Testarossa Sound

Hey guys,
I have a 1990 Testarossa that is a beautiful car... completely stock. In my opinion, this car is too quiet. I want to be able to enjoy that glorious sound a little more, but I want to do it in a way that does not hurt the long term value of the car (i.e. I want to be able to reverse it at any point.) I currently have a Tubistyle muffler on my 308 and I love the way that sounds, but obviously very expensive.

From what I can see, there are 3 basic options that will all impact the sound:
1. Replace the muffler
2. Remove the cats (or high flow cats)
3. Remove the pre-cats

I think each of these will change the sound in a little different way, and could each potentially have different impacts on how the car runs... and obviously some cost differences.

Does anyone have experience to make some recommendations on some good changes. Also, if anyone has any used parts laying around that they want to sell, I could be interested in that as well.

Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate your time.
-Toby

 

My guess is that removing the cats will not make much difference.
Many years ago I had a testarossa - it was a 1987 model initially sold in Monaco but destined to Saudi Arabia; unlike the French cars that, at the time, did not have cats, for whatever reason a Saudi model had a "de-cat" US-spec installment (with flow-through pipes instead of the cats). Even in this configuration, the sound was very muted; I had a tubi-style installed, and I discovered all this configuration story because the tubi exhaust that had to be installed was the one for cars with cats, although the car had no cats.

 

The stock muffler is the quiet culprit. They really sound much better with after market muffler. At 3000rpm the noise comes alive.

 

Taking cats off makes almost no difference.

 

Thank you guys for the responses. That is actually the response i was expecting. So who has a Tubi to sell me?

 

Can the existing muffler be modified to improve the sound and retain usability? I have a spare stock muffler and thought i could get it modified and sewn back up

 

I have seen it done but never with great results. I would be more inclined to find an exhaust shop that is very experienced in custom exhausts and have them build something. I have seen that done with great effect a few times and for far less money than buying a used Tubi.

 

Different stock mufflers (and mod).
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/index.php?threads/Different-stock-mufflers-%28and-mod%29%2E.674434/


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Ok guys... new question. I was able to source a Tubi, and it also came with the cat delete pipes for both the primary and secondary cats. I have heard that this will help the sound, but only slightly. As a trade-off, I think there re more fumes, and possibly some other tuning issues? Any recommendations for where to start? Should I use these pipes or just start with the muffler only?

 

A properly tuned car will not have excessive fumes or smell (it could actually pass CA emissions if there was not a visual inspection), a sport exhausts without any cats is a perfect excuse to find out how good your car is tuned and if it is not then to do so, as if it is too rich or too lean it will be more evident (too rich and it will reek of gas and too lean it will backfire a lot IIRC)


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Perfect. Thank you. I thin the car is tuned really well, but I guess we will see!

 

"Taking cats off makes almost no difference."

No offense, but that is wildly incorrect. I replaced that overweight pig of a muffler with cats and mounted a "tubi-style" (don't know who made it) system that bolted directly to the headers. My 89 TR screamed! Tired of having to swap back to the stock muffler for CA smog tests, I retired the light weight one 4 years ago.

From experience with my 308, mufflers make a big difference. My factory-original (another overweight, sound-proofed pig) burned up and I replaced it with a "hot rod" muffler. It (top photo) was unacceptably loud. I consulted with Nouvolari UK and they constructed a beautiful muffler with a few baffles that mounts directly to my twin cats. The sound is gorgeous and I'm smog-clean. It was delivered in 3 weeks and only cost me $1,900 with shipping to CA! Just sayin', they can do the same for a TR.

 

“Taking cats off makes almost no difference” implies leaving the stock muffler you actually replaced, the biggest problem with testarossas is the exhaust (muffler) not the cats. You can actually leave the stock cats and put a sport exhaust and have a way better sound.
Personally I don’t have any cats (main or pre) and I have a Capristo level 3, if I were to put the cats back the sound will be muffled a bit but not as bad as the stock muffler with no cats


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Ok. Just closing the loop on this one. I took the time today to install the Tubi. I really like it, a little more than stock but not obnoxious. Sounds really good cold. Fumes are not an issue at all. Very happy with the results. Tubi does a really good job of creating a pleasant tone.

 

Kind of apples and oranges don't you think? Or is reading that difficult. We were talking about removing cats. You know, catalytic converters. That is distinctly different from a muffler. This is our TR. Stock muffler, no cats and no one notices the difference.
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I have a Tubi exhaust on mine. The manifolds and pre-cats are stock. I've run it both with stock cats and test pipes.
It sounds very slightly more muffled with the cats instead of the test pipes. The overall tone and volume is very similar, maybe just slightly less high frequencies with the cats on. I can't feel a difference in power.
I have the cats on now, and it's not enough of a sound or power difference for me to want to switch back to the test pipes. I keep thinking I should do it to save this nice new pair of cats from an engine that love to randomly decide to run super rich.

 

I have a 1990 Testarossa. I nixed the cats and added a Capristo exhaust. I love it. For what it’s worth, I got rid of the cats and put a Tubi on my 328. Also fantastic.
For the Testarossa, the Capristo is right. Not silly or immature loud. Not at all. It’s just natural, gritty, guttural, cracking- utterly spectacular.
Keep the original parts in case someday someone, for whatever inconceivable reason, wants to return the car to its less than ideal original state.

 

I just did a quick video with my phone cruising at around 3,200 rpms with my straight piped Capristo level 3, the sound of the video doesn’t do justice vs real life but you can hear how deep and beautiful the sound is (especially next to the freeway barrier to create some resonance) and a bit of accelerating at the end.
I strongly recommend putting on some earphones to catch the best of the video sound.
I wish Id have a better quality microphone to show it better but this is what I got

https://youtube.com/shorts/5uqAcgaSCKw?si=iAL2B-WEvgthyPRr


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why double posting?

 

Cause we were talking about the same thing on both threads and the other one was about the Kreissieg exhaust


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Has anyone heard or seen a video of a Testarossa with aftermarket headers? They're insanely expensive, but I'm curious about the sound.

 

I guess I’m in the minority. I have a US market 1986 TR that was originally sold in California and still has its complete original exhaust system. Yes, it is quiet but I like it that way. It still sounds awesome as the revs climb, but it definitely doesn’t announce its presence. I have other cars that are more shouty, but it suits them. There is one other TR local to me that I see periodically, and it has an aftermarket exhaust that sounds very “boy racer” and obnoxious to my ears.

 

I have the full valved controled Capristo system and it sounds great valves open and still good valves closed but a at a lower level
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Both of ours still have stock mufflers. Growing up I had loud cars and my driving record read like the vehicle code.
No I dive just as fast but with no tickets and I can enjoy the radio.