SpeedyD

2 inch I believe are louder but I could be wrong.

Should not sound like a "broken muffler" which in my mind is usually a booming sound. Should be raspy low and then open up as RPM go higher. I have 1.75 inch pipes on mine.

It isn't a quiet exhaust note and you will wake up the neighbors if you're in a quiet neighborhood... lots of cars would do the same. My car is pretty loud but I've heard many much louder cars, including louder 911s and certainly louder vipers, lambos, Ferraris and vettes. The exhaust note gets thumbs up from pedestrians and other drivers, so I don't think it is obnoxiously loud, but for some I'm sure it is.

Sounds like you need something a bit more tame?

MaciejPOL

I suppose I was not ready for it, but will give it few more days and see how it goes. The weather's been great the last couple of weeks so I've been cruising with the top down and you obviously hear it much better then...

Carmichael

My dad had an entire cat-back exhaust fabricated for his Subaru SVX back in the late 90s for $150.

Has inflation really doubled the price of exhaust fab? ... This is just a 90* piece of pipe we're talking about here!

It's a $200 job at the most, especially if you remove and install the mufflers yourself, which is the hardest part of the job.

SpeedyD

I get what you're saying.

But ~20 years time at 2%, while not doubling, is a 50% increase...

For the shops it is the cost of the labor and taking up space / time to do these sorts of projects. For me, it is the cost of the time and lack of equipment / space. I personally value having the "best" specialist or nearly the best, and so wouldn't trust just any shop. I also feel that even if an easy job, I could screw something up vs. someone who has done hundreds... so I value the specialist and will pay more. Now, a muffler shop that just does this as a hack, typically does charge much less. But if it were overpriced, other muffler shops would simply undercut the price and get the business... so there must be something behind the lower end range of the prices for these?

In the context of an expensive car, having the exhaust note "right" (according to my preference) and done in a way that will last, is worth the premium, at least to me. It works out to being a very small percentage of the overall cost of ownership but has a real impact on enjoyment. But different priorities and different abilities for different people, so I can see how it can be viewed as too much or too expensive.

ALEV8

My 997 C4 is arriving Tuesday. It has Fabspeed red intake on it and a Borla muffler system. Honestly the Gundo on the stock 911 mufflers sounds better to me IMHO and that shiny ceramic coat is snazzy! I've not looked but the Borla might be worth hacking.....I do have a full welding setup if Dallas guys want to come by drop the cans, and hack attack them. Just PM me.

Dokebi1221

Hey guys, I need your help! I own a 958 and none of the forum members here done Gundo Hack seems like on their 958. I did find one member on different site who did it on his 955 and the sound was very promising. That being said, would you guys do it if you guys had 958 since you guys had experienced on your 997? If "YES!" do you guys know any shop in Northern New Jersey?

Thanks in advance!

MuffinMan

I had my 997.1 gundo hack done by Mufflex in central NJ. The shop isn't much to look at from the outside, but they have a great reputation and do good work. When I called about the gundo mod, they knew exactly what I was talking about. This was 1.5 years ago, and I believe they charged me $300.

Unfortunately, I can't help you on the 958, but the owner of Mufflex is a Porsche guy and he may have some insight if you give him a ring.

Dokebi1221

Thank you MuffinMan! Exact info I needed! By the way, did you go with 2" stainless pipes?

MuffinMan

I went 2" and was concerned that it would be too loud, but am very happy with it. As everyone says, it's very mild when off the throttle (or at steady throttle/easy acceleration) and has a completely different personality when on throttle.

Dokebi1221

I'm going to do it without telling my boss. (Wife) Bad idea? Haha

MuffinMan

You're probably taking your life in your hands, but it's your call

ALEV8

New PTX and a numeric shifter hasn't solved my 1-2.

Ducati_John

Not sure if anyone will be interested in this, but I did a 2" gundo hack on my 997.2 4S recently and recorded the output before and after. It already had a Sharkwerks bypass, so that is included before and after. I only recorded in my driveway in neutral, so throttle opening is minimal. Still interesting - it looks like it only makes it a few dB louder with C-weighting, but it attenuates about 20dB less between 150Hz and 600Hz than the stock exhaust. That's a lot more output and makes it sound much raspier. It actually reduces output in the 50-100Hz range, although that doesn't show up in the transfer function, I think due to me not getting the rpm exactly the same in both sets of measurements and the peaks not lining up when I divide one by the other. Below 50Hz, it seems to let a little more sound through as well which really only comes in to play at idle. At idle, the highest output is at 34Hz, and the level goes up about 6dB from 82dB to 88dB.

I posted a sound clip as well. The levels are calibrated and everything is correct relative to all the other clips in the file (before and after the bypass). The sequence is:
idle before bypass
idle after bypass
1800 rpm before bypass
1800 rpm after bypass
3000 rpm before bypass
3000 rpm after bypass
5000 rpm before bypass
5000 rpm after bypass

I also included a few shots of doing the bypass - I'm still not the best stainless welder, but they turned out decently and had nice smooth beads inside due to purging with argon.

Schnell 911

First Class! Conscious of thy neighbor, good on ya!

charha01

Anyone know of a place in the Seattle area that does this type of work?