Adding performance exhaust to 2001 Boxster S
 

I recently bought a 2001 Boxster S. I like the sound of the stock exhaust when I hit 5000 RPMs or so but find I'm constantly driving at those RPMs or higher just to get the sound. I'm thinking of changing to a 986 Boxster Maxflo Performance Exhaust System from Fabspeed to get a better overall sound, and at lower RPMs, and hopefully a little more HP. I'm concerned that it may be too noisy at highway cruising speeds. Has anyone had experience with this?

If it hasn't been done already, consider de-snorkeling. Awesome growl, no expense, easy DIY. It doesn't change performance, but oh the sound!

Thank you Randy. I had not heard of this before. I'll research it more and may give it a try.

Question: when you say awesome growl, is it an annoying sound at steady highway speeds?
Jean-Pierre

Definitely not get it done!

Only when you get on the gas.

I put a relatively inexpensive exhaust system on my 01 S that I bought from a retailer on Ebay. There is good news and bad news here. The bad news is there is drone at low RPM's. The good news is it sounds amazing at high RPM's and it has more power. I'm convinced this system is essentially glass packs but I was surprised how much performance gain I got. I think they are restriction free for the most part.

I am considering one of these systems. Or borla, not sure yet.. I have a question though.. Does it still scream like a flat 6 or is it more like a V6? My tahoe has a mild mellow tone with a flowmaster 70 series. My hyundai sounds stock at idle and a weedeater at WOT.. I just LOVE the screaming flat 6 sound that comes from my box. It's addictive, it refills my soul.. anywho, so, in your opinion.. do you lose that with a louder less restrictive exhaust?

And the sound clips that I've listened to (youtube etc) really don't help much. Because I know how different it is in real life.

Thanks!!

I live in an area without emissions testing so I had some flexibility in my exhaust design. First I bought a Stebro racing muffler with non-catted intermediate pipes. This combination was beyond loud and the drone on the interstate was literally painful. But the sound was amazing at full throttle. Sounded like a GT3 RSR. I went back to the stock muffler with the new intermediate pipes. My next step was a set of eBay headers. They were $99 and the best quality, best craftsmanship headers I have ever bought. The headers REALLY woke the engine up. With the headers it pulls strong to the red line and throttle response is light years beyond stock. However the headers do not have cats either so I have to trick the computer into thinking there are cats and I can usually keep it convinced for about 500 miles at a time. I have Durametric software so I reset the CEL when it occurs.

The last and current iteration replaced the stock muffler with a M2 muffler, again from eBay. I think it was $199. This muffler system gives a really good sound when driving conservatively but sounds excellent when you accelerate. At the last autocross I had 2 other drivers come up and compliment me on the sound the car makes when racing.

So my combination is eBay headers (no cats), Stebro intermediate pipes (no cats) and a M2 muffler. Great sound on throttle and no drone at highway speeds.

Hello!

I have 2004 boxster s (ok i get it day after tomorrow) and i am very anxious about my future car! Is it hard to to fit aftermarket cats to these chinese headers?

I'm in the UK so my car comes with only 1 pair of cats anyway. I have had the cheap ebay manifolds on both my Boxsters and with the current one have them mated to a pair of 100 cell cats. I didn't do the work mysefl but they seemed to offer up and fit quite easily. A Carnewal modified exhaust finishes it off.

I have a 97 boxster with Chinese headers, factory cats, and a Chinese twin chamber muffler.

Dyno'd it and the headers gave me 15 hp and the muffler gave me another 4 hp.

Sound wise, the car is a lot louder at idle, absolutely howls at WOT, but has a deafening drone at 2-3k rpm. If caught in traffic in the rain where the top and windows must be up, I get out of the car and I have a small headache and I sense I have done some damage to my hearing. Seriously.

The Borla will be as loud or louder and will also have cabin resonance or drone. If you don't have some big bucks to drop on a complete engine to tailpipe swapped exhaust system made by a high end company ($2.5k and up price wise) you're gonna get drone. And even a few of those claim to have eliminated it but it's not gone.

One of the best mods you can do is the Pedro Sport Exhaust hack. Google it and you'll see he drilled holes in the inlet pipes and bypassed the muffler with stainless tubing.

Is that a before and after dyno or just a figure back ton the reference book output figure?

I have a stock exhaust modified by FD Motorsport. Can't be happier with it.

FD Motorsports » Fister Exhaust – Boxster

At about 4000 RPM, the sound you hear matures and deepens. Not really louder, but, better. Not annoying at all, you'll hear the difference. Zero cost, you only need a Phillips screwdriver and a little muscle (just a little).

I have a set of obx mufflers on and a set of topspeed secondary cat delete pipes on my 00 2.7 box. the mufflers alone had a better than stock sound, but a really rude drone from the 2-3k range. with the addition of the cat delete pipes, the drone is reduced significantly, also I was rewarded with a throaty note. with this setup, I could not be happier.

Yes, the 2000 and up 986 have two sets of cats and the set that is monitored by the computer is integrated into the stock "headers". You can get replacement headers with sport cats, but they are $$$.

That might be true in North America but in the UK and much of the rest of Europe the 986 only ever came with 1 pair of cats no matter what year of car. The headers are cat-less.

That was off a baseline pull just before the work was begun. 3 runs:

Baseline
With new headers
With new headers and exhaust

This is the same mod as the Pedro Sport Exhaust from the looks of the pics...

Very true! I fall into the trap of being US-Centric and assuming everything else is too :)