rattly noise from XE

[Mboasty]

hi, I fully rebuilt my xe a little while ago, it has ported cylinder head, reprofiled autosprint fast road cams, steel rods, 1mm oversize valves and double valve springs etc.

At the time when the car was back on the road, i had a 4-1 ebay stainless manifold, which i had had to modifiy quite alot to fit my magnex full system, but i was getting a rattly tinny noise from the exhaust at about 2-3000 rpm, it can be heard in the backfire aswell when not under accelaration. i concluded that this was down to the stainless manifold/my modifications to it and magnex, making this anoying noise.

so in the end i decided to do things properly and have a custom exhaust made to suit, so had a custom stainless 4-2-1 manifold and full stainless system made by john ashley hoping this would be the end of the problem.

unfortinaly im still getting the same noise at about 2-3000 rpm, im gutted to say the least! maybe it is the nature of mods and exhaust thats creating this anoying noise but its driving me crazy!

has anyone had simlar problems? could it be anything else creating this noise some how? ive wonderd if its the engine rattling, but that dosent explain the same noise in the backfire.

the engine runs prety smooth on the whole and the new exhaust done wonders, although it does need setting up properly, as the afm and idle valve are at war because of the cams (another story!)

its just doing my head in especialy after spending so much time at it im just not getting the results i wanted!
any ideas most appricated

matt

[boomtings1]

Could there be any bolts loose in the engine bay anywhere or a loose bracket?

[blue_peg_16v]

Is the handbrake cable rattling on the exhaust?

[Mboasty]

defo not the handbrake cable, ive had that anoying noise many a time before. maybe i should try and record it some how? i appricate noises are hard to define on the web
its like a raspy tinny noise sounds like exhaust but like i said exhaust has been totaly replaced and still the same noise. posible ideas ive come up with are altnator, but its new, valves/tappets projecting noise through exhaust note due to wider exhaust ports, noisey manifold in general, ive heard somwhere before that stainless manifolds can be noisy, but how do i shut it up?

[boomtings1]

Maybe could paint it and wrap it

[ocdstigy]

sounds like a nova going over 100mph

As above though,i had a similar problem years ago with a corsa b redtop,heat wrapping strangely got rid!

[Will F]

Sounds like a typical xe rasp tbh - I actually like that sound, but it can get a bity too much with certain exhaust combinations...

Not much you can do about it really - unless you fit carbs/TBs

[Mboasty]

dont tempt me carbs/tb's !

[Mboasty]

heat wrap and paint may well be the awnser then?

[Will F]

Not really as the sound is the engine resonating inside the exhaust - but I guess if you absolutely COVERED the whole exhaust in heat wrap and then shoved some in the back box you may muffle it a bit!