I was wondering a few things about this exhaust, as it has basically everything youd need in an exhaust system, but is a large investment. So here goes:

Is it too loud for street use in southern california?

Being catless, does the smell attract a lot of attention from other drivers (cops)?

Will it backfire much? Visibly?

If not the rb full exhaust, what would yall recommend?

Thanks guys!

 

The car is my DAILY by the way, but things like driveability dont really concern me all that much within reason

 

If you have the cash, and need to pass smog, a full racing beat exhaust is by far the easiest and best way to go for exhaust on these cars

 

Rb exhaust is not too loud. However I used there presilencer in place of cat. You will need a cat to pass smog. Bonez has a cat designed for rx7s that I've heard work well. The smell without the cat is pretty evident.

 

Interesting clash of concepts there.

 

Hahaha just because i drive it every day doesnt mean comfort is my main concern

 

I would be running the setup complete as they sell it. Which means WITH the presilencer/header combo. So it would be catless

 

It will smell, not horribly if your car is running ok. It won't be too loud. Mine didn't afterfire a lot, at night you could see a bit of purple flame in the exhaust here and there when it was catless

I had an OBX header, an aftermarket main cat and the RB catback. The cat got cooked and died so I replaced the cat with a resonator, and the car was a bit quieter like that. It did smell a little.

 

He's 17, I'd say that is typical.

 

17 years old...lives in a place named after beer..Racing Beat exhaust...

Goddamn..this Guy has got it all..I'm Jealous!..( I got belly button lint older than him..haha!)

 

Hahahaha what can i say i live a blessed life. But im grateful for what i have, unlike many in similar situations.

 

I personally feel the header is a necessary piece of the puzzle as that is where the majority of the gained BHP is at. The downside, however, is noise. The factory shoebox header dampens noise significantly due to its design affecting the 'pulses' coming out of the engine.. they mingle in the box and a lot of noise is canceled out as a result. This also makes the shoebox horribly inefficient. A full RB exhaust will net you a noticeable power increase, but utilizing the header and the cutback with either a presilencer or cat in the middle of it greatly increases the drivability. Its a little hard to describe... but I feel it ultimately means youre not accelerating nearly as hard to, say, keep up with traffic at the lights.

The way I see it.. youre paying for decent quality, and the fact that the mufflers where they exit the car looks stock. That is possibly my favorite 'design feature'.. its totally different if you've got two fart cans chillin off the back of the car.. looks like you're up to no good! To top it off, the system sounds great and was engineered to be of actual use, not just make noise and widen exhaust pipe diameter...

 

My interpretation of that ^ excellent observation albeit with a twist, if you're primarily daily driving the 7, stay with the stock manifold and just do downpipe to pre-silencer. The extra noise will get old after a while.

If you track it, or are expecting to start tracking it regularly, get the header set up.

If unsure, you can always get a header later.

Racing Beat themselves will give you that same conclusion.

 

the stock manifold works exactly like you describe, there is even an SAE paper on it. as far as power goes, it does fine, the exit diameter is about right, so for a street car it works really well.

the RB header on the other hand is smaller than the port outlets and they cheat the radius on the inlet too, so this is why it doesn't show power gains.

 

So bottom line, downpipe or headers?

 

I am currently running the stock shoebox, and a bonez downpipe + high flow cat (gutted) and the Racing Beat catback. I personally preferred the header overall.

 

I just checked out my S5 and some asshat put on 2 cats.( I am sure they are hollowed out)
Seeing it is a royal Screwup and the catback looks like a 2 year old got at it,I got a RB TII setup that has the 2.5 inch tips.It has a 3 inch y pipe flange.
So plans are to toss a 3 inch universal Cat on it and adapt it to the stock downpipe.

I just got the car into the garage today so I will know more as time permits.I'll try to update.

 

I'd go with the down pipe. I'll bet if you asked Racing Beat that is what they would also recommend.

 

Yes and no. Yes if you have no plans of ever touching the intake or doing any porting or going stand alone.
From RB:
I think they would reccomend the header if you are not keeping the above mentioned stock.

Personally I would go with the header/presilencer combo. It is only $122.00 more and offers more expandability for the future. Now as j9fd3s mentioned and you can find by searching, it does have some design flaws but is better than the stock manifold or anything else currently on the market other than the Defined Autoworks header. Can't comment on the noise difference between the two as I went with the header/presilencer setup years ago.

 

the RB header is made from 44mm ID tubing, and the exit of the engine is 48mm, there is enough meat to port the RB header so that there is at least a cone/taper from the engine into the header.

the RB pipe is the right size, the FC engine is too big. the racing engines have smaller outlets, so the ideal fix is a new exhaust sleeve, but that requires making one, and then rebuilding the engine so its not very practical

 

This is what I attempted to do. I may not have ported deep enough but I at least tried to knock the sharp edge off to help smooth the flow.

 

The Racing Beat full exhaust is not street legal in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, nor are any of their headers. Therefore, the catback exhaust is your next best choice. The one nice thing about socialism is that it makes your choices a lot easier.

 

Hahahaha legal or not doesnt concern me. Whether it smells bad enough for a poliec ociffer to notice is what worries me

 

That's not how it works. If your region has mandatory emissions inspections, then you will not pass and therefore can't drive the car on the street until you get it fixed. If your region does not have mandatory inspections, then you will be OK until you get into a wreck or get stopped by a police officer for whatever reason (speeding, parking, not stopping at a stop sign, loud stereo, just to be a *****, etc.). The fine is $2,500 for each illegal part, and possibly jail time. It is stupid to spend a lot of money on an exhaust system that will just get you in trouble.

 

If you get an Evel Knievel stopped behind you at a light he will notice the smell. A regular cop with the windows up and the air on, probably not.

You will need a stock setup to use to pass emissions and your inspections. After that it's a roll of the dice on whether any of the things Evil Aviator mentioned happens. Sounds like in the P.R.K the cops pay attention to that stuff. In TN. At least my neck of the woods they could care less.