I searched through and couldn't find anything that I liked.

Would anyone be able to recommend a fairly cheap and quiet exhaust that's only a step up from stock in terms of sound? This is for my '91 NA to-be daily driver, and right now the downpipes that the previous owner had are deafeningly loud. If not, then I guess I should stick to stock... Suggestions?

 

full racing beat or return to stock, either that or have a custom set-up made with 2-3 resonators/presilencers

 

How much difference is the Racing Beat in terms of sound? It seems like it's significantly louder than stock.

 

I've never even heard a stock system but my '91 NA sports a RB catback and I don't think it's loud at all.
Neither do the neighbors.

Or the cops.

IMO, it's the way to go.

 

I have a Borla catback, with no catalytics, and it is quieter than most, it seems. I have a resonator, as well. I can drive it around town and not have any problems. On the freeway at 75mph, with the windows down and sunroof open, it can get annoying on long trips (I travel home from school once every couple weeks; a 1.5-2 hour drive each way) I know that I was frustrated with it when driving 4.5 hours to go white-water rafting a couple weeks ago. If you're not gonna take it on long trips often, though, I say Borla is a good choice!

Racing Beat catback is supposed to be pretty quiet; their true dual will make you go deaf, though.

 

How's the pricing on all of these though?

 

best bet is to find a used racing beat locally

 

I used to have an HKS catback on my old '91 GXL, with a RB header and a Random Technology cat. It was about as quiet as the full RB system (w/cat or resonators), but definitely louder than stock. At freeway speeds it was not annoying at all. At that time I was a field service engineer and I drove from San Jose to Eureka (7 hrs) and also out to El Segundo and San Diego. Long miles and I could hear my stereo with no problems. You will have to find the HKS (I think Mazdatrix still carries it). Iirc, I spent about $650 to 680 for the HKS setup, including the cat. The RB header will run you about 2 Ben's if you get it through the forum.

 

i had the racing beat complete header back exhaust on my old n/a. it was a bit louder than stock, but significantly less noisy than other set-ups i'd heard. and the quality is very hard to beat. the system normally costs $750-850 so finding it used would definately be for the best. I was never pulled over for having my exhaust too loud if that helps

 

Racing Beat is supposed to be the quiet one, though still louder than stock. It performs well and is totally bulletproof. These reasons make it extremely popular among forum members. But it's pricey. For just the mufflers it's $300-$400, I think. Just check at www.racingbeat.com. 'course since it's so bulletproof you could get it used and save some money.

 

My NA-T is SUPER quiet. The na defusers and the turbo really quiet it down. Well unless your REALLY on it.

 

The tanabe medalion on my '93 is deep and quiet, but I think they only make them for fd's.

 

Get a stock dual system from a junkyard. Take a pickup truck as it's really, really long. Probably the cheapest route to being quiet. If you have some extra cash go for the racing beat stuff as it's well built and sounds good, although it's not as loud as N1's or a straight pipe.

 

I made a custom single exhaust out of a SSautocrhome system and the big muffler from mazdatrix.. It got cheap and quite and it is also 3" all the way

 

I got a Lukey 2.25" cat back exhaust with a 4" cannon muffler. There is a Lukey Hi flow muffler about half way down to quieten it. I also got a Hi flow cat.

It was quite loud at first since its the first performance exhaust I've bought for a car, the old one had holes and didnt work properly, but I'm used to it now and barely notice it unless I'm accelerating hard. I got it all done for A$700