Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

So this topic has been discussed left right and center. But here are some of my Q's and thoughts.

i got the Gen 2 3.5V6 and I know she should sound good. But. Who ever did the exhaust made it make a lot of noise without doing anything. Now my Question.

Should I redo the free flow? or take it back to standard.

On my limited experience with 1800's racing, I gas flowed the heads along with the free flow, but that was for top end speed, I want low down torque.

The gentleman that had my Pajero before put two silencer boxes at the back, next to each other?? I (for now) had it replaced with one big one, and I have to admit I can already feel a difference in her.

So without doing the chip, branches and gas flowing, does the free flow actually make any difference??

I researched this before and spoke to many abou this on the V6

A freeflow provides very little power gains, and what it does is all in the wrong place...as you observed.

Personally gas flowing is a no-no untill you HAVE to pull the head for some reason - I don't see the need to pull the head off a perfectly functional engine.

Now this is where it gets interesting... I have spoken to BOTH Brospeed and Wildcat regarding branches, and BOTH recommend leaving the branches alone. The aftermarket branches allegedly do not last and need to be replaced every 80000 to 100000 km... I never bothered to ask why unfortunately.

So, basically all a free flow is good for is to provide a rather funky V6 sound.

Rather get a piggy back chip and someone who knows how to map it correctly for the application.

SimonB wrote: The aftermarket branches allegedly do not last and need to be replaced every 80000 to 100000 km... I never bothered to ask why unfortunately.

Branches are mild steel thin-walled pipe (to be able to bend them).
They burn through.

Very few mods that deliver 10-15% increase in power can be economically justified. (beyond that, you often need another engine!).
After a few days, the % gain seems insignificant.

The sound is a nice to have (coming from a TD owner, who's engine sounds like a tractor!)

The power shift from fooling about with branches and cams are not suited to our purpose hence the recommendation to leave well enough alone..
Having said that the other side of the coin is that original exhaust manifolds are about 3x the price of a set of branches and it is a well known fact that these cast manifolds tend to crack.

Having less restriction in the exhaust will give you slightly more power but not the 15% that some guys claim, to get that will cost a lot more.
We have a saying in the racing circles "power cost money - How fast do you want to go?" it sound silly but it is so true

I agree, the original branches will do just fine - there is no need to fit after-market branches as they provide insignificant improvements. My dad has been building exhausts and branches for standard and racing cars for 15-20 years and he advised me not to go this route on the Pajero 3.5 V6. They did dyno's before and after installing the branches on the 3.5V6 and it confirmed it is not worth the money or effort. He did however advise me to go for a 63mm dia freeflow system when the time comes, which allows the engine to breath better and so improve low down torque/power.

So, a freeflow is a freeflow, but the diameter of the pipe used also makes a difference. I recently replaced my back silencer off-center box with a freeflow box and could feel a slight improvement on pull aways. It does however increase the noise levels which I don't really like.

Some systems/branches burn through easily because the manufacturer uses a thin walled pipe to save money - so ask and compare before buying.