My stock muffler has developed a hole in the middle of the underside. I'm looking to either fix this or replace with something that looks close to stock. Don't care about performance boost. Just want to keep it looking as stock as possible.

Recommendations for successful repair or replacement unit?

 

It can be tricky to find a good used stock exhaust. Many of them are in the trash pile at this point. Also it's heavy and cumbersome to ship. May be worth asking in local Facebook groups if anyone knows one within a reasonable drive of where you are for pick up.

That said, the Tanabe exhaust is probably your best bet for a replacement. It's not too loud, it's not obnoxious looking, and it's available new and priced fairly.

Racing Beat exhausts are another good option but they will most likely be louder.

You will pick up some power with a cat-back as well.

I doubt your muffler could be repaired. It's thin rusty sheet metal, there's nothing good to weld to and it's very contaminated.

Dale

 

When I looked into this the stock muffler was still available per Ray Crowe back in 2017. He quoted me $478 for the muffler and $120 freight on top of that. I ended up going with a new Racing Beat system.

 

Racing Beat Dual-tip. It’s all stainless, comes with gaskets and even a stainless rear hanger so you can replace the old stock rusty one (if you go w/another stock cat-back that hanger can be bought separately too)
Fitment is great and it’s not loud at all.
https://www.racingbeat.com/RX7-1993-...ml?id=Ry9dPfB7

 

That's what I have, and it's perfect for me. Looks basically stock and is just enough louder than stock to sound like a sports car.

I still have the stock exhaust and other OE stuff up in the rafters in my shop.

 

I was actually surprised at the stock exhaust. It's actually louder than I expected when I had mine. So few FD's are around with stock exhaust that we forget what they sound like. Drive around with 100% stock exhaust and the windows down and you get a nice tone.

 

Was the packing still ok in yours? My car when all stock was so quiet. Literally it could have been a Hyundai driving past if you didn't look.

 

I did some sound numbers, admittedly on my iPhone, but the biggest difference in sound (in car) between stock and my Tanabe Medallion is idle. 48db vs 55db, but at higher rpm it was only reading 68db vs 69db. Definitely quiet, but not as much quieter as some comments lead one to believe. Now, there's definitely a deeper sound, which is more noticeable to the ear...weighted db measurements don't tell the whole story of the sound profile for sure!

 

no packing in the stock muffler, its a series of tubes and baffles. they do leak at the seams eventually though, it whistles

 

The Muffler itself was fine, but the actual tip had rusted off and it looked terrible so I replaced it with a Racing Beat. The loudness of the car is all what you're used to. Having owned luxury cars, shitboxes, and all things between, i would not say a stock FD powertrain is particularly quiet or smooth compared to modern vehicles. Part of it is just the lack of sound deadening due to weight (and I'm sure cost) concerns.