                                                                                               
                                          " NEW AFTER MARKET ECOTEC EXHAUST SYSTEM GROUP BUY"
                                          info and a list in the order it will be filled bill be posted very soon