2.7 Muffler Delete
 

This past weekend a friend and I went to town on my 2.7's exhaust system and took the muffler off, replacing it with straight pipes. The motor and the rest of the exhaust system are completely stock except for an upgraded oil baffle. My friend only has a little experience with welding, but after seeing prices on pre-fabbed options I decided this would be worth a shot. The entire process from loosening the clamps to get the muffler off to tightening them back on to secure the straight pipes took just over 4 hours and less than $100 in materials.

This thing is massive and probably weighs a good 30lbs. The replacement is much lighter!
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps4e1fcbe9.jpg

Testing the fitment after welding extensions on the 90 degree bends we bought.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pse0d0b5cc.jpg

One half of the system with the hanger installed. The halves were eventually welded together.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...sf6579feb.jpeg

The freshly installed piping. There's so much room under there now!
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...ps17782a00.jpg

And finally, what it looks like on the ground. Keep in mind we made no attempt to make this look good- my only requirement was that it exit at the stock location and not be crooked or uneven. I do wish we'd gotten the pipes to stick out a bit further. Adding a tip in the future is an option.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psb0c52a10.jpg

A few observations after romping around for a bit followed by a 2 hour drive home:

- The sound is, in my own words and the words of others, mean. Extremely aggressive, with pops and snarls when you let off the throttle.
- Volume is a little on the loud side when on the throttle, but certainly not the loudest street car you'd see on a weekly or maybe even daily basis.
- Drone at highway speeds is merely moderate. It's there, but it's not overbearing or intolerable.
- Idle volume is quite quiet, the cooling fans have the potential to make more noise.

I am absolutely satisfied with the result we got. I don't mind the car being on the loud side though. If you feel the same way and can put up with a little drone, you should seriously consider having a shop do something along these lines before dropping four figures on a pre-fabbed muffler.

And, of course, a video: Boxster 2.7 Muffler Delete - YouTube

Good,good good.Like the lighter weight(off the heavy end of the car) and how very open the underside is now.

Aggressive sound that is easily tunable with any manner of very small mufflers now that you have room to work.

It would be fun to see what Mufflers off a Ducati large bore 1000cc bike would sound like.People have probably not thought about this.Ducati bikes have a deep rather than a wailing sound.

Great write up and pics!

Very nice! I was wanting to do the exact same thing but then got a little nervous about how loud it may be, so I threw in a couple race mufflers from JEGS. (stock C-pipes and 987 connector pie along with a 987 exhaust tip) total came out to like $120 with the welds being DIY. btw sorry for the messy undercarriage, this was maybe a week or 2 after I bought the car from Florida.

http://s27.postimg.org/64keoxrf7/WP_000127.jpg
http://s15.postimg.org/q96zgxzaz/WP_000155.jpg

Not all that different from the way my car sounds at times.....perhaps it is just a lot louder. Listening to this it would seem that my muffler goes into to full bypass after 4.5k....maybe I should drop the boat anchor?:D. I don't have to put up with resonant drone though

I don't have secondary cats though .....my guess is that one will want these back on in order for the sound to be tolerable. The cats are heavy

Your car sounds great!!! It really accentuates the motor as the stock box doesn't have much of an exhaust note. I miss the sound of the 986 at redline. I wonder if you just cut open your old muffler and pull out all of the sound deadening material to keep the stock appearance, what it would sound like.

Great project!

Thanks guys! The stock muffler is pretty large and has a good bit of piping inside of it. Cutting it open, cutting all of that extra metal out, and then welding it back up would probably take a good bit longer than this did depending on the equipment you have available. It'd be easier to cut the tip off and attach it to something like this I would think.

Wow.....top job.......next project me thinks....sound excellent on overrun....!!!

Do you feel any power loss? I recall reading that you lose low end torque with a free-er exhaust.

Yes, the loss of low-end torque is noticeable. It affects the car about as much as turning the A/C on, so it's not extreme. The flipside is that the car should gain power in the top end, but my butt-dyno is not accurate enough to tell. I only notice the loss of low-end torque because it bogs/stalls easier from a standstill.