550 exhaust tuning

Ok, so here's the problem. My 550 is loud. pretty freaking loud. loud in a raspy, if-i-hit-4k-your-kid-is-gonna-cry kind of way.

yeah, it sounds bad ass. yeah my neighbors hate that i come bombing home at 3am. but it's not a ferrari tonal kind of noise.

when i ran the cargraphic exhaust by itself, i loved it. loved it so much i threw that tubi in the closet and hoped that steel-eating-maggots would get their hands on it.

so then i got a center pipe. saw the tubi, heard it (tubi/tubi), didn't like it. so i got the stebro. well holy cow, the car sounds like it cracks lightening at dawn.

but here's the problem - i can't get that f50-esque kind of tonality. it's loud, sure, and it sounds MEAN, but it's raspy. i want tonality.

so i'm considering a few options:

1) get another center pipe (Phil - where are you?)
2) order test pipes (all of you naysayers, this would be on-track only OF COURSE)
3) order race-cats (road-legal)
4) some combination of the above
5) run different cats, but put the stock center pipe back in

thoughts? the car should scream and whatnot, and if it's loud enough to break the laws, so what? but it should sound melodious...

--Dan

 

Buy a C4

 

Dan, I would not go the test pipe route as it will be just as loud and you will get tired of the exhaust fumes.
Come on up and meet us(Mike, Chris and Judy and I) in Healdsburg friday at noon and you can hear my car with the sport cats. We will have a great drive after, over to the coast and you could come north with us or return to the madness down below!

 

John,

I'm still gone and will be for a few weeks. Thanks for the invite and advice re: test pipes.

--Dan

 

John
There are no exhaust fumes with test pipes. However there is a large increase in volume. My car has gone from 75db measured at 30metres, to approx 85db. Personally I think sports cats for a street car in this config are the answer though for a street car. As you would know, after removing cats and centre muffler all you are left with is the rears, so no wonder it is loud, but it does sound hot!!

 

Stephen - how did going from stock to test pipes (i know you had your center section and mufflers before that) affect the noise? I think you're probably best placed to say.

Did it just make it louder, or did it change tonality? If so, did it make it deeper, raspier, what? I remember hearing your car over the phone and it sounded a lot like mine, although I'm sure yours is louder.

--Dan

 

My car sounds like a race motor. It is deper down low, raspier through the mid range and wild up top. To get the sound you are looking for, I would try refitting your standard rear mufflers, in conjunction with the X pipe and leave some form of cat, or a replacement "hot dog" style muffler to replace the cats, if you go for test pipes.

 

Fair enough. So the big question is whether I should run test pipes or race cats.

By the way, Stephen, are you running the mk3 or mk5 center pipe? Do yo uknow where Phil is? I've tried emailing him for weeks to get one made.

--Dan

 

If running std rear mufflers, I'd go for the test pipes. I'm pretty sure I'm running the latest design. I'll get Phil to email you.

EDIT: Spoke to phil, has received your PM, didn't see your email.

 

Stephen, while I admire your savvy with the cars and accept you know more about tuning than I do, I do not see how you can say that there are no fumes. That is what cats do, scrub the exhaust, no?
The whole idea is to clean(reduce) unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen. Moden catalytics, in good shape, reduce these three pollutants by over 95% on most cars compared to precat standards.
As a firsthand experience, I would sometimes get a bit noxious when drivng the 355, especially when the car was cold, or it was cold enough outside to not have a window down.
Thats my experience and with race cats on the 360 that has never been an issue, to say nothing of the bigger environmental picture.

Dan, thought you might be home. Hows the project coming? Let me guess, very slowly!!! I have dealt with the buearacracy there, and speed was not part of the language when I was there. Good luck, see ya when you get back. John

 

John, I misunderstood your post. I though you were implying that test pipes "leaked". As to the noxious smell, this is associated with cats when they have died, not with their removal. I accept you environmental comment, they are there for a reason and shouldn't be lightly discarded, which is why I recommended the install of a race cat.

 

I'm right here Dan. didn't get any emails from you, but have sent you and tritone pm's now.

Stephens car has my Mk3 system on it, the Mk4 has a narrower siamese for greater torque and even smoother sound. I sold it last week and am waiting for the buyer to install it and report back his comments.

The Mk3 is the best so far, and I think stephen now needs a Mk5.... which is a Mk3 but with small hot dog silencers to suppress the cat free noise it now makes.... which is nice on track, but just a little OTT for the street.

Re fumes.... removing the cats means that, yes, there are fumes coming out the back... but they don't come into the car that you'd notice. It is of course not legal for the road, and some kind of race cat is the best thing for the road, but the 550 cats don't really lend itself to easy modification, as it is a very awkward shape, with twin inlet and built on a number of compound angles.

 

Phil - i have been trying for weeks on your hotmail account?

PM me when you get a chance, I'd like to run over some options with you. Need to order goods soon so that they arrive by the time I get back home.

--Dan

 

Dan, your car sounds badass right now - particularly when you were downshifting in the hills.

 

Dan - I just PM'd Phil to ask him to go ahead with my )( pipe, hopefully a Mk4 or 5. May still be awhile, as he wants to make 1+ rather than 1-off....hope you get your questions answered and decide to order also!

james

 

James - I'm in. I've been trying for weeks to get through to him via email, not sure why it wasn't owrking.

I'd probably go for a mk3, unless there's a great reason to go with the 4 or 5?

--Dan

 

Sameer: thanks - kind of you to say my friend.

--Dan