Looking for the best exhaust system

[csbrianp]

I have found that adding an high performance exhaust will not actually increase your cars performance. What it will do is make your car drive real different. What I mean is, where you can scoot away from a stop light with easy now, will be gone after you add an exhaust. Your car will feel lazy and you'll will want your stock exhaust back. The reason for this is back pressure, your stock exhaust is designed with back pressure in mind. A larger exhaust especially a 3" complete exhaust system will make your car feel very slow unless you have a lot of work done to it.

Here's my 2 cents. Buy an after market down pipe first. If you like the way the car drives, take your car to a muffler shop and have them build you a 2 1/2 cat-back system using a high performance muffler. It will save you hundreds of dollars and give you what you are looking for. If you don't like the way your car drives after wards see the tread on this site about adjusting your camshaft timing.

Brian

[rbodor3]

back pressure is only useful in naturally aspirated cars, where the effect of push/pull and running is important.

In a turbocharged vehicle the goal is the greatest pressure difference over the turbocharger. You want as little back pressure as possible for this reason.

There must have been another issue with your vehicle, or it was N/A, in order for you to of lost power especially on the low end by adding a better exhaust. The opened breathing of the exhaust will allow quicker turbo spool up.

[z31jaime]

your better off getting a custom one than going with OBX....

its a cheap price but also has no cat included in the price which will trip the O2. the solution is to add a high flow cat and make a trip to the exhaust shop or mod the O2 sensor....both of which seem like bad ideas....for a "bolt on kit"

[rbodor3]

Nothing beats a well-made, well-designed custom exhaust. Hands down there is no doubt in every single performance/race car there lies a custom exhaust. I doubt k-pax volvo racing uses a ferrita or IPD bolt on

But with price kept in mind there's nearly no way to get a comparably performing exhaust made custom then there is to buy the OBX - unless you do all of the labor yourself (and even then it's hard with out the right resources).

I made my own 3" turbo-back exhaust and did it for about $400 IIRC, labor all done myself, with (2) mufflers and (1) cat. All of my straight pipe was mild steel, not stainless. To do stainless I was paying an extra $100 in straight pipe which I didn't really care for.

In summary:
If you want a 100% bolt on, go to IPD, Eurosport, viva, or a custom shop.
If you want the best deal, get the OBX then buy your own cat and take it to the shop to get welded. $350 for the OBX complete exhaust system, all stainless, all VBand clamps, an extra down pipe (which you can typically sell for ~$100+), 2 mufflers, AND tip included. Add $90 for a very nice, performance magnaflow straight through catalyst, and $50-100 (depending on your area) for getting the cat welded in.

[JRL]

I just installed the EST exhaust
Well made, sounds nice, looks good