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DOWNPIPES WORTH THE MONEY??

ARC

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#1
I have a 93 tune
Steeda lowering springs
K&N drop in
MBRP 2.5 cat back
Are aftermarket downpipes worth the money?
Any advice much appreciated
 

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Cruising68

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#2
Needed? Now that's funny. If you have a 2.5 exhaust then the DP's are restrictive.
 

TMac

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#3
Keep this in mind- there have been several postings of owners on this forum with supporting dyno charts making over 500 (wheel hp!) with stock downpipes AND stock exhaust. In one case, 540 WHP. So unless you really want to make more HP than that (and that won't be a 93 tune, you'd have to go to ethanol), it's not worth it.
 

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OP
ARC

ARC

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Thread Starter #4
Yes, excellent point.
After I installed the MBRP exhaust I am regretting it NOW somewhat, as the system is a bit louder than I wanted.
 

st8

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#5
Yes, excellent point.
After I installed the MBRP exhaust I am regretting it NOW somewhat, as the system is a bit louder than I wanted.
Hmm is it the drone? Or just overall loudness of the exhaust. I was leaning towards the Mbrp catback but have been holding off. Just afraid it’ll be too loud for the kids and just every day driving. But I do want something with a little growl.
 

OP
ARC

ARC

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Thread Starter #6
The drone is bad at about 75 to 85 mph.
The system sounds great IMO and I feel helps to open it up but the sound increase is significant.
Maybe you cant have the best of both worlds but it seemed like that thermal exhaust setup may be my next choice.
Thermal comes with new flex pipes and has a small resonator on top of muffler setup.
For the price though the MBRP cant be beat, I bought the installer series and paid about 825.00
 

GearHead_1

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#7
(y) on the Thermal. I've really liked mine with zero bad things to say. My wife likes the tone too. That's a win/win. That typically doesn't come easy and is a real plus as it's her car. :unsure:
 

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ARC

ARC

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Thread Starter #8
Yeah that's a rare happening around my parts too!
But the again she doesn't get to drive my car anyway...:LOL::LOL::LOL:
 

st8

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#9
The drone is bad at about 75 to 85 mph.
The system sounds great IMO and I feel helps to open it up but the sound increase is significant.
Maybe you cant have the best of both worlds but it seemed like that thermal exhaust setup may be my next choice.
Thermal comes with new flex pipes and has a small resonator on top of muffler setup.
For the price though the MBRP cant be beat, I bought the installer series and paid about 825.00
Thanks for the info. What’s the thermal exhaust? I didn’t see that on lethal performance website.
 

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#11
Stock exhaust and downpipes here, 520whp/540wtq. I wonder if I would make more if I had more flow?
 

TMac

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#12
I think you are way ahead of the game in terms of hp. So, if you want more, you really need to think about your goals and your budget! You could spend $2800 on downpipes and exhaust for another 25 or so HP. After that you're talking about turbos, and that's where it gets interesting. It's my personal opinion that modifying the stock turbos is not only expensive, but because of the stock housing limitations, they just aren't worth it. So then it's aftermarket turbos, and if you take that approach, all of budget spent on downpipes and exhaust might have to be scrapped or at least reworked/fabbed.
 

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#13
520whp/540wtq running 3.9 sec 0 - 60mph?
hmm..
I wonder where I'm at then in terms of power as I have not gone on a dyno..
I have 93 octane tune, Whipple IC, SPD downpipes, Borla exhaust and before winter I got 4.11 sec
Tuner told me guys are running high 3's with this setup however they also told me the ST is at approx. 430whp/500 to the crank so idk what is going on here lol.
 

TMac

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#14
Poster mentioned wheel spin- that would certainly affect the 0-60s.
 



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