wanabe911 owner

I want to upgrade to a better exhaust system. My 1986 Carrera has the stock system still in place minus the cat. Interested in getting opinions as to which aftermarket performance exhaust is best from a Price/Performance standing. Also are my stock heat exchangers good enough or should I go with headers, I will never ever use the heater. Alex Miami FL

TMH

Alex,

One of the cheapest and best ways to upgrade your exhaust system, IMO, is to gut (or have your Porsche mechanic gut) your stock muffler. Removing my cat and having my muffler gutted was one of the best performance modifications I ever made on the track car. And it only cost about $150 to have the stock muffler "professionally gutted". Then you can decide, at a comparatively low cost, whether you can deal with the additional loudness on the street.

Do a search on "muffler" and you should pick up a lot of threads. From memory, there are a fair amount regarding this or that aftermarket muffler, and how annoyingly loud they are on the street. I sure would hate to find this out only after spending $1000!

Regarding your stock heat exchangers, there are 2 schools of thought which are based on the performance level you are looking to achieve. For a full race mode, I don't think that there is any doubt that you want to replace them with headers. On the other hand, my P-Car mechanic (and some threads on this BBS) have also said that the stock heat exchangers are "pretty good" as is, good enough for street performance, DE's, Autocross, etc. Once again, I suggest that you inexpensively see what performance gains you get from gutting the stock muffler, and then decide how much farther you want (and your wallet allows) you to go.

Good luck,
Tom

theasphaltgambler

If you are keeping the engine mostly stock I don't think an aftermarket full header system is worth the money. I tend to agree with TMH. Fabspeed sells a 'cat' bypass that is really a very small pre-muffler with a turn-out; all stainless and under $300.00 and eliminating something like 45lbs of weight -that should really make a difference in performance.

Jay Gratton

Alex,
I have had the best luck with the B&B exhaust system. Great sound, great power, great quility and great price! Best wishes - Jay Gratton

strupgolf

I asked this on peilcan, but here goes. My 86 911 has these numbers on the muffler. 2---2--911, and others, then Bischoff, 7-85. Could this be the original muffler? I have two pipes going into one on the left side of the engine, the the co2 plug, then the pipe goes into the muffler, and then comes out to the exit pipe, on the same side as it goes in. If it is the original, it is in perfect condition, has good sound, but I would like more. My problem is when I lood at catalogs, I dont see any mufflers that look like mine, so I cant know if it has been changed. The PO saidn it has a "test pipe", which might be where the converter should have been. Let me know what you guys think, a new owner is wondering. Thanks