NashVegas 944

New to forum, 1st post, and new 1986 na 944 owner. Basically, a complete newbie ;-) The stock cat and exhaust on the car I bought are both shot, and I'm having a real hard time finding stock replacements. When I say 'stock', I'd like to keep the stock sound so not really looking for loud Magnaflow, Borla, or Dansk mufflers. My local muffler shop said he doesn't carry anything for it. I'm certainly not opposed to the brands I listed if they have more tame options, but all of the YouTube videos posted for them are pretty loud, and owners say they grow weary of the drone sound during highway use. Any recommendations out there?
Thanks in advance!
Richard

brooklyn944

Welcome to the club! I'm actually in the same club as you & I'd love to see what options are out there for stock-like replacements. There are a few options shown on RockAuto for cats and an ANSA PR1447 for a muffler.

ElRicardo

One possibility is to get a good condition used exhaust system. There are quite a few out there. It depends on what you states requirements are for cats. Here in Iowa there is no testing.

Dan Martinic

I agree that mid-range drone is annoying--esp. on the highway. My stock turbo exhaust always had a little 110-120km/h drone. However, I was quite surprised when my original turbo muffler finally went (or that it rotted at all--it's a dramatically heavy unit!): the replacement Magnaflow "straight-through" design (like the original turbo muffler) didn't have that drone like my original did.

The Magnaflow is a bit louder at idle or low rpm, but not by a lot. I doubt you can get stock-quiet with modern mufflers--none that I've seen yet are as heavy as stock. However, since that drone is gone, I'm quite relieved and given the choice, I'll take no-drone over a slight increase in low-speed volume any day.

Note that I run the stock cat which appears to be a resonator + cat in one. European cars seem to have had a resonator-only instead of cat

I wonder if a "straight-through" turbo-style muffler would work on an NA. If so, I recommend considering one.

EDIT: On second thought, turbos apparently muffle exhaust quite a bit, so my guess is that a "straight-through" design would be too loud on an NA?

V2Rocket

where are you located?
lots of 944 used parts guys around the country that will pretty much give the muffler away.

NashVegas 944

Thanks guys. I will go ahead and try a new replacement cat, and try the Dansk muffler. My son and I are currently working on replacing the main crank seal, balance seal, water pump, timing belt etc etc. The muffler project will follow. I'll post some before an after video's with a Youtube link once we finish

NashVegas 944

The cat and muffler replacement is complete. The Davico catalytic converter (part #16050S) and Ansa muffler (part #PR1447) are a direct fit with no mods required for my 86 n/a. I did have to take it to a Midas muffler shop since I don’t weld, and the cat required welding to exhaust manifold down pipe. The muffler bolts right on. We definitely got a noticeable performance bump and I can only attribute that to the previous exhaust and cat being clogged pretty bad. We are very happy with the results.

brooklyn944

Nice! How is the sound? I might do exactly the same thing you did.

NashVegas 944

Before and after sound at the end Of the 1 min video

zuhdi944

I don't know how far you live from the east coast but I have a stock muffler I'm willing to sell for cheap. I'd give the mid pipe too but it has a leak in it.