rezilient

Hi all. I installed a preowned Fabspeed Supercup exhauat and Soul Performance Sport Headers on my 981 Boxster S. From the outside it sounds great - deep and bass-ey rumble and screams at redline. But inside the cabin is an unbelievable amount of drone. Like you get that head pounding thumping in your ears at certain frequencies. And after getting out of the car my head hurts and hearing is noticeably distorted.

One thing I’m wondering is if installing the exhaust tips might help at all (the seller didnt have the tips, so its just the bare pipe) and would certain tips help reduce the drone?

Any other ideas to reduce the drone aside from try a different setup?

See below for demonstration of how this setup sounds if anyone is wondering.

https://youtu.be/_b2_Ple1U74
https://youtu.be/_b2_Ple1U74

SQ13

Lol no, exhaust tips won’t help with the drone. Maybe add resonators to the setup, but that’s probably not going to eliminate it (or it might make it worse). The real solution is to get a different muffler.

rezilient

Ok. Wishful thinking that slightly changing the pipe length with tips could help. I wonder if the issue is combining two vendors instead of sticking with just Soul or Fabspeed. Hard to think anyone would be okay with this setup.

ICNU

It has nothing to do with two different vendors. The Supercup is a race exhaust with very little muffler, so almost straight pipes, so of course its going to be bonkers loud and drone! ALL AFTERMARKET EXHAUST on a Porsche will drone to some extent.

The factory PSE is the only exhaust that has low to zero drone, and it sounds fantastic as well, even if running aftermarket sport headers with the PSE

rezilient

I mean from an R&D perspective, you would think one vendor would fully test their headers and exhaust combo to reduce drone, as opposed to pairing with another vendor.

But understandable regarding the supercup exhaust, just by looking at it I knew it was going to be loud but its the drone that I can’t get used to.

SQ13

No it’s the fact that your muffler hardly has any muffler. Those little cans aren’t doing anything. Hence why it’s advertised as a race exhaust.

https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-981...xhaust-system/

SQ13

No. Again it’s a RACE exhaust. Made for racecars/track cars. Driven flat out at the racetrack. The goal of a race exhaust is to minimize weight and add power. Drone is not a concern for a car getting beat on at the track.

rr_gts

The issue is the Fabspeed Supercup race exhaust. They even explicitly put it in their product description - "This exhaust will deliver ripping sports car sound, at the cost of some interior drone."
The sport headers only exacerbate the issue (doesn't matter whether it's Soul, Fabspeed, or xyz).

Sell the Fabspeed Supercup race exhaust and swap it for a PSE. Thank me later.

nhnguy12

rezilient

lol okay that was funny, not even mad

rezilient

Someone local is selling the Fabspeed Maxflow exhaust. Anyone have experience running that with the Soul catted headers? Would it still drone or should it be noticeably better?

https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-981...xhaust-system/

@Fabspeed Motorsport ?

ICNU

I've had that exact exhaust on one of my previous P cars, and yes it still drones badly at certain RPMs. Its a deeper bass like tone compared to the the higher pitched Supercup sound. Again, PSE is all you should be looking at if drone is your #1 issue to resolve. And its the best sounding of them all!

rezilient

Thanks, this is very helpful. Thoughts about getting the Carnewall mod done to my stock base exhaust? My understanding is that it makes the exhaust sound like PSE in Sport mode full time. Does it free up any horsepower? I do feel a great performance bump with the headers + exhaust and dont want to lose that.

Natural1

The Carnewal is fantastic, but I wouldn't really call it a "performance upgrade". Also not sure whether your non-stock headers play any part in the drone equation. I'm sure others will chime in on that.
https://rennlist.com/forums/981-foru...ock-drone.html

Fabspeed Motorsport

If you're looking for the best of both worlds, I would go with our track-tec system. It has valved dump pipes, allowing you to get supercup level sound when you want it, but also our maxflo mufflers so you can quiet things down as needed.
https://www.fabspeed.com/porsche-981...xhaust-system/

Little to no drone when closed, and track level noise when open!