as the title states, just curious if anyone has made their own exhaust system instead of buying one pre-made. i'm in the process of goin single and thinking of going to 4", thoughts/opinions? thanks in advance

 

mine is custom 4". I also have a custom 3" on my WRX. I would never purchase an off the shelf unit again. It is MUCH less exspensive to have them built.

They work awesome. The one on my WRX yeilded more power than ANY commonly avalible aftermarket unit. (compaired to SCC dyno review on them vs. my actual dyno charts). Yes, I had the same mods as the car in SCC when I did it.

 

what muffler did u use? i want a deeper sound if possible

 

I was thinking of selling a few units of the exhaust I'm making right now.

It's 4" with a polished racing muffler
I wasnt sure if people would be interested

 

I have a 3.5 with 2 3.5" straight through mufflers and a metal substrate 4" cat. The entire thing is stainless, including the hangers, and all the clamps are V-band. It cost a pretty penny, but I have yet to hear an FD exhaust that I think sounds better.

 

Biggest problem with a fabbed exhaust is the quality is an unknown. I've seen some really nice fabbed systems, but I've seen more that were NIGHTMARES.

Buying a name brand Japanese exhaust guarantees you good fitment, quality design and ease of installation and removal. With a custom exhaust, you're at the whim of the person designing it.

Remember, exhaust DOES have to come off for various jobs on the car - doing a clutch, working on the diff, etc.

The funniest were what we called "wishbones". FC's have dual exhaust, and I've worked on a few FC's with muffler shop specials. The ENTIRE exhaust was ONE welded piece. If you wanted to remove just a section, tough - you had to do the whole thing. If you wanted to ditch the crappy mufflers or crappy Catco cat, tough - it was one solid piece.

It can also be hard to find mufflers that aren't insanely loud. Most aftermarket mufflers are VERY loud on a rotary, especially with midpipe/downpipe.

Dale

 

I might be going this route myself. Could anyone post pics of their exhuast and if any, what mufflers they used. And sound clips or videos are always welcome!

 

check my setup out.....

 

This is kinda/sorta on the same topic...I was thinking of going w/ a 3.5" or 4" exhaust, and possibly even shortening it so that it came out right in front of the rear tire. Anyone ever try/consider such a setup? Shorter exhaust = less restriction = more power....

The RE GT car uses this setup, but I'm not sure how much work it would take to make happen, and what the advantages and disadvantages were...

 

as far as the quality goes, i'm really not too concerned because the guy who'd be making it for me does amazing work and pays crazy attention to detail, so i'd be set with that. its more the later that i'm concerned with, u hit it right on the head. i don't want somthing thats gonna be insanely loud which is why i was hoping someone could chime in with a possible solution

 

Loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Just make sure you use a bullet type muffler as a resonator and have a fairly long tip after the muffler and it should be fairly quiet. It you use a 3-chamber "deltaFlow" Flowmaster , it sould be pretty quiet. I know flows are better for hot rods, but they actually sound really well on turbo and non-turbo import cars that I have heard.

 

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/index.html for the MP and http://www.4zoomers.com/zoomers_exhaust_tips.htm for the ips.

Absolutely the best Ferrari-like sound ever.

I have had RB dual tip and a few others and this is the best by far.

 

I second the RB Dual Tip.


IMO: The best setup for me, having a g/f and commuting from Austin to Houston pretty often, I did HKS / Any DP, Rx-7 store resonated MP, and RB Dual Tip.


The car was almost stock at idle, not that quiet, it definatley purred but it wasnt obnoxious... When I opened the throttle all the way, it would scream like my street bike.... was very rewarding and would catch people off guard.

Its a great exaust, I highly recommend it

 

I have 2.25 pipe coming out of my T25's, going into a flowmaster collector, into 3'' all the way back, no cat, apexi gt.....Loud as hell.

but i love it

 

I'm currently making my own catback from scratch. I'm using a magnaflow muffler with dual tips from Thermal R&D. All stainless. My quality will be top notch (naturally) but I guess the sound is a crap shoot. As for BoostCrzy's pics I remember the original thread. Sorry to say but welding a different tip on a Pettit exhaust isn't really custom.

Mine should be done in a few weeks. I want to take my time with getting the fitment just perfect. Damn, I wish I had a lift.

 

I have a custom 4" all the way back. It is loud, even at idle it is very loud and very deep. I wouldn't like it if i had to drive it everyday but for a weekend car, its perfect.

 

I have used the Edelbrock on my FC and it sounded really nice, kinda like an Italian car.

It took the heat and beating since it was SS and ceramic wool filled, not glass packed.

 

Aren't magnaflow glass packed?

if so, ur enjoyment may be short lived.

 

No, I do not believe that they are. They are well known to withstand the heat from rotaries and have a lifetime warranty. However I'll say my old GReddy was glass packed and it was fine. The problem was that it was mild steel so rusted through.

 

So no one's ever tried/considered cutting it short and letting it out in front of the rear tire? (vs just taking the exhaust all the way back)

 

It would sit awfully low, since there's no channel for it to sit in going towards the rocker panel. Better not let your girlfriend get out of the car with the motor running either.

 

Yea I'm aware of that. Would there be any structural/chassis rigidity issues if you created/cut out a channel for it to go toward the rocker panel?

Heck, I'd love to see how many drivers I can knock out just by sittin in traffic...

 

Yes. The rocker panels are some of the largest structures in the car; cutting them will weaken the chassis.

 

Oookay, there goes that idea lol. Thanks for the info. Seeing that I haven't taken a good look at the rocker panel, is there enough space to make a circular tunnel in the rocker panel to fit the exhaust exactly, yet as to leave the area surrounding the exhaust instact? (Vs. completely chopping up an entire section?) I'd think that would help provide some rigidity...no?