And it sounds amazing! The most surprising addition is the pops and burbles when you back off the throttle. This base 2.7 Boxster now sounds downright exotic (and I have a fair bit of experience with hearing exotics having valet parked in Laguna Beach on the PCH in college).
So basically, this is a quick write-up covering why I picked Beluga, the good, the bad, and installation tips.
WHY:
I started out looking at Top Speed - obviously loved on this forum. Frankly, I went with Beluga because I liked the tips better. Other than that the system looks similar to other systems in this price range (~$300).
GOOD:
Sounds incredible. Had it on for about 100 miles now. It still has that beautiful Boxster sound, but it is actually audible while flooring it in fourth with the top down at, ahem, freeway speeds. It is intoxicating under overpasses, and sounds very cool when you back off the throttle. I also love the look of the tips.
BAD:
There is a drone from 1800-2800, wouldn't consider it unbearable, but it is noticeable. It would get annoying in a few months. Test pipes will go on eventually.
The fitment (mostly tip positioning) went about how all these style systems seem to go from what I've seen. It took a little dremeling, some washers, and a bit of finagling with the angles of the U-pipes, but ultimately the tips are close enough to center that people don't notice unless I point it out. The tips are level to each other, which helps it look right.
INSTALLATION:
-Follow Homeboy981's excellent instructions here:
Top Speed's Cat Back System Installation - they're the only directions I needed.
-Don't pull the bumper! You don't have to, and it helps so much in centering the tips. From Homeboy981's pics and writeup, it didn't look like he pulled his bumper, so I didn't touch mine. The bolts above the exhaust aren't easy to reach, but with some patience you'll get it done. As mentioned, the advantage of doing it this way is you can make adjustments to center the tips on the fly, rather than having to put the whole car back together over and over. With these affordable exhausts, this always seems to be an issue.
-Positioning the tips: I had to dremel the mounting bracket a bit to extend the holes up a quarter inch so the tips would hang low enough to not touch the bumper. I positioned the tips side to side using washers behind the bracket (a few more on one side than the other) and by adjusting the angles of the U-pipes and depth of exhaust inlets into the U-pipes to bring the tips back to center. Be careful with the washers - too many on one side and it will torque one tip higher than the other.
I picked the system up in person (they're local to me - near Dallas). I had called ahead to make sure it was in stock, they had the system up front out of the box waiting for me to inspect when I got there. They also threw in a Porsche bottle opener they're gonna start selling soon, which was nice.
All in all, I am very pleased with this system and would do it again.
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