Full Exhaust System Help for a first time subaru owner.

[blondy]

Hiya Peoples,

Well, i have been reading and reading and searching and searching.
My mate put in my mind and the hint that it would be possible to turbo my outback, but after having a look through the forums and words with another mate, i've pretty much canned the idea since it's too costly and there's too many things to change. I'll just upgrade one day when i can afford it, which will be a long way down the track since i just got my 2005 outback...aka skippy.

I did have the idea of supercharging too after lookin at a certain users post...but i don't wanna break my car yet, nor have that kind of money to spend or the no/do how to do my own custom install.

What i was wanting to know, is how to get that nice subaru rumble/growl outa my car. A nice middle loudness if possible, something that aint really quite or overly loud that it grabs attention from the boys in blue. But something that makes people turn their head and when you giv it sumthin...you and others will know it. If thats possible.

I had a gander around with the search feature, but i couldn't really find anything that really suited my car, and i want to keep my twin exhaust setup at the back...even though people say that single is better...but i like double.

I was also thinking about going the full system...extractors and all...depending on the cost of things. What i was aiming on doing, is finding out what i need to do, and then go to my exhaust guy and tell him what i want and how much he can do it for. At the very back i was looking at getting two 4inch tipped canons.

Had him do a full system for my old car which was a 2002 holden astra, it sounded really nice at low revs, but the moment you started to hit the higher revs, it sounded like a two stroke chain saw and well...crappy. All he did was extractors and a 2.25 staneless steel sports system which had a hotdog mid way and a performance box at the back.

So this time i want to make sure it's done right. I have seen that you can buy complete systems, but most seem to be for impreza's and for turbo's.

I would buy a kit and do it myself, but this is my only car and it would take alot longer for me to do. I am one that likes to try and do things and have a bit of mechanical mind, but then again i aint no expert and only find things out once i've done it. Plus this way i'll have a warranty on the install. Plus i haven't really found out good places to go to get stuff for my subaru yet.

Um...I think i covered everything, sorry for the essay, but hopefully some of you guys made it through to the end and i didn't completely confuse you in my rambling.

Thanks heaps.

 

[lefty]

check here for some examples of aftermarket exhaust systems with sound clips. You will need to join up as a member.They are on Foresters but gives you an idea:

https://ozfoz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3809

If you get extractors and want to retain the Subaru burble make sure they are of unequal length. Canon mufflers in a wagon will drone heavily, your passengers will hate it and yourself too.

 

[Rally]

Getting extractors will in most cases mean you loose the burble, and it also depends on which model Outback you have. As above, unequal length maintains the burble. I don't know the SA scene as far as exhaust specialists are concerned. My Subaru has a Hi-Tech muffler with twin tips which I quite like. The cannon mufflers are especially annoying even at 60km/h.

 

[Kevin]

When I replaced the axle-back I just threw a lukey on there - sounds nice and not too loud.

 

[SKT]

As for my Foz..... I went 2.5" from the cat back with a flexy joiner and a straight through high flow box. I ended up having a 2nd muffler put in to lower the resonance. Still pretty gnarly though.

I will be redoing mine to suit the new rear bar and will be dropping to 2.25" to hopefully squeeze a tiny bit back into the mid range (1500-2800rpm).

As far as extractors go. As stated, its the un-equal length headers that give 'us' the burble. What has been suggested to me is to get custom un-equal headers that dont meet at a right angle. Instead the come together in a Y shape. This avoids the longer header creating a bit of a wall and the gas of the shorter header haveing to forceing its way into the exhaust proper. Just something to consider if you really must throw money at it.

In a nutshell..... a box will give you a swet sound if you find a decent muffler guy and just say you want the boxxer rumble. He'll know exactly what you are talkin about.

 

[chickenlover]

FYI

the boxer rumble is a result of the unequal length header pipes on standard subis - some oftermarket headers (including the MRT one) are equal length, and you will loose the rumble...

Apparently Borla make a nice system for the boxer...

 

[blondy]

Rite...so is there any point in me doing a full system then? I know i won't get a whole heap of performance, but am i going over-board on such a modern car if i was to do it and can you get extractors with unequal length header pipes so i can keep the boxer rumble?

or should i leave it as it is and just add a box to the end, or do say a cat-back system?

I'm going to try and get to my local exhaust guy tommorrow after work if i remember, i'll get his view and what he suggests and i'll let you know what he thinks...

I'm limited out where i live since we only have one exhaust place to go too...hence i'm trying to find out wot i can b4 i go to him, since i didn't like wot he did to my previous car...well in low range it sounded good...but got very nippy/tinny in top range.

