Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

anyone replaced their exhaust on a 996 yet, was wondering what the cost would be, mines about shot it
Was possibly looking at a sports one

Ta
Steve

I though about it, but after looking at the thick end of £2500 I decided to leave it. I spoke to Steve McHale at JZM, who done my re-map, and he advised against it for any real power gains. They can also give CEL's on a re-mapped car, due to the Lambda sensors. Also the noise is appealing, but after a while it's a bit too much. While going through Europe last year, my friend in his C4S with the PSE had it switched off for most of the driving.

I do think £2500 is cheaper than OPC though.

Depends on the parts.

We just put a full fabspeed system onto a 996 Turbo, faster spool up, at last a soundtrack to rival a F360 with a tubi, no fault codes and much more power.. But about £4k

We have fitted a lot of stainless aftermarket systems we get from Germany, audio improvement, slight improved throttle response, possible power gain, more so if its a complete system with manifolds and cats, but not tested it and again no fault codes.

Have fitted some aftermarket systems customers have supplied from various UK suppliers... fault codes, poor soundtrack and who knows about the power.

With the 996 it is widely misunderstood as a engine management system, a place about 8 miles from my workshop in Poole has seriously buggered a few Porsches trying to map them, a Bosch service centre with some basic mapping equipment has destroyed a cayenne, made a mess of some 996's, and has now decided to advertise as a Porsche specialist!!!! WTF!?!?

The problem is, most mappers just alter the maps, often via the OBDII port... A mapped car has narrower margins of flexibility, which means that an exhaust change after a mapping, or a bad exhaust design, can really make the engine management system throw a fit... Unless you alter a few parts of the software, or understand the exhaust backflow issues and can alter the error margins, which sometimes also needs an alteration to the software.

There are also a lot of people who franchise map, which means they pay a license fee and squirt a pre designed off the peg map into your car... Problem is, you get poor increases and something to generic to get good gains... The other problem is, some of these off the peg maps are designed for other markets where emissions are stricter than here, so often you can get a better map by making it UK/Europe legal, rather than having it have to pass smog regulations in california when the car will never go there... We tend to prefer to custom map each car.

The same idea is behind why the better aftermarket exhausts produce gains, which is because they will pass a UK MOT without issue, but would not pass californian smog regulations which are performed on a rolling road, where as in the UK it only has to pass a standing test... Therefore a less restrictive cat and system is required, the lambda sensors can tolerate a wider acceptable range (see reprogramming) and you get more power without reduced reliability.

Price for an aftermarket exhaust, all depends how much of it is to go.. just the back boxes or the whole lot?

Sorry to move off topic, but you mention re-mapping a 996 Turbo. I've heard horror stories about Turbo re-mapping and it appears that air flow while on the dyno is more a problem than the programmer? If the air isn't flowing through the inter-coolers, and I've yet to see a set up that has the capabilities to do this, then is live mapping is a waste of time? My car was re-mapped by JZM, and I'm happy with the power, they talked me out of splashing thousands on an exhaust as they could not prove a power gain in relation to the money spent. I just want a better noise.

I only turn mine off when going past a horse

I think that's the beauty of PSE, you can turn it off when you want. If you fit an after-market job, then you're stuck with it. I know Design 911 do a switch-able one, but what is involved in fitting it and getting the button to your dash?

Steve, try doing a Google search for "gundo hack" and see if you find anything you like? But if your exhaust is shot, then you may as well buy a stainless sports one.

Thanks for the info guys, i have gone for the stainless sports exhaust its at the dealer now being fitted, hopefully get the car back this week so will tell you what it's like

What's the verdict Steve?

Hi All,

Sorry if this has been asked before but...

I am about to replace the mufflers on my 2003 996 and have noticed not only are the bolts and studs so corroded I think it's held together with fresh air, but the manifold nuts are even worse. Anybody have experience of getting them off, or know what kind of price a garage would charge to replace the manifold bolts and gaskets?

Fabspeed all the way, headers the lot.

The sound and performance are second to none and will last a life time so will the smiles.

The beauty with these system is you do not have to remap. Although I am just about to let the mad professor lose on mine.