mikeearly

Since the valved exhaust are now available on the Soup PP website, I am going to assume that I am not pre-announcing their availability.

As many of you may have seen earlier, I was debating whether I should take the step of replacing a perfectly good PSE system on my 2013 Cab S. As I was leaning that way already, those of you that commented on the post gave me the final push over the edge and I got in contact with Soul PP and spoke to John Gaydos. (I guess I should add that over my 60 years of driving I have replaced quite a few exhaust components – but never the entire system before – and never at anywhere near the cost of what this was going to be. In terms of Porsche cars, I did a cat-back on my 2006 Cayman S and my 2013 Boxster S – both of which were nice but both had a bit of an irritable resonance problem. And, shortly after I picked this car up, I had the dealer add PSE and liked the sound but it really wasn’t quite enough.)

John was a quite knowledgeable and answered all of my questions. Since the general opinion from a lot of folks was that Soul made a very good product, I signed up for the new Long tube headers with the hi-flow 200 cell cats and the new valved exhaust. I really liked the fact that their valved exhaust used the most efficient flow when the valves were open. I was also hopeful that their Helmholtz tubes would improve the sound and help reduce the tendency to “drone”.

My primary purpose in the whole endeavor was to pick up an improved exhaust note – deeper, louder of course, a bit of a rumble, and just more in line with the performance aspect of the flat six engine. Of course, I was also hoping for some performance gains but that was not the main focus of my quest.

Before I get to the actual install I’ll jump to the “end” and just say that I absolutely LOVE the result of the change. The sound is everything I hoped it would be and then some. With the valves closed it is just a bit deeper sounding than the PSE and NO “drone” – just like the PSE. With the valves open it sounds like a beast! I was freaking awesome when I opened the valves and dropped to 4th gear at 60 in the Baltimore Tunnel! I THINK it is a bit more responsive, but as most of you know the 3.8 S is pretty darn responsive “out of the box” – so I would be hard-pressed to prove any significant difference on the 300-mile drive home on I-95.

Now back to the installation.....

I got to Soul PP at a little before 7am on Tuesday, March 26th and the place was hopping. Lots of grinding, welding, measuring and polishing going on – everyone looked like they were enjoying what they were doing and I knew that I had come to the right place.





They quickly checked in my car and got to work.




All of my new parts were carefully lined up waiting for me to get there.




Got the car on the lift and started the process of removing the existing system.






Sorry about the focus on the last one.....

For some reason Porsche has reduced the size of the outlet on one side of the dual tip and we decided to take it out to provide about another inch diameter to the opening.




The installation of the new headers and the new valved exhaust was quickly accomplished…









Soul PP was in the process of creating a new chromed dual wall, dual tip for this application and the timing worked out that they were installed (temporarily) on my car to make sure they would work and for some photo work. I really liked the look but John said they had not even figured out what their cost was, so he had no idea on selling price. I really liked the way they looked – but totally torn between the chrome or a possible matte black.





I have to say that everyone I met at Soul PP was fantastic. John and the rest of the team are definitely “performance car people” that have an enthusiasm for what they are doing and are totally professional in every aspect of their work. The attention to detail in the product, the thought process that went into it, the care and efficiency of the installation were all fantastic to see and experience. Obviously, I am a fan of Soul PP at this point.

Some random thoughts about the system on the drive home:
· It was really hard not to stomp on the gas so I could hear the great sound
· It was slightly louder / deeper than PSE with the valves closed at normal (meaning social accepted) driving speeds / acceleration but not “bad” and -as I said earlier – no drone
· At freeway speed, with the valves open and not on cruise control it seemed fine – more gas, more noise – just what I would expect
· With valves open, at 2,000 rpm (75mph) and on cruise control the resonance does start to get a bit noticeable – it seemed that the cruise control managing the acceleration made it worse – it was easy to fix – just close the valves and everything was the same as it was before the conversion
· Bottom line – basically the same as PSE with valves closed … and way – way – way better than PSE with the valves open

In terms of the new long tube high flow headers over the stock headers:
· I know that the headers helped the sound quality a lot
· On the drive home on the freeway driving at socially acceptable speeds / acceleration, I can’t unequivocally say that I noticed a big difference in performance – the car always seemed quite quick to me “out of the box” – especially with the Softronic tune – and while I accept the fact that the headers may have increased the hp, I just could not tell that there was a big improvement

· Driving on some back roads around town where I could ignore social norms and let the car “stretch it legs”, it sure seems like it has a lot more acceleration in the mid and upper rpm range – I guess there is a slight chance that is just due to the awesome sound and that is influencing my sense of speed – for whatever reason it sure seems a lot more responsive running it at max shift points.