At least i can name drop some brands to add in the system to puzzle him with.

Sorry if i'm a bit n00bish and asking wierd questions n stuff...but i'm trying to get up with the know-how on things.

 

[blondy]

Rite...Just to let you know where i'm at, I went to my local one and only exhaust guy out my way. He seems to think that just putting two performance box's and then welding on the tips i want will do the job and the sound I'm after.

Any idea's if he knows what he's on about? or should i think he doesn't know what he's on about.

Originally i was thinking about doing the whole system from front to back, but then again is it really worth it? would i be better off just doing a cat back system, or an axle back?

Seeing that it's such a modern car, its probably tuned and running at its best with what's in it now. Otherwise if there was gain, wouldn't they already put extractors in it from new???

I come before you as a sponge...tip your bucket of knowledge on me to soak up and become slightly smarterer....hehe

Oh...and Kevin...any chance that you have a sound clip of what it sounded like when you just put the lukey on it??? Unless you've changed and dnt av one???

Thanks

 

[eden]

Rite...Just to let you know where i'm at, I went to my local one and only exhaust guy out my way. He seems to think that just putting two performance box's and then welding on the tips i want will do the job and the sound I'm after.

it kinda will give you the rumble but not like a WRX. it will sound its best when idling.

Originally i was thinking about doing the whole system from front to back, but then again is it really worth it? would i be better off just doing a cat back system, or an axle back?

the extractors is where the main rumble sound will come from. remember its the engine thats making the sound and the exhust is carring that sound.

Seeing that it's such a modern car, its probably tuned and running at its best with what's in it now. Otherwise if there was gain, wouldn't they already put extractors in it from new???

no, thats adding extra cost to them and they want you to start accessorizing. not even high performance cars come with extractors. the whole thing will give you more horses and more lower torqe which is good for offroading.




Thanks

 

[chickenlover]

Borla make unequal length headers especially for the Subi - have a look on some WRX forums etc - this will be the same set up your chasing.

Ive been looking at exhausts and decided diff back, then cat back - up-sized to 2.25 with a freer flowing can is the way to go... unless you itching to spend spon then stick a full borla system on it

 

[Crinale]

i know some of the newer subies come with equal length headers... making them sound like every honda/toyota... heh... not sure on your 05 outback...

is your outback the H6 model? cuz i thought only the h6 and turbo models had the dual exhaust...

 

[blondy]

*Crinale:
My subie is the non turbo 4cyl 2.5i model and i'm really happy it has the dual exhaust...even if it isn't true but artificial twins, i've always wanted a car with twins.

Thanks for the other input guys, here's what i'm thinking now:

I stumbled across a youtube video last night of a subie with the note i really like, which didn't seem to be too loud...yet had a nice note and the right amount of loudness...hehe

Seems to me that all they did was put on a 3" SS Magnaflow box, as far as i could tell from the post. After looking at magnaflow's site, i've come to the conclusion that by the 3" model, they mean the box with a 3" core. Please correct me if you think i'm wrong.

So what i was thinking of doing, since a full system is starting to sound too hard/expensive. I was going to get 2 of the above magnaflow boxes, since my outback has twin exhausts, and then change the stock cat to a hi-flow cat of some type. Do i need to re-do the piping from the cat back then? or can i use the stock piping still? or would that not be very wise?

I've also contacted a new exhaust place that deals with magnaflow products in Adelaide about an exhaust and what they recommend, i'm willing to travel for down town, only takes about an hour to get there from where i am.

Thanks again guys

 

[chickenlover]

youll have to check with magnaflow onm the specs but 3" internal would likely be 3" pipe too I guess!? Also a single 3" 'box' will sound very different to having 2 3" 'cans'
With 2 cans u will have significantly less backflow than a single if u put a free flowing exhaust on IMHO

Magnaflow do a sport and street version - a member of the previous ORS put the street on his gen 3 OB and said it was too loud for him...

 

[blondy]

yea but what else did he do to it...i've just found out that the 03 outback has 2 cats and a resonator where as far as i can tell mine only has the one cat and resonator...not sure if that will play a factor.

But the resonator on the 03 is very close to the front end near the cats, where mine is alot further back.

But yet again i don't know too much about these things and hence the reason i've joined the forum to help me work out what i can and need to do to try and get the sound i want...plus i have since found out my local exhaust guy knows jack and i want to be able to go to him and say...this is what i want...how much...?

