My New Exhasut System Courtesy of Kenny McNeil (McNeil Competition)
03-19-2014, 09:31 PM
#1
Agent Orange
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My New Exhasut System Courtesy of Kenny McNeil (McNeil Competition)
I posted a little snippet of my new exhaust in this thread but I wanted to create a new one for those who haven't seen it.
I've been thinking about a more manly exhaust sound from my car since the day I bought it. This is my first water-cooled Porsche and I guess I got spoiled by my 964s and 993s in the sound department.
My goal was to find a system that sounds good without compromising drivability of the car. A few extra ponies would be nice but "ultimate power" is not what I'm after. I've owned the car for a year now and it still feels as fast as the first day I drove it in anger.
What I definitely didn't want was drone. I hate it and will not tolerate it. Ruins the whole experience for me.
I've been looking around at the usual suspects but the options out there either carry an astronomical price tag, or you have to settle for something that is not quite the system I was after. Regarding price, let me say that it’s not the aftermarket manufacturers’ fault the prices are so high. We are not paying the “turbo tax” for these exhausts. Porsche engineered it as one-piece system from the turbos to the tips and there is no going around it.
A set of good 200 cell cats is in the $1300-1500 range, let alone the rest of the parts and labor.
So I stumbled upon Kenny McNeil who knows Porsche exhaust systems inside and out. He’s worked with the likes of Andial and many other reputable tuning shops over the years. He and I started talking and here is the end result:
I don’t profess to know a lot about exhaust systems or fabrication work but the shop that installed it (Tyrol Sport) and the shop that did the dyno (Enzo Racing) were both impressed with the design and build quality.
I also decided to put a set of Fabspeed dual tips that I had powder coated flat black to complete the look.
My first impressions after the car was first fired up were that the new exhaust had a much deeper rumble. At first I thought it was a lot louder but came to realize that it was the pitch not the volume that made it feel big, so to speak. There is a hint of resonance in the low RPM range but it’s very similar to the stock exhaust in that regard, just deeper. No drone. And once you step on it, it sings. Not a GT3 by any means but it sounds the way the car should have come from the factory. Not obnoxiously loud but it definitely makes its presence heard.
Here is a video comparo. My iPhone microphone really can’t do it justice but it gives you enough to notice the difference from stock:
I promised Kenny that I’ll take the car for a before and after dyno run. My car is bone stock from an engine performance standpoint. Yesterday it registered 405HP and 389TQ on an AWD Mainline DynoLog. Today (and I have to say, I drove straight from the installer to the dyno and did not give the ECU enough time to adjust to the new hardware) the numbers were 430HP and 408TQ. Weather conditions were just about identical and I used the exact same fuel. I’ll post the graphs tomorrow after I scan them properly.
For optimal (street legal) performance JHS suggested I get their 100 cell cats but I felt that the 200 cell (rated at 300 HP each) were enough for my application.
All in all, I’m a happy camper with a car that sounds the way it should.
I've been thinking about a more manly exhaust sound from my car since the day I bought it. This is my first water-cooled Porsche and I guess I got spoiled by my 964s and 993s in the sound department.
My goal was to find a system that sounds good without compromising drivability of the car. A few extra ponies would be nice but "ultimate power" is not what I'm after. I've owned the car for a year now and it still feels as fast as the first day I drove it in anger.
What I definitely didn't want was drone. I hate it and will not tolerate it. Ruins the whole experience for me.
I've been looking around at the usual suspects but the options out there either carry an astronomical price tag, or you have to settle for something that is not quite the system I was after. Regarding price, let me say that it’s not the aftermarket manufacturers’ fault the prices are so high. We are not paying the “turbo tax” for these exhausts. Porsche engineered it as one-piece system from the turbos to the tips and there is no going around it.
A set of good 200 cell cats is in the $1300-1500 range, let alone the rest of the parts and labor.
So I stumbled upon Kenny McNeil who knows Porsche exhaust systems inside and out. He’s worked with the likes of Andial and many other reputable tuning shops over the years. He and I started talking and here is the end result:
I don’t profess to know a lot about exhaust systems or fabrication work but the shop that installed it (Tyrol Sport) and the shop that did the dyno (Enzo Racing) were both impressed with the design and build quality.
I also decided to put a set of Fabspeed dual tips that I had powder coated flat black to complete the look.
My first impressions after the car was first fired up were that the new exhaust had a much deeper rumble. At first I thought it was a lot louder but came to realize that it was the pitch not the volume that made it feel big, so to speak. There is a hint of resonance in the low RPM range but it’s very similar to the stock exhaust in that regard, just deeper. No drone. And once you step on it, it sings. Not a GT3 by any means but it sounds the way the car should have come from the factory. Not obnoxiously loud but it definitely makes its presence heard.
Here is a video comparo. My iPhone microphone really can’t do it justice but it gives you enough to notice the difference from stock:
I promised Kenny that I’ll take the car for a before and after dyno run. My car is bone stock from an engine performance standpoint. Yesterday it registered 405HP and 389TQ on an AWD Mainline DynoLog. Today (and I have to say, I drove straight from the installer to the dyno and did not give the ECU enough time to adjust to the new hardware) the numbers were 430HP and 408TQ. Weather conditions were just about identical and I used the exact same fuel. I’ll post the graphs tomorrow after I scan them properly.
For optimal (street legal) performance JHS suggested I get their 100 cell cats but I felt that the 200 cell (rated at 300 HP each) were enough for my application.
All in all, I’m a happy camper with a car that sounds the way it should.
03-19-2014, 10:08 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
very cool, look forward to your long term review, hopefully you're happy with it!
BTW how long before this thread devolves into "mine is better than yours" LOL!!!
BTW how long before this thread devolves into "mine is better than yours" LOL!!!
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03-20-2014, 11:32 AM
#11
Rennlist Member
I wonder what the tolerances are on locations of the turbos from cars off the production line. From the pictures it looks like there's no room for error. Solid from cats to tips, right? Sounds great!
03-20-2014, 11:45 AM
#12
Agent Orange
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Thank you guys.
The guy who installed it does this for a living and said this was one of the easiest exhausts to put on the car in terms of fitment.
Dyno charts as promised:
Before
After
Interlaced
Now, the HP increase is not mind blowing by any means and it's mostly at the top end of the RPM range. But if you compare the two torque graphs that's where the good news is for me at least. In the first graph torque peaks around 3600RPM and then drops off. In the second one torque peaks in the same spot (although it reaches that plateau earlier) but the drop off is much more gradual.
The guy who installed it does this for a living and said this was one of the easiest exhausts to put on the car in terms of fitment.
Dyno charts as promised:
Before
After
Interlaced
Now, the HP increase is not mind blowing by any means and it's mostly at the top end of the RPM range. But if you compare the two torque graphs that's where the good news is for me at least. In the first graph torque peaks around 3600RPM and then drops off. In the second one torque peaks in the same spot (although it reaches that plateau earlier) but the drop off is much more gradual.
03-20-2014, 02:31 PM
#15
Agent Orange
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This was the first exhaust for a 997TT that Kenny has built so I paid for the parts (not exactly cheap and he buys quality stuff), install, and dyno. Fabrication was on the house since technically mine was a prototype. You can email Kenny directly regarding what he would charge: mc00993 at live dot com