Any 328 owners looking for a custom exhaust but NOT interested in $3000 ones??

If you are not a concours guy, the best thing to do IMHO is to just take your car to Midas or some other muffler shop and they can fabricate you a quailty exhaust using a mandrel bender and high performance mufflers for a few hundred bucks...

 

Agreed. Any Midas/muffler shop/speed shop worth their salt can easily fabricate a suitable replacement exhaust; been done numerous times.
Personally, I love the look and sound of my Tubi and this easily justifies the small cost I incurred; $2500 installed at the time (3 years ago).
However, best of luck with your project. I'm sure you'll come up with something nice.

 

I would be very interested in the headers for 3.2; I am checking on a set of Tubi headers, but would be interested in some alternatives.

I bought a tubi muffler, then later took it off and put my own system tuned for a lower toned smoother sound with no power loss shown on the dyno over the tubi. Quiet at idle and off throttle cruise, but really whooms like an old GTC/4 when the throttle is opened. You can roll a golf ball through mine from beginning to the Ansa Daytona resonated tips - you cannot do that with a tubi...

 

Of course they're valid. However, it totally depends on the guy who is doing the work (obviously). One of the best 'pipe-benders' and custom exhaust makers here in town just happens to work at a local Midas. If you can find a guy who has been bending pipes for a long time and is willing to take on a custom job (Ferrari) you'll probably find him taking on the job with great enthusiasm. After all, it can get really boring replacing mufflers/pipes on Dodge Aries. It doesn't mean that he ain't got the talent.
As anything, ya gotta find the right guy with talent and enthusiasm for taking on the job. Ask around in your area. There's no doubt you'll get some recommendations that will pan out. Then, go by the shop and chat with the guy. You'll know when you've found the right fabricator for the job.
If I wasn't so pleased with my Tubi, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to have this guy come up with a suitable system.
JMHO.

 

Check with Lyle Tanner at ferraripartsexchange (sponsor of this site). He made a nice custom stainless steel exhaust and bypass pipes for my 308. $1500 for whole thing. Looked great and sounded really great.

I think I have a sound file of the exhaust. PM me if interested.

 

I took my muffler off (1984 308), which was a custom built with only two cats and the rest is only pipes (track only). I took it to Midas (and a local muffler guy) to have them copy it exactly but with little glass packs instead of cats.

Either one of them would not touch it with a 10 foot pole. "No way" was the answer.

I have a stock Euro muffler on the car right now.

Here is the system I wanted copied (by the way- this system sounds good, and loud- but not enough back pressure though, which causes very loud pops on deceleration):
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As I said, ya gotta find the right guy. They are definitely out there; my personal experience supports that. Might take some time and some talking to a lot of people, but they're out there. I would never suggest that you could expect to walk into any/all Midas shop(s) in the US and have them happy to do such a job.
Bill, let us know what you end up doing.

 

Easy to have someone just fabricate a muffler. I have had 2. Neither one had the sound I was looking for. Guess it is a matter of opinion. Both of my custom ones sounded awesome at idle and low RPM, but once it got above 3k or so-just didnt car for it. The companies that sell mufflers at the huge mark ups know that it isnt as easy as just fabbing some pipe together to get that "sound"!! So they charge huge bucks. If your looking for a free flowing exhausts, sure have a custom one fabbed up. But if you want that disticnt sound---spend the money and buy one from a company that does it.

 

"Sound" advice.

 

Well, I mostly agree. I didn't like anything out there. Too loud, too tinny, high pitched, or the world's worst customer service that never delivered (guess who?). I wanted the more classic deep baritone singing voice (GTC4). Capristo came closest, but no cigar.
Yes, I had a custom one done by a racing shop. I went through 3 iterations at about $500 apiece until I had the perfect sound for me - a combination of a large flow through packed muffler and Ansa Daytona resonators. And selling the tubi paid for all of them.
To me, the sound is a huge component of the enjoyment of these brilliant little engines. And of course, I enjoy learning about the theory, history and mechanics behind many of the components. I now know enough about exhausts where I will never buy another off the shelf system for any of my cars. Ferraris are such a fun hobby.
Pick a sound you like and go for it - but if there is nothing that you like, don't be afraid to go out on your own. There are a lot of people on the board that can help as well.
Good luck and have fun

 

Russ, I'm guessing you're referring to Stebro above re: never delivered... That's a shame it wasn't a good experience for you. When my Stebro finally showed up it turned out to be a very nicely made piece of work that sounded great - deeper than the tubi and good at both idle and 6,000+ rpm. Good to hear you found a system you like at a reasonable cost.

 

Did prices go up recently? I got my tubi for $2200 IIRC a while back. I like it but not enough to pay $3k+ for it.

 

Cliff - Glad you got a good deal from Dan. I won't say with whom I had a terrible experience, but Canadians have never liked me since I suggested invasion a few years ago...

 

Different car mind you, but I have a Porsche Turbo with a stock muffler that had some of the baffles removed (ie less muffled). Really reduced the back pressure (more HP). Less than $500

 

Hey Bill,

Keep in mind that a lot of Ferrari owners remove their Tubis before selling their cars as it really doesn't add much resale value. I did this as well. My advice is to be patient and wait for a used one to pop up as you can probably get it for 1/3 to 1/2 of what a new one costs.

If you can't wait, remember we have Larry Dawley in our FCA group who has been building stainless steel aircraft exhaust systems for over 30 years. He claims that the welds on his exhaust systems are even nicer that welds on a Tubi. I am sure he would build a beautiful exhaust system for you at a very reasonable price.

 

Bill, there is some good info here..

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=65525&highlight=308+custom+exhaust

Nothing really about headers, mostly cat back custom setups with manaflows, flowmasters and the like.

 

The three people I talked to wanted to do the job, but wouldn't because of legal reasons. In my case, it's because of the cats. My car is a euro, so the only cats were on the custom system and they would not remove them.

Maybe I would have better luck if I brought in the stock muffler for them to copy with glass packs?

Here is the stock muffler:
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That's a shame; sorry to hear that.

 

A while back someone was cutting open different mufflers to compare the different construction between exhaust manufactures, as well as between different model Ferrari. I think knowing what type of baffling and the placement of chamber walls, is more science than art, and knowing what would work best on a particular engine is not something the guys down at Midas are going to have any knowledge of. I like the Ansa on my one car, but not the other that came with the other car. If I didnt want the Ansa I would probably find a Tubi, just because they look good, and are probably tuned pretty well.