www.03msp.com
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- 2004 Acura TL
Hey everybody!
I thought I would share in my experiences in creating my custom 2.5" S-Pipe Back Exhaust System. I had the system put together in two phases.
First, I acquired an used Apex catless downpipe and a new Magnaflow hi-flow CAT from LAMP3 and Warrier04. I then proceeded to have a guy at a Merlin Muffler and Brake put the two together and put it up in the car. While retaining the stock cat-back, my impressions were a loud suction, loud turkey, and loud turbo spool noise complimented with a quicker spool up, spool consistency and butt dyno of making the car feel so much more responsive and solid. The cost of parts obtained from LAMP3/Warrier04 and fabrication/installation total was around $450.00 (labor here in Illinois is not that cheap) to get the job done.
Secondly, I decided to keep the stock MSP muffler and go 2.5" piping from the cat-back and to not retain the resonator. I had this work done at a different Merlin Muffler and Brake closer to my house - a place that did other work for me in the past. The cost of piping and labor total from here was around $150.00. Prior to having this done I had experienced my first "heat soak" with having the downpipe/midpipe replaced and retaining the stock cat-back. It wasn't too bad, but still kinda blew. Well, after I had the cat-back piping done, the heatsoak really sucked, I mean really horrible. Okay, on another note, after the cat-back was installed and everything was fitted so nothing would bang around or have metal touch metal I started the car thinking it would be really loud. And, it's not. I guess I'm used to loud exhaust, but the sound is still fairly quiet. When driving now you can hear the deep tone, but it is still too damn quiet - well maybe not. It looks stock from the outside unless you look under the car. One thing I'm not to happy about but will get over is this one place where we had to do a bend as not not restrict air or to avoid banging, you will see it in the pictures, it hangs kinda low, not too bad, but honestly, the only way I could see it done better is taking a lot of time (i.e. more money) and or mass production/fabrication. The throttle response (not under heat soak) is nice, evens the car back out. Still, nice, crisp power.
All, in all, I spent around $600.00 total. Sure it's not Ion's quality, or may not have the same flow characteristics, but currently, I am pretty happy. I can definitely say with the replacement of the downpipe/midpipe and adding a CAT was the most noticeable difference. All in all, I don't think it's too bad of a job.
EDIT: Had cat-back piping redone as I wasn't happy with it (pictures deleted) and now it is awesome!
What do you guys think? Pictures below:
- Brian
I thought I would share in my experiences in creating my custom 2.5" S-Pipe Back Exhaust System. I had the system put together in two phases.
First, I acquired an used Apex catless downpipe and a new Magnaflow hi-flow CAT from LAMP3 and Warrier04. I then proceeded to have a guy at a Merlin Muffler and Brake put the two together and put it up in the car. While retaining the stock cat-back, my impressions were a loud suction, loud turkey, and loud turbo spool noise complimented with a quicker spool up, spool consistency and butt dyno of making the car feel so much more responsive and solid. The cost of parts obtained from LAMP3/Warrier04 and fabrication/installation total was around $450.00 (labor here in Illinois is not that cheap) to get the job done.
Secondly, I decided to keep the stock MSP muffler and go 2.5" piping from the cat-back and to not retain the resonator. I had this work done at a different Merlin Muffler and Brake closer to my house - a place that did other work for me in the past. The cost of piping and labor total from here was around $150.00. Prior to having this done I had experienced my first "heat soak" with having the downpipe/midpipe replaced and retaining the stock cat-back. It wasn't too bad, but still kinda blew. Well, after I had the cat-back piping done, the heatsoak really sucked, I mean really horrible. Okay, on another note, after the cat-back was installed and everything was fitted so nothing would bang around or have metal touch metal I started the car thinking it would be really loud. And, it's not. I guess I'm used to loud exhaust, but the sound is still fairly quiet. When driving now you can hear the deep tone, but it is still too damn quiet - well maybe not. It looks stock from the outside unless you look under the car. One thing I'm not to happy about but will get over is this one place where we had to do a bend as not not restrict air or to avoid banging, you will see it in the pictures, it hangs kinda low, not too bad, but honestly, the only way I could see it done better is taking a lot of time (i.e. more money) and or mass production/fabrication. The throttle response (not under heat soak) is nice, evens the car back out. Still, nice, crisp power.
All, in all, I spent around $600.00 total. Sure it's not Ion's quality, or may not have the same flow characteristics, but currently, I am pretty happy. I can definitely say with the replacement of the downpipe/midpipe and adding a CAT was the most noticeable difference. All in all, I don't think it's too bad of a job.
EDIT: Had cat-back piping redone as I wasn't happy with it (pictures deleted) and now it is awesome!
What do you guys think? Pictures below:
- Brian
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