mattr762

I was talking to my dad tonight about cars. I told him how much the uppipe and turbo-back cost for the WRX. He just had his truck redone and paid $200 for dual exhaust (labor included). He thinks I should take my REX to the shop and get an estimate. What kind of issues will I run into and why should I not have them do it if the price is right?

Blk03WRX

I hate to sound like a dick, but are u kidding? why in the world would u buy a car like that and take it to a "muffler shop." save your time and money, buy a real exhaust. MRT makes a great exhaust BTW.

mattr762

I'm just considering ALL of my options. My budget is tight and can't spend $1400 on exhaust. Just looking for a cheaper solution.

mattr762

I'd also like to add the following:

I really challenge the statement that (not all but some) these exhaust companies do any true scientific research. I'm willing to bet that all the aftermarket companies that make exhaust for the WRX did not pour millions in to R&D. This companies just don't have that much cash.

Case and Point 1:
If Subaru spent so much time on R&D then why is it so restrictive? And don't say because of emissions, they could have taken that into account and still had a high output exhaust that meet emission standards.

Case and Point 2:
Turbo Magazine compared 12 different cat-backs systems(Seen here). The most expensive system (M2) has the lowest HP/TQ in all categories. What kind of research did they do? I would think that if everyone did R&D they would be coming up with a much more similar results.

Case and point 3:
Many, many people are extremely happy with the quality and performance of the absolutely cheapest uppipe/downpipe there is (HKS). What make the $285 M2 uppipe any better than the $152 HKS?

Case and point 4:
A 20 degree mandrel bend wouldn't be any more or less restrictive than a 19 or 21 degree bend and the placement of the bend give or take an inch or two should not matter either.

Case and point 5:
Whats the worst that could happen? I don't get peak HP? So, I lose maybe 5 HP. It's worth it to me if I can get it for $500-$700 cheaper.

These are my thoughts and I'm might be wrong on all of these points. Please, by all means prove me wrong.

PaulRex

Well part of my exhaust is made by an menieke muffler shop and I'm very happy with it and has provided great gains in performance. I did it to save money yes, but I did not sacrafice performance IMO. What I did was buy an Perrin upipe, and an Stromung downpipe, and then had the muffler shop fabricate an one peice section from the downpipe back to where it bolts up to the stock axle back in 2.5inch SS piping, then I had them make an axle back section to mate up with that so that(with an muffler i bought from them lol) I could change my muffler to anything that will bolt up with OEM catback.

I actually bought a nice looking but cheap $100 mild steel muffler with an 2.25inch straight through inner diameter from them(yeah it might rust through eventually but i'll cross that bridge when i get there) It sounds loud, but it doesn't drone in the cabin and I'm very happy with it both sound and performance wise..

Anyway the reason I let an muffler shop do part of my exhuast was because the tricky parts of the wrx exhuast are the upipe, and the downpipe, and I was willing to pay more money for those parts, however the rest of the exhuast all it had to be was 2.5inch and as straight as possible, and the meineke did that for much less than i would have paid for if I bought an full turboback system from Stromung or MRT, or BPM etc..
Paul

mattr762

Would you mind sharing prices?

Thanks.

I see that your car is pushing 213.3WHP 212.5TQ @ 14.5psi. What else do you have? Is it just the uppipe and turbo-back?

NSR500

Besides regular muffler shops you should check out shops that build Hot Rods.
I find that they can build you just about anything and in many cases at a good price. For example a Hot Rod/Race Car builder in my area said they could build me a 3" turboback exhaust with a Magnaflow box and full mandrel bends for a little over $500. Keep in mind for $500 it wouldn't be a polished up or coated, but still better value than off the shelf.

mattr762

Orginally quoted by NSR500:
Keep in mind for $500 it wouldn't be a polished up or coated.

I don't understand why someone would need polished or coated. It's under the car were no one can see it. It does not need to be pretty. Unless it's a show car, but mine is not going to be. It's a daily driver that need more oomph.

I'm not even opposed to Aluminized Steel to make it cheaper. We had that on my last vehicle and it last more than 15 years. I doubt I'll have my WRX that long.

PaulRex

Hey Matt, I guess you spotted my numbers over at nasioc because I didn't list them with my name here.

Those numbers are at .1bar of peak boost using the stock turbo/IC/intercooler/ECU and an MBC. At that time I still had the stock upipe installed. I definatly want to get my car redyno'd now and run maybe 16psi peak boost and see what numbers I get. But I'm positive I'll have an improvement.

For pricing, well I paid $100 for my cheap 2.25inch straight through design muffler.. It's like an aluminum finish(although not aluminum i think haha). I don't know who makes it, the guys at meineke had a bunch of different models and i picked the nicest one

The actual exhuast piping from the downpipe to the axle back area was $175, and the piping that was welded to the muffler was actualy $50. So thats

$199 Stromung catless DP
$175 downpipe back
$150 muffler+axle back

So it all came to $524 for the complete turboback.
Paul
edit: FYI the piping IS aluminized steel. It has not showed signs of rust yet and it's been installed for two seasons kept outdoors. Hopefully it will stay that way..

One good thing about my exhuast is that it is very light, my muffler felt like it weighed like 8lbs., and the aluminized piping compared to the stock cast iron with it's sheilding is much lighter!

Drewski

I went to a local gearhead exhaust shop (not the average Car-X or whatever on the corner) and had a fully customized 3" system installed including a custom downpipe for almost $400 on my Supra. This was aluminized steel with a Magnaflow 3" and a hi-flow cat. Sounds great, looks close to stock (i.e., doesn't have a tip that a small child could get stuck in) and the SOTP dyno noticed a nice improvement. Very good work - I've had most of my cars done custom this way, and I've never had to replace any after that. I never understood the idea of paying $1000, $1500, $2000 dollars for an exhaust on anything less than a Ferrari. I'm baffled by the kids that spend so much to get so little return on some average economy car. If and when I redo the exhaust on the WRX at a custom shop, I'm quite sure it will return the same increase in performance as any pricey mail-order kit in "Super Street" (except for the cool name and the free sticker for the fender.)