After reviewing a ton of threads, I have come to the conclusion that putting on a 6-7 hundred dollar catback sys not to get squat for horsepower per $, but get cool sound may be a bit much.

I am still leaning towards the RB exhaust.
Has anybody here just swapped the cans for more freeflowing cans and put on some sweet tips.

Is this a taboo issue, because I couldn't find it anywhere on the site.

I was checking out some tips on another thread, and it made me think... what about....


bill

 

Actually, that is exactly what I am about to do.

Most of the power available is in the midpipe, so I am sticking with the stock exhaust.
I am going to weld some nicer tips on an OEM unit and swap it in.

Exchanging the muffler only would be pointlessly difficult since it is so huge yet effective.

 

Would just the midpipe with the stock can sound good???

 

I like it and that is what I'm using.

 

maniac,
what midpipe are you using? cz's?

 

Do you happen to have a sound clip, or could you explain to me what it sounds like

 

i think omicron has a midpipe and is thinking of going back to his stock exhaust.

 

No, its the BB midpipe from Huff at VividRacing.

 

Ah... cat-less mid-pipe. Now that makes a difference.... that makes things MUCH louder.

Actually I thought that Omicron was considering it, but since his wife didn't mind it, he'd figured "what the hell..." and was sticking as it. He has the high flow cat w/ resonator mid-pipe and cat-back.

 

At some point, I'll probably weld in a CAT just to be technically legal, even though it will pass in Maryland as it is.
We have a visual inspection (which it looks like I have a CAT to the relatively untrained eye of the monkeys at the VEIP station) and an OBD-II test which I wil pass since I have no CEL or stored codes because of the mid-pipe.
I know this because I went to the VEIP station right after I installed the pipe and volunteered to be tested.

Unless you are RX8on19s who says I do have a CEL/MIL because he sees on in his magic crystal ball.

 

Guys,

There is a noticed gain with the testpipe, but not with the exhaust. I had the Greddy on for a week and it was crazy loud. I lost about 7 pounds of torque on the mid range of the RPM band. So far, the best setup on my car has been the Testpipe /w the stock exhaust. I modified my stock exhaust and added 3" MagnaFlow oval tips.

 

I have the high flow/temp cat plus resonator from CanZoomer and the Borla cat-back exhaust, and man, is it LOUD. Changing back to my stock muffler is an option, but the thing I'd least like to do. We'll see.

 

Hmm. I guess it's hard to tell until you hear it yourself... I'm just wondering how loud can this really be... I'm also thinking that the stock can is a heavy steel POS... it'd be nice to drop that weight. Anyone want to work on a custom setup... quiet as stock, but flows better with nice tips? Or we can all buy RB... nah! I hate being a sheep.

 

What do you guys think of the RSR style resonator tips? I wonder what effect the resonator will have on the sound...

 

Or these aren't bad either... but the tips is 4.5"?!

 

And lastly without resonator...

 

I am pretty sure those tips will not quiet the system to much

 

those tips are alright
but that company is kinda cheap

 

Tucan Industries - not too far off from APC.

 

Shoot me a site with quality tips then...

 

www.jegs.com click ==>EXHAUST TIPS
www.summitracing.com click ==>EXHAUST TIPS

 

Thanks MazdaManiac!

 

Japan8,

I will tell you how loud it was when I had the Greddy & the testpipe. It was embarrassing driving to work in a white shirt & tie every morning for a week. My 8 sounded like a civic with open exhaust. My RPM's could not go pass 3,200 with out making a show. Your best bet is to do one of these two options.

Add an exhaust, but keep the cat on.
Or
Install the testpipe and keep the stock exhaust

Based on my experiance, I did not see any major gains with full exhaust on my RX-8. My car lost about 7 pounds of torque in the midrange and only gained 1 HP at high RPM.

I'll post some pics of my Stock exhaust with MagnaFlow tips this weekend.

What would be a good test is to compair the gains of a testpipe with MazdaSpeed exhaust vs. the testpipe with stock exhaust.

 

RX8on19s we've got some similar thoughts. From the article on the MS RX-8 I read, it sounds like that is essentially what Mazda did. They changed out the cat, used a widen diameter pipe, and the muffler is mostly sound improvement with a little less backpressure. My only complaint about that system is price and those tips are tiny. I would also want to drop some weight if possible...

BTW... just looked it up and the GReddy is one of the loudest exhuast tested.

Maker/Model/ sound @ idling/6750rpm
Fujitsubo Legalis R 64db/80db
Ganador Vertex Titanium 68db/90db
HKS Legimax 64db/81db
Trust/GReddy MX Muffler 65db/83db
Auto Exe Stainless Muffler 63db/80db
FEED Sonic AS Stainless Muffler 65db/88db
RMagic Sound Tuned Muffler 67db/87db
RE Amemiya Dolphin Tail Muffler 66db/90db
Knight Sports SE763 Legal Muffler 67db/82db
Pan Speed Original Muffler 65db/85db
San Ai Works Original Stainless Muffler 67db/82db
Revolution Exhaust System 64db/86db
JIC Bullet Spartan DE 63db/84db

 

I wonder how loud the Borla and Racing Beat are... and how loud is the Racing Beat with the cat/resonator mid-pipe...