These are the pipes:
http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-parts-sale-wanted/52134-f-s-che-986-boxster-boxster-s-test-pipes.html
I also went ahead and ordered a set of these Easy Seal clamps because I heard that they seal better than the included clamps.
Top Speed's Cat Back System Installation
Now that I am done I think that the included clamps would have been fine for me, but the Easy Seal clamps were pretty cheap and I didn't want to have to get under there twice. The piece that has a profile like an hourglass is not symmetrical; make sure it goes the right way. If you think about it, it is obvious which is the right way. If it is wrong it won't seal the join between the two pipes very well. (I did it the wrong way on the first side and I couldn't figure out why there was such a gap in the seal, until I figured it out)
My car is a 2000 S with (well until now) an all stock exhaust, stock headers with integrated cats and stock muffler.
Removing the existing secondary cats:
This went much easier than I had thought. I think it may have been because I had the IMS Bearing replaced Dec 2012 and so the exhaust was removed at that time? And so everything wasn't welded in place with 14 years of rust and heat cycles? This was the part I was the most afraid of - that some bolts or something would snap and I would be stuck. Turns out that I didn't need to use any PB Blaster or anything (although on hindsight I wish I had as I believe I greatly increased the chances of something snapping without it). I was able to remove everything just with regular sockets and box wrenches, no breaker bars.
Installation:
This went fairly straightforward, the driver's side went on pretty easy, The toughest part was threading the bolts through the flange where the pipes connected to the outlet of the stock header. At first I fit the back parts of the pipes together and then lined up the flange, but I could never get it just right so I took it all apart and then loosely connected the bypass pipe to the header outlet, and then fit the back part in.
Passenger side: After many attempts and contortions, I finally took the adapter pipe (the one that is around 6-8" long) to Tire kingdom and had them cut off around 2/3" of the back end, and then that side went together like a champ. NOTE: The driver side was fully tightened down when I started the passenger side, and I noted that while installing the driver side I was able to get some wiggle out of the muffler. If I had kept everything loose, I may have had enough wiggle room to get the passenger side installed without trimming. My advise, don't tighten everything up until you get both sides fitted.
Hardware:
The pipes were very nice. I didn't use the included clamps, and I didn't use any of the nuts and bolts either; I believe they were for the flange, and they looked longer than the ones that came with the car. Space was so tight in there (especially the top one) that I just reused the existing hardware on the driver side, and when I was out trying to get the pipe adapter cut I picked up new hardware for the pax side.
Results:
Sound is definitely a little throatier, a little louder, and when you are accelerating you get a little more "sound" altogether, and in a good way. When you rev match you get a little hint of "burble" for lack of a better word when the revs are dropping down after the blip. I don't recall this being present before.
Performance seems a little "peppier" than before but maybe that is my imagination. I just spent a weekend at Road Atlanta with a lot of long WOT accelerations so it is hard for me to compare that with regular driving. I am doing an autocross in 2 weeks so I will report back. (And I guess these pipes move me out of BS into BSP... luckily for me I am so new that this will not affect my competitiveness... although I did win BS one time against 2 Honda S2000s. But the next time a husband wife team in an S2000 beat me by 6 seconds... 40 something vs 46 something... that is huge!)
Summary:
Fairly easy to install, nice sound, I believe there is a little performance boost (and the old cats are heavy! the piper are much lighter)
Tips:
Remove the back wheels - it is much easier to access the top bolt on the flange where the pipes meet the outlet of the stock header, and also easier to climb under the car and move your elbows and arms around with these rear wheels removed.
Don't tighten up the 3 bolts on the flange side until you get both sides in.
You can do this job without removing the big triangle plate and braces under there, but if you are having a very hard time with the flange end of the pipe, removing this may provide some relief. I was able to do it without removing it.
Would I do it again? Yes I would. And I am now considering getting the muffler to go with it, I have heard that combining the muffler with the cat deleted pipes resolves the drone issues that some folks have had when using the muffler with the stock secondary cats in place.
Steve
And in the lower gears there definitely feels like a difference at 4000+, the kick in the pants is stronger. I haven't tried it on the higher gears yet as I rarely get over 4000 in any gears except 1 & 2 on the street.
Linear Mode
