fpb111

Michael,
Total bummer... is your car the Targa in your avatar?

Food for thought; I put a Borla on a modified 1972 coupe that I had. The drone was painful between 2500 and 3500. I took it off and sold it to one of my friends, yes he had ridden in my car with the Borla on and still wanted it. He put it on his 72 targa and it still droned but it was not objectionable in the targa. The targa did not have the painful resonating boom inside the passenger compartment that the coupe had.
Your car may sound different then a coupe with the same exhaust modifications.

medtech

"FisterD" has done the PSE hack to Fabspeed mufflers as well. PM him for his thoughts on whether or not this might "improve" your problem.

Personally, the soundclip on the web that he has sounds pretty sweet to me, but I like them rumbly and aggressive.

Jim Griffin

I have the Fabspeed muffler on my 04 C4S Cab Tip and I don't mind the sound at all at all speeds. Again I usually never drive in 5th gear and usually keep the RPMs in the 3-4000 range. However, when I put on the Fabspeed Cold air intake kit, did I mind the sound, it was way too loud. I do not think the PSE mod is a very difficult thing to do, it only requires a tube to be placed between the intake tube before the muffler to the out tube of the muffler. I know on RennTech.org there is a whole chat in the 996 section on modifying mufflers and it doesn't seem that hard to do,that any good muffler shop with a good welder could do. I would call the owner of Fabspeed and explain your situtation and your displeasure with their product to see about a return. I found him really nice and informative and he is highly recommended by the PCA Tech experts.

Mathemagician

FWIW, I absolutely love the AWE exhaust on my cab. One of my favorite pastimes is dropping the top then dropping the hammer alongside one of the numerous walls of rock that line our windy mountain roads. There is some drone around 2500, but nothing like what you describe. Sorry to hear that you had an unsatisfactory experience!

ShaneSaw

I drove a friend's 2007 GT3 for about 4 days. It had the magic PSE button & i had never heard such a sweet sound. Speeding up, slowing down, idle..... it was all perfect. And you could turn it off around the neighbors! 2 months later i bought a 2000 C2, no magic button. Sweet car, but no magic button. I researched the hacks and 2 weeks later i dropped the cans and took them & $200 to a good welder along with full page pics of what i wanted. Put them back on and got ready to be dissapointed. And thats exactly what happened next. Looking back, i think i found the wrong method and perfectly replicated it. This is the one where the capped off area on the corner of the can is opened up and a 2.5" pipe connect the new hole to the existing exhaust pipe, drawing the exhaust from 2 locations. If you want to hear the car exhale, DONT DO THIS! It looks like the factory pse connects the intake & exhaust pipes with a much smaller diameter pipe. I would also recommend to keep the length the same as the factory guys who figured this out. Changing the length could change the phasing of the exhaust pulse and actually cancel out more audio. I was bummed out enough to sell it afterward but a 130 mph sprint made me feel better. At least it will still do that.

Those 4 days & nights of GT3 borrowship may have been the worst thing to ever happen to my 996....

Steven B

Michael, sorry to hear of your bad experience.

+996 on the Fister Mod to my stock mufflers. Absolutely NO drone at any speed but a beautiful, smooth, full bark on accelleration. Probably the best mod for the money for our cars.

iJeremy

It appears you've done your research before settling on the Fabspeed system, which should say quite a bit as to how many people are satisfied with this exhaust setup. I am currently running their system on my own car, and while exhaust sound, drone, resonance etc etc etc... is ALL relative, my personal opinion is that this system is one of the best around. I've installed/driven all the major exhaust manufacturers out there, i.e. cargraphic, miltek, tubi, techart, etc... And the deeper Fabspeed sound was what sealed the deal for me when it came to my own car. The 'drone' is certainly no worse on these cans than any others I've heard and in my opinion its quite quiet in the cab - To the O.P., I don't want you to get the impression I'm telling you you're wrong, simply sharing my experience with the Fabspeed system for others to take into consideration as well. The more informed postings the better.

