Fabspeed bypass pipes - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

silver arrow · 03-09-2009, 11:26 AM

You can gut the ones in your car in one afternoon. A long 1/2 drill bit, long chisel, hammer and a respirator. Back in 02 when the Subaru WRX came out, we all gutted the preturbo cat to get it to spool faster and because the facotry cat had a habbit of sending pieces of catalyst through the turbo, which is not a good thing.

I'll gut mine this weekend and let you know how it works out. If it's a success I'll post a DIY. If not I'll cry myself to sleep.

j.fro · 03-09-2009, 12:40 PM

It works. Be careful about this as a DIY, though, unless it is explicitly for off road/racing vehicles!

jmatta · 03-09-2009, 12:42 PM

I agree with the expense comment...$495 for a couple stainless pipes seems absurd. After listening, though, I feel they are well worth it. I think it would be difficult for a muffler shop to make up a couple of pipes unless the worker was a talented pipe bender?

I don't know about gutting the existing pipe, because you've introduced an odd shape in the middle of the exhaust route that would likely affect flow.

j.fro · 03-09-2009, 02:19 PM

I've looked into building a set myself, and I've made a couple of unfortunate discoveries about why the price is so high. For starters, 4 to 5 foot pieces of straight stainless 2.25" tubing are about $50 delivered to your door. A pair of stainless header flanges are going to run $10 or so, making the raw materials cost around $100. The next hurdle is finding someone with a mandrel to bend the tubes correctly. Most exhaust shops don't have this...they've got a cheaper bender that puts the little wrinkles in the inner part of the bend. Anyone who's got a mandrel is going to be a real specialist, and their rates won't be cheap. I wouldn't imagine the labor to be under two hours to bend, cut, and weld both pipes. That's easily another $100+ . Put general retail markup on, and you're right at $450-500. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure Fabspeed sources the materials cheaper, and I'm also sure their welding dude isn't making $100/hr, but they also know their clientele and originally marketed the pipes to folks who paid new or near new for their cars.

Just to throw it out there, what would folks be willing to pay for a set of bypass pipes that WEREN"T stainless?

chitowndad · 03-09-2009, 02:47 PM

Jmatta, I'd love to connect with you in April to hear it before I pick up a pair.

Now I need to find a used pair...

ChrisZang · 03-09-2009, 03:10 PM

not to rub it in but I had the incredible luck to pick up a pair of NEW fabspeed pipes on eBay for less than $250 (incl. shipping). So just keep looking and set up a "Saved Search" in eBay...

releese78 · 03-09-2009, 03:17 PM

One weekend while I was visiting the parents in Fort Lauderdale, I drove around to about 10 different exhaust shops before finding one who would do exactly this for me.

I ended up finding a custom shop (with a mandrel bending machine), who made bypass pipes for me and installed them for $240. I even had him weld O2 bungs in them because my car is pre 03' and only had one pair of cats.

My suggestion if you're going this route is to spend an hour with your Yellow Pages and figure out a route (plan on making several stops before finding someone reputable who will get it done). When you get to each shop, talk directly to a Technician (preferably someone who is building a custom exhaust for some old muscle car! Offer to pay cash and not take a receipt, therefore any liability for removing cats is off their hands. If you go inside the office and speak to someone there, you are likely to be told that they will not do this for you.

Another FYI...I got a CEL shortly after leaving the shop because of the rear catalyst monitors (O2). I corrected this by purchasing (4) spark plug de-foulers, drilling out the bottom of (2) and threading them together. This takes the rear O2's out of the stream just enough to trick your DME into thinking that you have cats. It's been 1000 miles since, and no CEL.

In hindsight, I would probably go the route of high-flow cats rather than remove them completely. While the sound isn't obnoxious, it's also not too appealing either. Under normal driving conditions, and highway, it sounds pretty decent. If you floor it off the line, I think it sounds like crap personally. It sounds like something rattling in a tin can (from outside the car). Inside, the sound is smooth and without resonation. Maybe this is a personal preference, but I think a German sports car should have a nice throaty sound.

If you choose to go with high flow cats, I can tell you that I had pretty good luck with a pair I bought for my old Mustang some years ago off Ebay. I literally searched for the lowest price ones out there and was not disappointed.

Cheers!

chitowndad · 03-09-2009, 03:33 PM

Well son of a gun, there's one on ebay now but it's for 03-06 and looks a little used...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-06-Porsche-Cayenne-S-Cat-Bypass-Pipes-Fabspeed_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c6 6Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c 293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhash Zitem220373740605QQitemZ220373740605QQptZMotorsQ5f CarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ebayphotohosting

o wait that's for a Cayene...