I posted this in general, but thought I might get a better answer here. If the exhaust pipes on a 1997 355 Spider are flanged, does that necessarily mean they are stock and not tubi? Reason I ask is becuase I bought a 1997 355 Spider in August with Tubi exhaust. H ad a PPI done with a third-party dealership that confirmed it was equipped as advertised (with Tubi). However, a few people I've met who have seen my car have commented that my exhaust tips have flanged ends that look like the stock exhaust. The other Tubi exhaust pipe tips I've seen have not had these flanged lips.
If the canister is 2.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall its stock. If it is considerably smaller or has TUBI stamped on the sides then it is genuine TUBI.
Just got a Tubi put on my 328 and the noticable different i saw was that the Tubi has a very nice stainless steel chrome finish, to were the stock muffler was more of a darker, rusty color. The Tubi is smaller too, and lighter. Also the sound is great!! I've got a picture of my stock muffler, unfortunately the lower grate is on in the picture so it's a bit hard to see. I also will post a picture of my tubi installed, of course, the grate isn't put back on in this picture. But, even now, if i look at the back of my car, you can see the Tubi's shineyness...
Not to worry, as Tubi did produce some mufflers for the 355 series that did indeed have the round/flanged style of exhaust tips. I am not sure why, as this was a departure from the normal angle/sliced exhaust tips. I am thinking that these particular mufflers were perhaps some sort of prototype, or even made by mistake, but I know of another 355 that has these style exhaust tips. Too bad you really can't see the muffler on a 355 series with the engine bay opened, so a neck stretch underneath will be required to verify that TUBI is indeed stamped on the muffler. It will probably also be engraved with small lettering that says, "For competition use only".
That's good to hear -- I'll take some pictures of the flanged exhaust tips tonight, and also see if I can get under the car to look at the muffler. Can anyone post hi-rez, close-up pics of stock exhaust tips? I'm curious to see how different the flanged Tubi tips are from stock.
Jeremy - It would take about five minutes for you to determine if you have a Tubi or not. If you remove the air boxes and the heat shield on top you can probably see some or all of the exhaust. The factory system is not polished. The Tubi is polished like the picture above or it may be a shiny golden in color from heat. Either way, it will definately look different than the flat almost rusty colored factory exhaust.
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I was told by a tubi dealer a while back that the tubi that has round straight ends were slightly quieter than the tubi with the slash angle cut. he said it was for the canadian cars. I don't know if he was telling me the truth or not. Only tubi knows. If anything, give them a call, great bunch of guys.