Hey guys, I am new to the EP3 world as of last week and basically stole my (new to me) '03 EP3. Im am about 90% sure the guy I picked this up from had no idea what he was doing, or what kind of car he had. (he was a small time dealer)...

Anyways, the car has a few mods: Jackson Racing supercharger, solid motor mounts, tein coilovers, rotora big brake kit, I think a kpro, and some crazy annoying axel back muffler thing .

I am in the middle of doing all routine maintenance, and making sure everything is up to date mechanically. A combination of modding craze and fixing that annoying drone has hit me. Which brings me to my question.



I have searched and searched and I can't really figure out what exhaust setup to run. I read that the stock muffler + headers and a better downpipe is awesome for performance/sound combo; but to run a catback on FI. I could loose torque with shorty headers vs race headers as well? So what do I want then?


This is my DD, so I would prefer not to have an annoying exhaust drone on the highway like I do now, but I do want to free up the 10-25 ponies hiding in the stock exhaust + stupid axel back.


Anybody running the Jackson kit have dyno numbers/sound description with their exhaust's? After methanol and whatnot I plan on getting this tune dialed in and will post up some numbers then.

 

check out the ephatch.com, if you have not already. There are several members with such set up and they could def. give you some good recommendations. GL!!!

As for the exhaust, if you go any custom free-flowing setup, you'll have to deal with the loudness. But, if you set it up right with a good resonator, it won't be as bad unless you have WOT. I have 3" vibrant w/o CAT + KRRH. At normal DD'ing, it just sounds deep, but not loud at all. Once it gets going, you'll def. hear it, but still, not raspy crap. On highway drinving, I try to stay within 60 mph ish to minimize the loudness. Anything just below or above tend to produce little more louder deep sound. I'
ve seen others do a 2.75" set up with similar k20 motors around here, but not sure if it makes that much of softer sound though... IMO, unless you go 2.5" or smaller, I'd just go with 3" set up.

 

Don't get me wrong, sound level isn't a concern, its that super annoying drone pitch/level that it hits. Headache central.

Between my m3 and my almost staight pipe crotch rocket, volume isn't a problem..

 

I see. My vibrant 3" setup with large resonator is nothing near annyoing. It really sounds legit and has some addictive aspect to it also. I tried to get some sound clips recorded (for Dave's previous request), but my phone just doesn't record it right... sucks ***...

 

Any exhaust setup that's at a bare minimum 2.5" internal diameter, but 3" i.d. preferably. Definitely check out ephatch!

 

Is there dyno proof that the 2.4/3 inch out performs headers/midpipe and the stock axleback?

What does everyone think of the HKS catback? of the soundclips I have heard I think I like it the most.

 

I wouldn't recommend it if there was no proof. The smaller the id of the exhaust the less power you will most likely attain

 

Touche.


So I found a local catback, Invidia N1, sound clips online sound good (nice and deep without that fart-can/drone), not really able to find much as in HP/TQ numbers, but I assuming that most catbacks are pretty much the same for these cars?

 

unless you go custom assemble/fit, you'll get similar performance with just different tone/sound. I do hear good things from HKS setup, but little bit of raspyness is still there..., and gets worst with a midpipe or race header.

I had WS2 setup prior to current 3" setup, and it was good for DD'ing and better low end pick up. But, once you're on higher rpm, you'd def. feel the restriction of flow, especially with swapped motor or FI. Sounds deep without the cheapness.

 

Good to know. I will try to pick up this local one.

Maybe in the future I will go custom.