Topspeed Pro 1 Exhaust or Fabspeed
 

There is a rattle in my 02 exhaust. not sure if it's the heat shields, bad cats, or cracked baffle. My best guess would be that the rear cats are bad but not 100% sure. Should I go with a new topspeed Pro1 exhaust with a cat bypass (both for $550, tax free cause it's ebay, free shipping)????

Porsche 986 Boxster 2 7L 00 04 Performance Catless Pipe Test Pipe Pipes in 50mm | eBay

Porsche 986 Boxster 2 5L 2 7L 3 2L 97 04 Performance Exhaust System Angle Cut | eBay

ORRRRRRRRR

should I buy a fabspeed secondary cat bypass ($580 after tax and shipping)

Porsche 986 Boxster Secondary Catbypass Pipes (2000-2004) - Fabspeed Motorsport

Not sure, but doesn't CA require all the cats be installed?

to be 100% legal, yes

We like to be able to breathe our air, not cut through it with a knife

opened a discussion about the legality of it all and most said it would be fine to remove the secondary. so now it's up to which i should buy lol

I just read the other thread, I see that several opt not to use them. I wasn't sure.

is fabspeed just buying the brand?? or is it worth every penny??

Much better fit, finish & material. If you E-mail them what you are trying to decide they should give you a better price.

I ordered the whole top speed set up and had zero issues with fit or finish. Sounds great, installed at an easy level, hardest part I had was getting the old out.

No complaints here from the top speed set up.

If your looking at just secondary cat deletes, I see little/if any difference between the two. But that's just my 2 cents.

no one will tell you it is legal to remove ANY part of the emissions system for a street car in California.

Now whether or not a smog shop will know there is supposed to be 4 cats is another issue. I would guess most have no clue
YMMV

I got the Top Speed by pass pipes for $149 shipped and have no complaints and an extra $431 in my pockets. Install was a breeze.

You could also try and pick up a set of low milege cats on Ebay or the forums. Probably $~300. Mine were toast by 80K miles so I picked up Fabspeed headers and exhaust. They are very loud. When I drive around lower Manhattan in the narrow streets of the financial district it sounds like you're in a tunnel or long overpass. It's very conspicous so maybe not for everyone. But between the how of the induction and the racket in the rear its an eventful ride.

I wanted Fabspeed but ended up with the much cheaper Top Speed Pro 1 Exhaust with secondary bypass pipes for a total of I think $400 with shipping.

They sounded amazing and I never regretted buying it. I installed it myself and it took me about 4 hours. The only issue with the Top Speed Pro 1 exhaust is fitment.

The bypass pipes are easy to install and fit well. But the cat-back exhaust will not fit without lots of persuasion and lots of washers + long bolts to get the right fitment. The diameter of the pipes were off as well and did not connect to the mid pipes correctly so I had a mechanic fix that as well to stop the exhaust leak.

As you can see in the video, the exhaust moves around a lot. I ended up welding it($50) after a while, which solved the problem. After hard driving, the exhaust makes nice popping sounds.

Top Speed Pro 1 Bypass pipes DIY install and sound video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC-IySYr3q4

Top Speed Pro 1 cat-back exhaust install with sound clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlpQ7Su9-Wk

Another exhaust video I took a year later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEEIpI4Z5PE

The sound really turns heads. People think there is a Ferrari or 911 GT3 coming down the street but it's just a Boxster.

After more than 1 year with the exhaust driving through rain, snow, and on racetracks and autocross, I had no issues with it. The chrome finish stayed clean.

I have the first Top Speed headers and Exhaust to be imported into the US (test car for the product by importer, Che in Dallas).

I am running factory cats on the 97, which is just one set.

The combination is loud. I've heard louder, but I've also heard a lot quieter too. It's excellent for track use because you can hear your motor with the windows down and a helmet on and you know when to upshift.

