dmjames

So a closer inspection showed me that not only has the weld failed where the muffler is attached to the rest of the exhaust system, but there's also some serious rattling inside the muffler AND the cat.

As such, seems like it's time to R&R the exhaust on my 84, and I'm thinking I probably need to replace everything from the cat on back, lest I feel stupid in 6 months when some other part I figured I'd get away with keeping decides to fail.

Car is stock save a 4-degree cam key, and I'm not looking for loud, so anything big seems excessive, but just about the only thing I've found for the NA is Lindsey Racing's 3" setup here. Any suggestions on what to look at? Is the LR setup worth the nearly $700 by the time you include the cat and a magnaflow muffler?

V2Rocket

There are times for upgrades, but in this case, there's no reason to go anything other than stock setup.
I'm sure one of the CO guys has an NA setup laying around, or Lart could get one to you easy enough.

3" is a waste of time, money, and power on an NA.

SloMo228

3" is wayyyyy too big for an NA. The standard size is just about 2 1/4" (not exactly, since Porsche used metric tube, but close enough) and I wouldn't go any bigger unless you start doing some more serious mods. 2 1/4" is plenty for the HP output of the 2.5L 8V engine.

Honestly, it's not that complex of an exhaust system. I built one for my S and I only needed two 45-degree bends. Everything else was straight pipe. Shouldn't be difficult for a decent muffler shop to fabricate something for you.

Be careful, though. These cars are kind of difficult to keep quiet once you stray from stock, in my experience (I've built 4 iterations of the exhaust system on my 944, including the most recent in 2.5"). A resonator is a must, IMO, and you'll want to go big on the rear muffler too, if this is for a street car that you want to keep quiet. You can still save some weight over the stock setup, though. The stock muffler is absolutely massive.

odonnell

If you are ok to remove the cat, I've had great results with putting a resonator in its place. Stock-ish muffler sounds good. Here's what mine sounds like with a Bosal muffler (I think it's a stock replacement part, dunno specifics).

Ak951

The obx catback sounds surprisingly good on the NA.

dmjames

Ok, got a quote from one of the few non-poorly reviewed muffler shops around here, and they're quoting $700+ for a basic, stock-equivalent setup including a cat. Sounds like just putting another stock setup on is a better bet since I'm not doing any crazy power mods.

I kind of figured the LR kit was excessive in a number of ways- I wish they sold a stock-sized option. I like the idea of just putting a new system on so I don't have to worry about it again for the foreseeable future, and I've been impressed with LR when I've done business with them in the past, but I'm not a huge fan of paying a bunch of money that I don't have to for something that's not really an improvement overall.

Anyone know of someone in CO that might have a leftover stock setup? Finding stuff like that is always a bit of a pain, since none of the salvage yards seem to have any 944s at all, and Craigslist just has some one-off parts listings... If nothing else I'll just plan to hit the next Cars & Coffee near me and ask around, I guess.

That all said, I probably wouldn't mind the noise from an aftermarket setup considering how much has to be coming out from around the front of the muffler where the weld failed...

MistaX

I have the full Bursch exhaust on my '84. Header, test pipe (no cat), and their Dynomax muffler. Full kit runs about $750. Bolt on & go, no real effort.
It's not THAT loud until you floor it, and it's not rice-fartcan-sounding.

It looks like it'll have some longevity issues though, I've had mine for two years and it's showing some rust already.