986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - Does anyone make a cheap lightweight muffler for the 986?

loosecannon · 06-22-2009, 08:53 PM

I had the same problems with the exhaust systems on the market-too heavy and too expensive. I landed up making my own and it was so easy I made 3 versions now to fine tune the sound. For my 2004 986, I ordered 7/8" mandrel bent u-tube from Jeg's and after cutting it in half, I have two perfect exhaust pipes that bolt right up to the pipes left vacant by removing the stock exhaust. I'll try to get pics on here tomorrow but here's what I found: straight pipes without resonators or mufflers make an amazing race car sound-I guarantee that the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up as the car passes 4000 rpm. Imagine a Ferrari F430 and you get the idea. It drones from 2000-3000 rpm, especially with the top up but driving one gear lower makes it easy to live with. I made a resonator by drilling 8mm holes all around the pipes in a section about 6 inches long then slid a 2 1/4 pipe over top and welded it to the inner pipe, this reduced the volume of the drone and on a wide open throttle drive by a db meter 40 feet away, it reached 96 db. Since then I made a 3rd example with the only difference being the size of the resonator pipe increased to 3"-this IMO is nearly perfect. You can sneak up on someone if you keep the rpm low but mash the throttle and it makes an otherworldly sound. It still drones a little from 2000-3000 rpm but would only drive me crazy if I had to listen to it on a road trip, in which case I would just drive fast enough to get above 3000 rpm. I took the car to a local track day and two Boxster owners came up and demanded to know where I got the exhaust. One has commissioned me to make one for him and the other took my 2nd example as a template to make his own. I still have two more mandrel pipes so I can make two more versions. By the way, the whole thing with stainless tips weighs 8 lbs. Also, the tips play a big role in the tone of the exhaust, bigger tips lower the tone, smaller tips raise the tone. I will put the car on a dyno tomorrow night and get video but I doubt the audio will be good quality.

06-22-2009, 08:53 PM	#17
loosecannon Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: canada Posts: 12	I had the same problems with the exhaust systems on the market-too heavy and too expensive. I landed up making my own and it was so easy I made 3 versions now to fine tune the sound. For my 2004 986, I ordered 7/8" mandrel bent u-tube from Jeg's and after cutting it in half, I have two perfect exhaust pipes that bolt right up to the pipes left vacant by removing the stock exhaust. I'll try to get pics on here tomorrow but here's what I found: straight pipes without resonators or mufflers make an amazing race car sound-I guarantee that the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up as the car passes 4000 rpm. Imagine a Ferrari F430 and you get the idea. It drones from 2000-3000 rpm, especially with the top up but driving one gear lower makes it easy to live with. I made a resonator by drilling 8mm holes all around the pipes in a section about 6 inches long then slid a 2 1/4 pipe over top and welded it to the inner pipe, this reduced the volume of the drone and on a wide open throttle drive by a db meter 40 feet away, it reached 96 db. Since then I made a 3rd example with the only difference being the size of the resonator pipe increased to 3"-this IMO is nearly perfect. You can sneak up on someone if you keep the rpm low but mash the throttle and it makes an otherworldly sound. It still drones a little from 2000-3000 rpm but would only drive me crazy if I had to listen to it on a road trip, in which case I would just drive fast enough to get above 3000 rpm. I took the car to a local track day and two Boxster owners came up and demanded to know where I got the exhaust. One has commissioned me to make one for him and the other took my 2nd example as a template to make his own. I still have two more mandrel pipes so I can make two more versions. By the way, the whole thing with stainless tips weighs 8 lbs. Also, the tips play a big role in the tone of the exhaust, bigger tips lower the tone, smaller tips raise the tone. I will put the car on a dyno tomorrow night and get video but I doubt the audio will be good quality.