 

[blondy]

Well now i just need to get the finer details of the boxes i'm going to use and hopefully the exhaust won't be too far away...fingers corssed....Which means that i'll be hopefully getting some quotes together for a 2.25" Cat back system with a 12"x4" hotdog and then the two magnaflows at the back.

i'm just worried that it's gonna be too loud...but now i know what i'm going to be after...hopefully the exhaust guy will have some knowledge to be able to help...prolly not my local guy...but one from down town...it's an hour away...but i'm willing to travel to get the right thing done the first time.

I actually got around to photo-shopping some pics of two of the tip setups i'm toying with....i was thinking of finding the equivalent magnaflow box with out a tip and put twin dump pipes at the back....i like the look and i don't see any cars around with dump pipes...just the big round tips...i'd like to be different.

Heres the stock setup:

This is the twin dump pipe setup:

and i did one of the twin straight out round setup: (tips are a bit bigger than what they probably should be, but it was getting late and i couldn't be bothered changing them)

No matter what i'm planning it to end up with a 4" tip of some kind...

Feel free to give me your honest opinions, i don't care if you say that you hate/dislike any of them...everyone is free to voice their own personal opinion...everyone has their own taste in the matter...

One last thing to complete another essay, while looking for dump pipe images to do my photo-shopping, i stumbled across this little note someone made about dump pipes and rolled in edge tips: I would only think this would make a difference/affect high performance cars that have been specifically tuned for that exhaust. For instance in my case, i wouldn't think it would affect anything since its mainly for note and hasn't been done to produce any performance gain...anything added is just a bonus.

"Tips that are either down or up-swept introduce an unnecessary bend and - therefore - increase restriction. Oh, and don't be tempted by tips with rolled in edge - these can cause massive in-pipe turbulence and drones."

Thanks again

 

[eden]

i reckon the first down bent pipes look sh1t hot n rock'n'roll.
not to keen on the later

 

[mr turbo]

I don't really like the second one. The pipes just don't look right.

On a brighter note though, I really like the first one that has the bent rear tips. I recon they really suit the car.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[blondy]

Yea it probably doesn't help that the straight out ones came from a dodgy image...and ther probably a little too big...but i was pretty sure i liked the dump pipes...just needed some outside input that was positive...in my head i could see it looked good...but then again i've been told i have wierd taste in things??? :ebiggrin:

I was actually very impressed with my first car photo-shop effort...the dump pipes almost look like they are meant to be there...must of been a one off tho...the second effort didn't turn out as well....

Cheers

 

[mr turbo]

Yea it probably doesn't help that the straight out ones came from a dodgy image...and ther probably a little too big

Agreed, & I took that into account aswell.
But even so, I still like the look of it with the bent rear tips though.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[blondy]

Rite...it has been a long time since i posted..but i've finally got responses back from all of the exhaust places i went to....some were even helpful.

I went with the same story to all of the places i enquired at which was a Catback 2.25" piping to a hotdog/cherry bomb, more 2.25" piping which then splits and goes to 2 Magnaflow Sports Muffler 8"x 5" [14827 street] 4" tip boxes at the rear.

and then i asked them for their opinions and their suggestions on what i was after.

One place said they can't get the boxes i was after and they are not available in Australia...which was total jack seeing i've seen them advertised online here in Australia. They then went to suggest a different product they have called Varex Stainless Steel Mufflers that have a flange in them which is electronic that lets the air flow straight through or around the box. So it allows your car to be loud or quite when you want it...but that was until i caught them out and called their bluff and they suddenly changed their minds and said that they could get them...sounds like they were trying to make a more expensive buy for themselves through me...

others said yep we can do what you want...and that's as much as i could get out of them.

One did advise me though that i should go 2" piping from where the pipes split to twins, since any power i would gain through the 2.25" would be lost if i kept going 2.25" all the way...which i found very handy to know.

the last place...who i seem to trust probably the most now...is a place that did an exhaust setup on a 2008 forester, and they found out that they lost power with a new setup, but gained by just doing the rear mufflers...Dyno tested the car at each stage too...see link below for their results/findings...they advised me that even though their test was done on a turbo version...the results would be the same for me...that is a loss in power, not the same gains etc...

https://www.bestmufflers.com/Informat...forester08.htm

So now it looks like i might be doing just the rear mufflers after finding out that last fact...unless i find out something else to chuck a spanner in the works.

It's funny looking back, since i've gone from wanting a whole new system, to the cats and back, to from the cat back, to just the rear mufflers...lol

Won't be long and something should physically start to happen...but then again i've said that a few times now...hehe

Cheers