polobai

Hi team,

Wanted to take a moment to leave my impressions about the Soul cat bypass's that I installed last week. Overall, dealing with John and the Soul team was great-from ordering, to shipping and packaging, everything exceeded my expectations! The product itself is well constructed and I liked that it had brackets built in for the OEM heatshields. Definitely lighter than the stock cats (I want to say around 8 lbs less each but dont quote me) and it really makes those turbos whistle! Install was smooth overall and Soul's instructions online were spot on. The hardest part for me was the removal of the OEM heatshields-there is one bolt on each side that is a royal pain in the ***-by far removing these took the most time out of the entire project. Thankfully I have a lift and was able to get access to make it that much easier. The rear bumper does not need to come off-however it is a tight squeeze to get the OEM PSE and cats out in one piece. I had to have someone help lower the OEM unit down from the car after it was unbolted as it was too bulky for me to handle by myself. Overall I am happy with them and like the way the car sounds with the valves closed (barely louder than stock but definitely more turbo noise). Honestly with the valves open, the car sounds like a Turbo Diesel truck with big pipes-not bad but not the sound I would like all the time. While the OEM PSE muffler was out, I took some time to polish it up as it is Stainless steel-came out pretty good and like the way it looks (I know it wont stay that way for long). I also replaced the rusty bolts and nuts on the factory clamps with stainless steel units (5/16 by 1.5 inch long carriage bolts with corresponding nuts and lock washers). One of the OEM bolts actually snapped off when i was loosening one of the clamps! I picked the bolts up at my local hardware store (Home depot only had 2 inch long carriage bolts, so I had to cut them to 1.5 inches). Lowes has 1.5 inch carriage bolts in the event anyone else needs them. Shameless plug to Soul-it would be icing on the cake if you guys were able to include these bolts for future customers-even if there was a small fee. This way, if you are in the middle of the install and snap a bolt, you dont have to run out to grab. There was a fitment issue with one of my OEM clamps where it would not tighten down enough and caused a small leak on one of the smaller bypass pipes-no fault of the Soul product, but they were helpful in helping to find a solution (i ended up using muffler paste to seal it-so far so good). Now onto the pics and vids!

polobai

Oem unit removed

Halfway polished up using flitz polish and drill attachment.

wareaglescott

I also recently completed installing a SOUL system and will 2nd your sentiments on the team members. They are great to work with.
I think that 4th bolt on the heat shield was definitely the worst part of the job! haha Did you take your rear wheels off? I also was on a lift but found coming in through the wheels wells made that bolt easier to access.

Any chance you can post a sound clip? Would love to hear it.

polobai

Ready to install!

Cleaned and factory cat removed (hint-loosen the smaller clamps on both sides then twist to one side. From there you can rotate the cats and twist them out). I got them out by hitting with a rubber mallet-I figured out the right way afterwards.

polobai

Yes, clips coming in a bit-I didn’t pull my wheels off but it would have made it easier. For me since I have a 4 post lift it’s a bit more work to pull the wheels so I tried it without it.

polobai

Both sides on. I reused my oem gaskets and coated in copper spray. My gaskets got pretty bent removing the factory cars but I was able to straighten them back out.

Mounted into place (I was able to do this myself without help)

Pic of the bolts I replaced. Unfortunately I couldnt find a replacement for the larger bolt on the big pipe.

Both bolts replaced

Drivers side

polobai

Here’s where my leak was from-about a 1mm gap between the smaller pipe and clamp on the drivers side. All others were fine and didn’t leak. The clamp must have been deformed in some way.

Another pic

polobai

What I used to fix.

Applied per directions and the leak was sealed!

Different angle

wareaglescott

Cool thanks! Love all the pictures and documentation.
(not related to this thread but I also have 4 post and one of those rolling pneumatic jacks that slides between the parking ramps. It makes life really easy if you have ever considered getting one I highly recommend)

polobai

Vids!

polobai

Walk around with car idling/valves open

Soul Performance

Thank you for the review and sharing the process with everyone! I'm working on building add-on functionality onto the site and one of the options will be a new OEM bolt / gasket set for parts outside of our exhaust - like the clamps you mentioned. I discussed the possibility of 3D printing a tool / fixture to make accessing / locating / installing the difficult turbo shield bolts with the R&D team but we can't see a clear way to make it easier without...making it more difficult in the process to access them. Next time a 991.2 comes through we will evaluate it further to see if we can make some ground there.

Here's to many miles of enjoyment!

-Mike

polobai

Thanks-I have thought about it but the one for my lift (Bendpak HD series) sits too high on the rails and wont clear my other car (I have a VERY low e30 m3)...I have two 4x6 peices of lumber that I cut to size and fit in between the rails that I use as a jacking point-hopefully one day they will make a rolling jack that sits flush with the rails for my lift.

polobai

Just saw your install video and noticed you have a bendpak lift also-here’s a shot of my setup where you can see how low my car is on top that would prevent me from using the rolling jack.

wareaglescott

Car sounds great. Nice work!
My Cobra has a 4" ride height and clears the rolling jack. I also have some race ramps that are super easy to incorporate but not needed for the Cobra.
What is the height from the bottom of your front on the BMW to the ground?

High point of the jack when fully lowered is right at 3"