Exhaust: Loud, Quiet or Bhrrrrr?

[svxthc]

What is your cheapest/best solution to your favorite exhaust sound out of the svx? What would you replace...how much...how would it sound? Sound clips welcome...

[SVXRide]

cheapest approach is to start with the main cat, going with a high-flow piece with slightly larger pipe (2.25) in/out of it. Changing things in front of the main cat just invites the dreaded "resonant buzz"
Replacing the stock muffler with a Stebro or Magnaflow piece has also been a good choice (okay, so you can also do some "interesting" things to the inside of a stock muffler )
-Bill

[thumper_svx]

I like the sound out of my exhaust... before the baffle in my muffler collapsed and it started rattling like a banshee (being fixed this week, by the way!)

My exhaust is custom. The pipes are up .25" from stock all the way from the headers to the muffler. There are two Mustang 3.8 cats where the stock cats usually sit (KuoH got cats from a 5.0 as I recall). There's a flex pipe just behind the join between the pipes, roughly where the third cat usually sits.

This gives me good flow, and a pretty good low-end grunt. Although it might not be to everyone's tastes, it does lower and louden the exhaust note a little on the highway... and the flex pipe does cause a certain amount of rattling under acceleration that manifests as a "hiss". Reminds me a little of the sound of a turbocharger... but no... no boost

This was relatively cheap. My stock cats were toast, as were my O2 sensors. Well, the left and center cats were toast... the right one was OK. Anyway, the whole custom job cost less than the center cat alone from a stock system. About a month later, that same setup successfully passed Missouri emissions test with better results than I had gotten out of stock a year previously.

Shortly after that is when I started getting the rattling muffler... it's definitely coming from the muffler and I plan to replace the whole thing. Of course, I got the salvage muffler and then stored the car for 18 months... but c'est la vie.

As I said, my system is not for everyone. KuoH got a similar system, as did Halistan (does he ever log in???)... actually, Halistan's the guy who got it done first when his 93 started having problems with the exhaust. I stayed with him for a weekend and we got my car done before he moved to Texas

I like the sound it gives... the extra power is nice (even if it's psychosomatic!) and really on the highway the engine noise / exhaust noise is no worse than my Volvo at the same speed that runs another 600-800rpm higher than my SVX.

[svxthc]

Nice, what do these setups cost?

[richardstanley]

Mines bone stock but comes back to two magnaflow mufflers at the end. Sounds AWESOME, especially with cold air intake. Guy said he paid 300 for the system, not bad at all, especially cause i didn't pay for it

[etz bseder]

I like the sound and power of my exhaust. I took out everything after the main cat, and put in 2.5" with a y pipe to go to two glasspacks then out to the tips. It's real quiet when at idle, but once you get going it lets eveybody know that you have some power and sounds real nice.

[Ricochet]

You know, everybody says their exhaust setup is uber awesomeness but every sound/video clip I hear sounds raspy and hackjobbed. I'm staying stock until I hear something worth buying, so somebody please show me that something.

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

You know, everybody says their exhaust setup is uber awesomeness but every sound/video clip I hear sounds raspy and hackjobbed. I'm staying stock until I hear something worth buying, so somebody please show me that something.

I'm rather partial to the sound of SVX10's exhaust setup (though I had to tinker with his mp3 to get any volume out of it ). Rumble at idle, and rather nice under load. Maybe it's just me though...

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/files/SVX10/36123.mp3

If you can't hear it, I have a version saved to my desktop that's louder.

[Ricochet]

Sounded like my civic, I was expecting a boxer blurble like an sti but I guess you'd need a turbo for that. Maybe it's just how the engine itself sounds, so I'll probably just leave my exhaust stock forever. In this case, for the thread, "Quiet"

[immortal_suby]

best sound yet that I had - open pipes - too loud to drive without getting pulled over or going deaf but it sounded so good. Very deep V8 burble and popping on deceleration and at idle, opening the gates of hell scream at high rpm.

no cats, no resonator and stock muffler = too much buzzing
no cats, no resonator, flowmaster muffler = better but still buzzed from 2k to 3k rpm
no cats, glasspack at resonator location, flowmaster = even better but still had buzzing around 2.5-3k rpm
no front cats, high flow main cat, glasspack, flowmaster = even better but I still have a little buzz at 3k. My current setup. Got the low end torque back with this setup too. Harvey was right - the main cat makes a difference.

Still searching for the perfect sound. I think glasspacks where the stock pre-cats are would completely kill the buzz but unfortunately they would probably die from the heat rather quickly.

[Tony117s]

Originally Posted by Ricochet

Sounded like my civic, I was expecting a boxer blurble like an sti but I guess you'd need a turbo for that. Maybe it's just how the engine itself sounds, so I'll probably just leave my exhaust stock forever. In this case, for the thread, "Quiet"

You'll never have a boxer blurble on an SVX because we have equal length headers, where as imprezas have unequal.

[Dayton-Dave]

I think with a manual transmission... an opened up (read as louder) exhaust note is something I would want on the car. This sound track of his sounded great! However, on an auto trans car I prefer a quiet exhaust.

Dave

[svxcess]

Originally Posted by immortal_suby

Still searching for the perfect sound. I think glasspacks where the stock pre-cats are would completely kill the buzz but unfortunately they would probably die from the heat rather quickly.

That's why svxfiles came up with the exhaust system that he put on newsvx's car, my car, and his supercharged claret.

What they all have in common are larger head pipes (2" on Harry's and mine and 2'5" on svxfiles) and ceramic-filled/stainless steel resonators in place of the stock pre-cats, then flowing into one high-flow cat.

Better exhaust flow, no raspiness or buzzing. non-restricting and slightly louder and deeper than stock at idle and very quiet at cruising speeds

newsvx's 92 pearlie

my 96 polo

svxfiles supercharged claret

.

[Sov13t]

I will soon have a very similar set up still trying to figure out whether to do 2 resonators or 3...

[svxcess]

Originally Posted by Sov13t

I will soon have a very similar set up still trying to figure out whether to do 2 resonators or 3...

I did 3. I used 2 of the 2" inlet/outlet Aero resonators in place of the pre-cats. After flowing out of the resonators and through a Magnaflow high-flow cat, I installed athe third Areo resonator (2.5" inlet/outlet) in the same position as the stock resonator. Then 2.5" back to the stock muffler.

The Areo resonators do not use the baffle system and therefore do not buzz or rattle under acceleration. The stock muffler is a good design, so I kept it in place
.