What took so long?

 

my dogecoin position got liquidated

 

Well done on deciding to pull the trigger - I am going to love hearing about it. Snowy

 

Anyone in Florida have a 4.5? I Need to experience it as I am considering going down this route myself.

 

Not a 981, but my car is getting close to the end and I couldn't be more excited. Thanks @Rick DeMan !!!

 

I have my car at Rick's shop for the 4.5L conversion. I am planning on catted headers and OEM muffler. Can anyone chime in as to the noise level difference between catted/race headers with OEM muffler? I previously had Dundon race headers on, but took them off as they were way too loud for me. Thanks.

 

I have open headers and I've been at the track with a friend who has Rick's catted headers. The difference is negligible at WOT: they are both glorious down any straight and lauder than stock. No way around that! When the PSE is closed there's also no difference and the noise level is close to stock. Rick has proven that the only thing the exhaust is needs is either open headers or HIS catted headers as well as the FabSpeed X-Pipe. Everything else he has proven to be waste of money, suboptimal performance gains and unnecessary noise.

Given the exhaust flap opens up by itself at the appropriate load/RPM I normally keep the PSE button off even at the track... I only turn it on when I want to be especially noisy and disorderly while cruising backroads...

 

I ran catless for about a year with the OEM muffler. With the valves closed it's a perfectly civilized experience: comfortable in the cabin, no over the top noise coming out the back end. But with the valves open it's a riot, even on partial throttle—very fun, but if you have neighbors they might not like you too much if you keep them open all the time 😂

Ended up putting on a set of high flow cats late last year. NY state has annual emissions, and I did the "re-install stock cats + get all the OBD monitors set for the emissions check" song and dance for one year, but that was enough for me. Rick makes a set of cats that is able to set the monitors, but also sees virtually zero power loss, so those are what I'm running now (also with the OEM muffler). Noise-wise it's still really fun with the valves open, but it's a more subdued experience. If the stock cats are a 0 and catless is 10, I'd say the high flow cats are a 5 or 6; still an occasion when you want it to be, but not full racecar. Which—from what you describe your preferences to be—sounds like it should be a happy medium for you. Hopefully that gives some insight!

 

What car transport service did you guys use?

 

Thank you for the info Luca and burner. A 6 out of 10 sounds more than acceptable to me. I would prefer the car to be stealthy, not race car on the street loud. As to the transport service, Rick's shop put me in touch with a transport broker. A phone call and email set everything in motion.

 

I don't have any internal engine mods but I do run the Soul catted street headers and fully stock exhaust. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted. You can make it sound exactly like stock under partial load, or get glorious roaring sound at WOT, while still passing Sound Checks at any of the tracks I've been to since the changeover (Road Atlanta, Atlanta Motorsports Park, and Barber.) Five Grand is a lot for sound (and eliminating the flat spot and adding 30 or so ponies) but I wouldn't have it any other way. If I traded this GT4 on another, I'd order the Soul catted-header and Softronic setup the next day, unless I could get the order in on the same afternoon I bought the new car.

 

You can run at Road Atlanta during quiet hour? I don't think my car stock would pass.

 

I've never had any trouble. No idea what "quiet hour" is; last time I was there was last July, all day Saturday. Before that I think was a Sunday earlier in the year, but I'm not sure about the day.

I was somewhere -- I think it was AMP -- in 2020 when a guy got warned with a GT4 with catless headers and aftermarket exhaust (can't remember brands); he had to start going light on throttle at the point where the mic was located. I didn't have any trouble.

 

I use a three mode Cargraphic controller, with the valve closed mode it passes at 92dB Club Motorsports.

 

I've also run both setups, given what you describe your desires are go with the catted. I think of it as stock +20%.