On another note, is it even slightly possible a gasket got bent or theres an air leak somewhere in the system? - I know its a long shot but I've seen it happen and if any air is escaping before actually reaching the cans it can cause a headache quick. Whatever the situation I hope you find a happy result and thanks for sharing.

ivangene

(1) I am not sure what Hack you did but it is possable you hacked the wrong cans? Were the cans 3.4 or 3.6? I did the hack you stated above on 3.6 cans and it is wonderful.

(2) what?

(3) Not to me - looks like the real PSE connects the 2nd chamber to the outlet with a large pipe, not as you suggest (small pipe between inlet and outlet)


(4) yea I bet !!

Michael Gibney

Thanks for the comments -- ALL helpful because they confirm what I suspected --

first -- being that exhaust systems are a "subjective thing" and there are plenty that say the Fabspeeds are ok, but for me they are a PITA at the speed I mostly have to travel, and --

second -- that I should have actually listened to a set first.

In hindsight I ask myself -- would I redecorate a whole house from a 3 inch color chip at the paint store? No way -- so why did I do the automotive equivalent? Who knows -- perhaps I was just excited at the first mod on the 996. My previous car -- a 964 -- was modified on day one and 6 years later I was still at it -- once it was off the road for almost a year "just to do a few improvements" .

Fitzgerald Racing promptly answered my "complaint" email and he was helpful and he will speak to Fabspeed forme but that may not get me anywhere -- anyway we will see.

The best thing for me to do is to wait a while and see what happens -- give them a go and keep an open mind -- also I will get to Melbourne sometime soon and will take Peter Fitzgerald for a ride -- although I have not known him long he comes across as a straight shooter so I will listen to his opinion when it is "droning" (wow -- sounds like I'm inflexible -- we will have to see).

And -- if it is still a problem for me (and the wife) I have two mufflers to try the PSE mod on and will have two "as new" Fabspeeds to sell -- could be worse --as they say -- "hope springs eternal in the heart of a used 996 owner"

To fpb111 -- yes it's my targa -- sitting in the lot the day I took delivery.

To medtech -- I will do a search or PM "fisterD"

10 GT3

I have Fabspeeds on my 996 and the only time I ever notice any drone is under light acceleration at lower rpms (<3000). Once I level my speed, they just quiet up. You may want to check your gaskets to make sure you don't have any leaks. I have copper Fabspeed gaskets on my car and that really seals it up.

bobtme

Sorry you had such a bad experiance....

I too put on mufflers and did research and talked to several people that had lots of experiance with muffler installs. At the end I decided against Fab Speed because of the feed back I got.

What I did get was Tubi Style mufflers and I got to tell you I LOVE THEM ! I have a cab so I hear them when I want and they're quiet when I want.

Probably cost 1/2 again as much as the Fabs Speed but you know the saying.

Sell your Fab Speed on e-bay and get some TUBA

jrgordonsenior

Michael I experienced the same problem on my 997S over 3 years ago when I installed the Fabspeeds. I installed a 1-1/2 inch pipe between the intake and exhaust just before the muffler and it transformed the Fabspeeds. Now I get that deep rumble at idle, absolutely no resonance at any RPM, and at WOT the car sounds magnificant. It's a simple/inexpensive solution and you'll love your Fabspeeds....

ivangene

hey -
dont mufflers sort of "break in" after a month or so ?

maybe the problem will go away / change after they have some miles on them ? (just food for thought)

chsu74

All of our exhaust system breaks in after a while. I noticed that my headers and muffler combo with ECU flash sound much louder than before. I have about 1,000 miles on the current setup. Its very agressive now where I don't think 200 cell Cats would be a good thing...

ivangene

not a good thing as in... the volume would be too loud for street ? - so Yes they do change after 1000 miles...

might want to run the fabspeeds and see if they come around ??