TazioNYC

Been looking around in the archives for info on exhuast systems...seems like Speedforce, Lindsay and B&B always come up. What are the pros and cons of each set up?

And I'm a little hazy on the difference between a cat back and a test pipe.

Basically, my car has an Autothority II chip, and, although it pulls nicely and has more punch/boost than stock, it seems like it needs some help in the exhaust department to really open it up and take advantage of what it's doing. So I'm looking for a set up for street use.

I had a Stillen exhaust on my old Z and that fell on the subtler side of the choices available to Z owners at the time (Borla was the loudest, if i recall) and I felt that it was about right for me in terms of loudness.

nodestination1

woo, my first chance to help someone!

the exhaust on a 951 is in two sections; the front pipe (catalytic convertor)
and the rear pipe (cat back and muffler). A test pipe replaces the front pipe and eliminates the catalytic convertor. It does wonders for turbo lag, but is quite illegal.

As far as the different setups, I'll let someone else go into depth, but the most obvious is that the lindsey setup is not stainless steel, like the stock setup, which is why it's a bit less. It just rusts a bit faster... read up on their page.


Props on the old Z. I used to have a 90 TT with a whole bunch of stillen parts... god did it rip. I know the lindsey setup with a flowmaster 40 is suppsed to be very loud.

TazioNYC

Well, thanks for the help! The P.O. on my 951 stuck a stainless steel muffler on, but didn't do the whole thing. Will the cat back help me power wise with the chip? I don't need it just for the noise.

Darwantae951

A 951 exhaust system is in more than two parts. You have the:

1) Headers
2) Cross over pipe
3) Down pipe (small pipe directly after the turbo)
4) What some refer to as the "mid pipe" or "test pipe" (the pipe that runs between the down pipe and the cat)
5) Cat (or cat delete pipe)
6) and finally the cat back portion

There are multiple different options for each piece of the exhaust from the vendors you listed. Just really have to research and make your own choice. I'd start by going to each vendors website and comparing prices to quality. I know with SFR you're going to pay a premium, but the stuff is top notch.

-Darwin

944CS

B&B sounds the best hands down. Its the most exotic sounding of all the cat backs available for the 944. Here is a great clip of what it sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q43jKnEoRlI

potent951turbo

My vote goes for the speed force set up, and is also what I have on my car. I love the sounds and the quality craftsmanship that went into building it. Someone on here posted up side by side shots of the lindsey racing exhaust next to the speed force exhaust and the quality of the SFR setup was far nicer. But if you just want an exhaust without spending as much I have heard the LR setup works great. I have never heard or seen a B&B setup in person so I can't really say anything about that option.

PorscheDoc

I just installed a full 3" fabspeed system on my car last night. I have long said that most of the gains from an exhaust will come from deleting the cat, and putting in a test pipe on the 2.5" system. I have dyno tested this on my dyno to be true. On an otherwise stock car, the 3" exhaust (no cat) makes about 4hp/7tq over a 2.5" exhaust with no cat. I will test the new exhaust to see what it does on a mildly modified car. I had a 2.5" homemade testpipe with a magnaflow muffler that makes 270whp. We will see what kind of hp gains the 3" gives us when running a little more hp. I think as your hp goes up, the 3" will become more valuable. Once this is tested, then it will be time for a bigger turbo.

The homemade test pipe and magnaflow muffler was a great system for a budget, but the car is starting to look impressive enough now that I really needed to get that hacked up thing out of there.

The fabspeed system is incredible BTW. I have used their stuff for years on the boxster, 993,996,997 and the twins, and the build is very high quality.

TazioNYC

So you're saying that a 3" with a cat makes slightly more power than a 2.5" w/o cat?

PorscheDoc

Sorry, both the 2.5 and 3" as tested had NO cat.

TazioNYC

Colin -- do you hav a full turbo back set up or cat back? Does it drive much different?

potent951turbo

Yeah I have the full polished stainless steel setup with 3" downpipe, testpipe, and catback. The car definately spools up sooner then a stock car and obviously you can hear the turbo now over the stock exhaust. To be honest I have been driving the car so long with this exhaust that I have almost forgotten what a strong running car feels like with stock exhaust.

Techno Duck

I am pretty sure this car has the full GHL exhaust system and in my opinion is one of the best sounding 951's ive ever heard. Who knows what else this thing had done to it to make it sound like that. The video was posted maybe 2 or 3 years ago in the 951 forum. BTW, think this was ECUDooberhead's car, which if i remember correctly he sold a while back. And if i remember right it was the full GHL system with a Vitesse stage 2.



Interestingly enough the 951 with a full 3-inch SFR exhaust and bullet muffler sounds very similar to my 944 with the 2.5inch system and bullet muffler. It just has a slightly deeper, chambered sound.

944CS

I'm pretty sure that is a V-8 powered 944 Techno Duck

nodestination1

Obviously. But he's not going to go put headers and a downpipe on an otherwise stock 951. thats just silly.

Also - maybe it's different on the turbo S, but on my system im pretty sure there are only two sections after the DP. Or i could be going crazy.

PorscheDoc

With the stock exhaust system, you have 2 main pieces to the exhaust after the downpipe...You have the main exhaust section (it either has the cat, or does not have the cat which is referred to as a "test pipe"), and the catback section which has the muffler.

On an aftermarket exhaust, you usually have more pieces, the main exhaust section is typically 2 pieces, one of them being a high flow catalytic converter section, or a cat delete pipe, then you have the cat back section (which is usually a few pieces held together by clamps).

Here is the fabpseed system (note the Tial wastegate is also in this picture).