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About the same as shown in the Pelican pictures, I didn't take any before shots. Looked more like paint over spray than accumulated gunk. It was enough, however, to conceal that mirror-polished middle section, hard to imagine cleaning it will make any performance difference, can't hurt though.
The surface of the throttle valve isn't too important from a cleanliness perspective. The important part is where the valve meets the walls when closed. If it gets too gunky, it can stick and make the car behave weird, or in extreme circumstances fry the stepper motor.
Don't ceramic coat it. For one, I don't think it's a good idea with titanium from a longevity standpoint. Two, you're covering the awesomeness of the titanium. And three, it won't provide any real benefit. If you're worried about heat, put some reflective foil under the bumper.
I will most certainly do the cats, hot cats are good and efficient cats, but I have reached out to a materials friend of mine to get some feedback on the material itself - I would also keep the tips clean - I like the tips.
The only reason I have done this is due to the over exuberance of the Vancouver City Police and their newly developed 'sound evaluating' and 'mechanical observation' skill set. The turbo was pretty loud, louder than the STI that I just recently got a Vehicle Inspection ticket in. What bothered me was the length the cop went to to issue the ticket - climbed under the car and took pictures - so part of my thinking is that if the exhaust is black, and not shiny ti, it will be harder for them to argue it wasn't stock.
It is very 'gray' - there is a noise limit - 89DB - and there is a section that states you cannot 'remove' the muffler. So what is happening is that our friends in Blue are saying things like 'one muffler was removed and replaced with a non OEM muffler'. My problem with this observation based analysis is that how would they know one from another? Or, how would they know if it was a dealer installed option? Or a special edition? If they're mechanics, why are they posing as police? It goes on.
So, there are some very subjective statements coming from officers that have no quantifiable data to back them, so folks like me (and just about every person that has an 'active exhaust valve') are being forced to spend dollars to defend ourselves against the tyranny.
I have calculated what I have spent dealing with this issue on my Subaru and drew the conclusion that if I could put a muffler on the turbo for equal to, or less than my accumulated and anticipated costs on fighting this on that car, this was a good financial investment. Plus, it is so light I cannot really believe it.
There is a deep seated need in my body to fight these types of oppressive, on the spot judgements - I have already had the car inspected and as I suspected, there was zero issue with the noise and everything else that was 'modified', passed.
I do not need to go through this with the turbo as well, especially now.
Don't ceramic coat it. For one, I don't think it's a good idea with titanium from a longevity standpoint. Two, you're covering the awesomeness of the titanium. And three, it won't provide any real benefit. If you're worried about heat, put some reflective foil under the bumper.
The only reason I have done this is due to the over exuberance of the Vancouver City Police and their newly developed 'sound evaluating' and 'mechanical observation' skill set. The turbo was pretty loud, louder than the STI that I just recently got a Vehicle Inspection ticket in. What bothered me was the length the cop went to to issue the ticket - climbed under the car and took pictures - so part of my thinking is that if the exhaust is black, and not shiny ti, it will be harder for them to argue it wasn't stock.
cops can easily google 996tt underbody and know your car has an afm exhaust.
04-14-2020, 01:51 PM