Whether or not I gained any hp out of this is certainly open – especially since my efforts to document a before and after on the dyno was a cluster you know what. However, I can definitely say that the “sounds” are exactly what I was looking for (actually a bit better than I had hoped), so that makes the whole endeavor totally worthwhile from my point of view.

I have always loved the responsiveness of this NA flat 6 3.8 and now I have the same feelings about the aural symphony that goes with the performance.

NJ991

Great write up and feedback. I’ve been researching exhausts and I do like the SOUL system. Seems to have it all.

AdamSanta85

Awesome. One question and this comes from bad experience with QTP exhaust valves. Do you know what brand the valves in the Soul exhaust are? That is one of my concerns with an aftermarket valved exhaust, valve failure.

Papa Fittig

Nicely done, congrats. Great pics and thanks for sharing all the process details.

Soul Performance

Thank you for the WONDERFUL writeup and feedback Mike! It was a pleasure to have you here and we are thrilled to have you join the SOUL community

I appreciate the kind words : ) We have released our full development thread on the Valved Exhaust System as well. Here is a link if you'd like to take a look at the process.

This is proprietary and not something we would have told Mike, nor would we make that public. That said I will say they are not QTP. We have done a lot of research on valves, how they fail, and the most efficient solution for a customer service resolution if they do fail. Based on the information we have found, we decided to use valves that have valve adjustment and replaceable diaphrams. This is something I specifically ensured we incorporated due to numerous Porsche OEM valve failures that could Not be resolved in an efficient and timely manner as the OEM valve design is not serviceable. On an OEM valve if there is an issue it needs to be cut out and replaced, or the entire exhaust component replaced with a new valve included. With our valves we have the ability to efficiently resolve most every customer service scenario regarding valve failure in a timely manner without removing the valves from the car. I don’t ever expect you to have to take advantage of that, which is why our valves (along with the entire exhaust component) is covered under our lifetime warranty, including track use. It is one extra step we’ve taken to do the best we can for our customers. We also have not had a single valve failure in our history across our entire product line

Best regards,
John Gaydos

AdamSanta85

Thanks for the explanation. That was my concern..., valve starts rattling/leaking/fails, exhaust needs to come off, needs to be sent to you to fix, reinstall, yadda yadda. Good to hear you have measures in place to rectify issues.

Thanks
Adam

garfunkle

That looks really nice! It looks like the header tubes are nice and tucked up in there. I saw a review of the race headers that didn't. These look like a huge step up in quality and fitment compared to what I remember reading and seeing pics of on here.

idrachman

Must say, didn't expect as much umph about 4K as I'm getting. No longer flat, car just keeps accelerating. What a great sound, deeper on low end, backfires sound great, with sport exhaust on, even better. Quieter above 4K with sport exhaust off. Surprising.
Hand welded, plug and play fitting (except for one bolt on the right side header that was a tough to get to and tighten) quality product that also looks great. Great job SOUL! A very happy customer, my grin is ear to ear when I accelerate onto a highway!




just installed, before clean-up and WD40

impressive out of the box fit. no adjustments needed.


Makes me think about replacing crappy looking sport exhaust, hmmmm. Some nice cars here too!

2010panny4S

Nice write-up Mike, I'm still struggling to figure out when my 1st big purchase will be for my 2014 991.1S. Be it full exhaust, suspension or wheels. This helps me a bit if I do go with the exhaust route. Being in California with the uber-tough emission cops is the only thing that makes me pause of this option of an upgrade.

HkPlinker

So,idrachman, you installed the headers with the 200 cats and left the rest factory? I'm looking for a little more noise (in PSE only) and trying to stay at a lower cost.

NJ991

Great write up. I just pulled the trigger on the SOUL headers/cats, to mate up to sport exhaust. Wanted the benefits of extra power and slight exhaust note enhancement.

NJ991

FYI, call John Gaydos at SOUL, what you want is what I was looking for. So I pulled the trigger on this too. I will have dynos of this upgrade as well.

Soul Performance

Let me know if you';d like to chat a bit more in depth on the exhaust/suspension/wheels. I know the cars quite well and would be happy to give you some recommendations and help you make an educated decision, regardless of whether or not that ends up with our exhaust setup being your 1st big purchase

Sport Headers sounds like the right move for you. That said, I shot you over a PM so we can chat about it a bit more in depth : )

Thanks Eran I appreciate that. Looking forward to meeting you!

HkPlinker

PLEASE share pre and post header install! I'm getting excited . . .

NJ991

I certainly will. I’m not expecting big numbers. I am looking to enhance the exhaust note, without it being overwhelming, and to make some power across the powerband.