Since today's Friday and I'll probably leave the office early and won't sit in too much traffic, I took the boxster to work this morning. Going through the parking garage, you'd think there was some sort of sport bike flying down the ramps. I set off alarms and turn every head that I drive near, even if they're in their cars on the other side.

The combination is loud. Did I forget to mention that? :)

BTW, there's cabin drone at 2-3k rpm. Brace yourself.

Does nobody make a sporty sounding muffler for the Boxster that doesn't drone at 2-3000 rpm? I want a stronger sound than stock, but people claim most are too loud for road use or they drone terribly. Even the very expensive Borla or Fabspeed units drone badly. I read that the Dansk unit is pretty good, according to some people. How hard can it be - a couple of U-tubes and two muffler units????

I really don't have a noticeable drone on my TS exhaust/cat delete pipes and the sound is perfect, not too loud:cheers:

didn't the TS set have a transom plugs you can take out, or was that a Pedro mod?
That sounded like a cool idea.

Topspeed test pipes and manzo exhaust (ebay) absolutely sounds awesome, and not me just saying it. No drone, cost less than $500 and you definitely will not want to listen to your stereo anymore. You can shoot your wad on more expensive set-ups but you won't get anymore satisfaction, than the set-up I mentioned.:cool:

I am thinking if you want real sound you would need to get a new set of headers with 200 cell cats . my 996 has 200 cell cats and PSE and the thing sings all the right songs . I got the top speed setup with the cat delete on my boxster S , sounds decent but just not enough sound , A little to muffled in my opinion .

Before you buy anything (unless you just need an excuse to upgrade the sustem) get underneath and wiggle the heatshields around the intermediate pipes. I had a rattle on the 04S and it was the metal shield on one of them. Drove a very small piece of metal between it to tighten it up and no more rattle.

Passed CA Smog Inspection
 

In order to come full circle, had my Boxster with cat bypass pipes and ebay manzo exhaust pass the stringent California Smog Test with flying colors.

BTW, all the techs at smog place loved the sound of the exhaust note.

Congrat's on passing!

Most test stations will ignore the visual inspection fail as long as the car passes the emissions test.

So now the question is: Manzo or TopSpeed?


Tony

The Manzo I got is totally awesome. The TopSpeed test pipes worked great, no drone. I would highly recommend both to anyone.

Here's my setup...factory muffler with welded bypass pipes. Secondary cats removed and replaced with used Fabspeed bypass. Sound is truly Porsche flat six. I know the factory muffler is heavy, but I don't get any of the dreaded drone, just good sound.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1416578657.jpg

In the first pass, only got the TSPro exhaust installed. Ordered the Bypass/Test pipes today, eagerly awaiting arrival and mod :D

OK I am new to Boxsters, but have owned several air cooled 911s. So this is my first water pumper. Anyway, I wanted something better than the stock exhaust and after listening to every Boxster sound clip on youtube I decided to get the TSPro exhaust. On first install I loved it, but the drone was too much at cruise for me. Then I found this thread and ordered the cat bypass pipes. Wow is all I can say. The car sounds awesome and is as quiet as stock at cruise. Totally happy. Anyone contemplating this setup I would say go for it, but get the bypass pipes right away. Thanks for all the info here.

Nice! Glad to hear of your success. This setup is now looking like my top choice.

How is the volume with vs without the bypass pipes? Was the drone completely eliminated with the addition of the pipes or is it still there but to a lesser extent? I have the pipes now and I'm thinking of adding the muffler.

With the bypass pipe is is louder for sure, but cruising there is no 2-2500 rpm drone. So at 55-75mph in gear it is very quiet. If you crack the fun pedal you will hear it, but otherwise silent. I am not a big fan of loud exhausts, so this is on the edge for me. However it sounds so nice.......

Thanks for the info. The only thing thats holding me back right now is that I'm not sure if I like the tips or not. I think the facelift S tips still look better than any of the aftermarket offerings and I really want to keep a stock look.