Installed mine about 4-5 months ago. Did not remove the bumper.
Was harder than expected. I have a 4 post lift with a rolling bridge jack. So much better than a ground install. And it still sucked.
Like anything, after doing it once, would be much quicker the 2nd or 3rd time. But I hope to never do again....

1. Heat shield removal was a B. Removing wheels made it better, but still blindly searching for the bolts holding the heat shields.
2. O2 sensor removal was a B. Limited space for a wrench. Wires has to be twisted.
3. Only one person, so removing PSE, was challenging. Its not "heavy" but its not light, and its awkward. And this is where bumper removal would have helped, as limited space for removal.
and in reverse...
4. Installing PSE was challenging, lining up the studs, with limited space.
5. O2 sensor installation was challenging.
6. Heat shield installation was better, because I knew where the bolts went...but still blindly trying to tighten, while also fighting gravity, keeping the bolt on the torx bit.

I would have paid $500 to have it installed.


Sounds great.
No drone for me.
No fumes noticed at all, while in the car. Can't attest to the cars behind me...
But had a Lotus Elise that was cat free, and it def smelled, inside a touch, and def cars behind. Hi-flow cats do not even compare to cat free.

 

Yes I am a newbie to all of this, and I do not understand the difference between doing sport cats vs catless.

Catless is much louder? But you get smells? Are they strong and a nuisance? And inside the cabin?

 

Thanks Bigworm. Prob somewhere in the middle, so that is my concern with the sport cats..that I will move fwd and regret. Will I guess have to work on finding somewhere to check them out in person one day. As everything I have read, they sound great. But I wanted to know more than just that, and specifically inside the cabin..which you have greatly addressed for me (merci!) and that is my worry that I won't find them much. But then your next post of course makes me think, well maybe that is all I would want, and not go past so far that it becomes obnoxious LOL. Your clip is really really good. Might you have any more from that cam where you were driving and then pushed the pedal down hard? Inside videos are more difficult to find of course of the Sport Cats.

 

Cats are like cotton ***** in a straw. They clog up the exhaust line for smog.

Stock ones are 400 cell. So think huge cottonball inside a straw.

Sport cats are typically 200 cell. So think very small cotton ball in the straw.

Cat-less is straight pipe. So no cotton ball like filter. This makes the most power. At the expense of smell and now needing a tune to remove the CEL you will get if you go this route.

In this example, the cotton ball is what filters out the smog smells. With sport cats, you might get a very faint whiff of exhaust on cold start. Its nothing to panic about. Its slight. When you go cat-less, you WILL SMELL like a top fuel dragster. Or close to it.

Removing cats causes a CEL "check engine light" unless you tune that out with a tuner. But this yields the most power. And changes the sound to what I think is much more raspy.

Sport cats are plug in and play. NO CEL. No issues. More sound. More power.

I suspect you will be thrilled with the soul sport cats. I have not heard one person complain they are not worth it. Not one. And my friends and family noticed how much deeper mine idles so I think its safe to say there is a notable difference. And no, I dont work for them. I just like the product. It really speaks for itself.

 

I'd frame this post to show people how amazing this forum is :-) Wasn't expecting a response and then I get what might be the best explanation I could ever imagine on this! Thank you! I did not realize the emissions were that bad, now I realize why I read 100 posts on catless and California guys mentioning trying to pass them. I also did not realize a straight pipe causes a CEL. That also now makes much more sense, and why I see that Sport Cats are the middle ground and why people would consider this more often. I like the top fuel dragster comment, I almost laughed out my delicious ginger beef lunch today at my desk LOL. Again, did not realize the smell would be THAT noticeable.

Thanks for that, it greatly helps in my decision.

 

Let me put it this way. The car is going to sound deeper. MEaner. Slightly louder across the board. Somewhere between 10-15% louder in my opinion. The pops now are as loud as I would want them. EVERYONE hears them now. This is where its at for those with PSE who want more sound and NEW ones too.

PM me your email or smartphone number and I will try and make a clip today that I will link you to.

 

I was in a similar situation to you. I listened to the videos on-line and it was very hard to tell the differences in sound between PSE and PSE w/sport CATS. I said what the hell and went with it. I ordered fro Soul. Soul is an awesome company with outstanding customer service. I had mine installed at the local P-dealer. It will be very hard for you to find a video that captures what they actually sound like in real life. I feel like the stock PSE does a very good job but its about 85% of the way there. Soul Cats add a moderate amount of volume from inside the car which is just about right. The car is loud from the outside. The burble pops and cracks are MUCH louder in sport mode. Sport plus sounds amazing and as BIGWORM mentioned there is no longer that drone on decel in sport plus (which you may or may not like). Another big difference which doesn't translate well in video is the turbo whistle. There is a LOT more turbo whistle. I think it sounds really cool, you may not. It seems like the car is a tiny bit faster (could be placebo). The catless videos on souls website sound a little bit more like what the sport cats sound like in real life. It also keeps the exhaust sounding OEM. I think thats how PSE should sound from the factory. I would be shocked if you were disappointing with the sport cats. There was a thread awhile back about sharkwerks x pipe plus soul cats and a lot of people found that to be a little too loud or drony.

 

My car is a base 991.2 non-pse, just installed the soul sport cats + muffler bypass pipes a couple days ago and the car sounds amazing.
I'm sure the cats with your pse exhaust will be comparable to mine in terms of sound tone and loudness.
Go for it you wont be disappointed.

My friends own loud NA cars and they were impressed, the turbo noises and pops make the driving experience so much better.

The hardest part of the install for me was removing the o2 sensors, I had such a difficult time that i ended up lowering the cats and muffler onto jacks with some of the sensors still on,
lowering them onto the stands allowed for more clearance, I was able to use a larger wrench to remove them.

 

I have a set on order, but they are not here yet. I wanted to ask if the consensus regarding the removal and re-install of the O2 sensors is to just carefully twist the O2 wires up as you remove the sensors instead of locating all 4 electrical connectors so they can be disconnected without twisting the wires? I am concerned this may cause some type of damage in the short or long run if I just wind them up. Does SOUL recommend one method over the other? Thanks.

 

Paying for mine today

 

I twisted them out and then twisted them the other way prior to re-install so that the end result was the sensors installed and no strain or twisting on the wires.
They are pretty sturdy and well insulated and there is a decent amount of slack. No CEL and i've been driving around for about a week, I guess there are many ways of doing the install, locating where the sensors terminate and disconnecting them might be an option,
Soul's install guide doesn't include this method.

 

Finish the look of the Soul Sport Cats with Souls'



Thin walled 4" Logo optional.
Tips.
Mike hooked up the install at their shop which is 30 minutes from home.
Thanks Mike!

 

THE SMELL??? indoor or outdoor??

 

Zero smell. Just highly improved sound.

 

OK thank's by France