Alright, I havent moded my TL that much yet and it is driving me crazy...the first thing i wanted to do to the car was something with the exhaust. I have started with just the resonator and put a magnaflow resonator in and that just isnt enough...I am going to chaning the piping to a 2.5inch diameter and then go into magnaflow mufflers off the back while keeping the stock tips....You guys have any thoughts? Ideas to make this plan better? Anyone done anything like it? Gains at all or only sound?

 

Dragonlord's setup

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qc1Nxnb0jQk&feature=related

 

yea but did he increase pipping size or keep the stock size and just throw the mufflers on

 

from the looks of it, looks just like stock piping, I think he might have swapped resonators though

 

Directly from youtube.

replaced factory resonator with Magnaflow #12640, deleted first mid-muffler and replaced with straight pipe ( stainless 2.5"), and replaced stock mufflers with Magnaflow # 14362. Moved the stock tips out about 1", so they would fit flush with the RonJon body kit I have now. The exhaust has gotten deeper since that clip. Thanks for the compliment.

 

alot of guys did custom jobs because there weren't any aftermarket jobs available

you now have 3 choices... no need to go custom anymore...no need to fiddle...
atlp/greddy/excelerate

 

or just mufflers if you have custom piping done already.

 

Yeah but all of those are going to run 1000+ by the time your done with it. I like doing the custom cause it is all based on how I want to do it and my buddy is going to do it all for me for 300 with the mufflers

 

take some pics when it's done and vids hopefully!

 

get the biggest mufflers you can fit under the car with the stock tips welded on, make a custom y-pipe, run 2" from mufflers to y-pipe and run 2.5" from y-pipe to j-pipe, eleminate the cat and you will make gains close to what the $1000+ cat backs will give.

I have 2.5" running from j-pipe to stock muffler pipes and I believe it gave me some gains since my only mods are AEM, p2R and the exhaust mod and I dynoed at 258 hp. The 6mt TL-S that had the ATLP quads and AEM dynoed at 261hp

if the stage 3 is not enough for you just forget about the resonator all together and just get big mufflers just like the ATLP exhaust is like

 

If you've already got a welder, then you are absolutely correct!

I paid a about $1100.00 total but that included a small 220V Lincoln welder.

It gave me the option to do it in my own garage, learned to weld better and was able to change out the resonator myself when the end result was too loud/droning for me.

 

So when buying an exhaust system it eliminates the third cat and just goes to the j-pipe? and what about the Resonator, leave in or take out or doesnt matter for gains? I think I found the mufflers, now I just need to order and put on...ill try and take some pictures while it is still on the lift so I can show what piping is where, just give me a two weeks, just ordered a CAI and getting that in first then exhaust comes next. (my guess is 2 weeks), but stick in to this thread ill have it up

 

after market exhausts bolt onto the cat actually thats why with custom you can get some gains by removing the third cat. Without a resonator there is going to be some rasp to the exhaust at certain throttle and rpm, i get some rasp at 3 k rpm if i am under between 25 and 40% throttle. Some big ass muffler will probably eliminate that.

are you going to get a y-pipe welded together ?? Thats would be important to maximize the gains

 

Well according to my buddy they can take care of it but I am considering just ordering magnaflow's Y-pipe but I am still a little unsure of the whole diameter thing. One guy is telling me one thing and another is tell me another....by taking out that third cat I am not going to throw a CEL? Would the gains be a lot more dramatic then if I were to leave it in?

 

Well the third cat is a bottle neck, 2.5 in and whatever the stock size diameter is on the out, this restricts flow and removing the third cat does not cause any indicators to turn on. Only removing the first two cats would cause this.

if you have 2.5 in pipe down to y-pipe the muffler pipes need to be at least about 1.75 inches i believe or you will restrict flow. Thats why the after market exhuast have 2 inch pipes after the y-pipe

 

Do you think it is going to be possible to yield any gains or is this only going to be a sound improvement? My ultimate goal is have my TL be a 13 second TL, even if it is 13.99, its a 13, so far if done the CAI next is the exhaust, then the pulley, then other small randoms (like P2R Spacer and gaskets) and the ultimate goal is to not take out the third cat for two reasons, one I live in Illinois and I have to deal with emission testing and dont know if it will pass if I take it out and two because I hear the powertrain warranty part of the car is voided when you take that part out and since I bought the car Pre-Owned Certified it would be stupid to take out the Cat and void the extra warranty I have with it

 

The 6MT is certainly capable of a HIGH 13 with a few mods but it's usually the driver that isn't. Practice, practice, practice......and hope for some good weather conditions. And maybe look into drag radials, too.

 

types09 has done a 13 with only an intake, he has a 6speed

 

not to thread jack, but what is the stock size piping for the tl? 04 if it makes a difference. thank you

 

60mm... before the y pipe... after... I think it is like half that

 

Well when I was looking at it I think the size is bigger from the J-pipe to the third Cat. I think it is 2.5 from J-pipe to third cat and then 2.25 from third cat to y-pipe and then 1.75 from y-pipe to mufflers

 

Now I am hearing about people losing back pressure and losing power with doing a custom exhaust...should this be a worry of mine?

 

yes it should be a big worry.... if the exhaust shop chops here and there and crush bends here and there... you'll honestly be better off with keeping it stock....

 

ARG!!!! now i dont know what to do...what causes that, why would it be any different from a custom set up to a bought set-up when you use the same piping dimensions?

 

what he was referring to is mendral bending as apposed to press bending. If you have a shop that does not care about what your trying to accomplish they will just press bend the hell out of the pipe to make it fit, which reduces the flow because you no longer are maintaining a 2.5 diameter like the mendral bent after market exhausts. With my setup I know I have gains from it. I would not have dynoed 3 hp less then the guy with aem cai and atlp quads if my setup lost power. I now have the underdrive pulley installed as well (amazing mod).

I still suggest you do as I mentioned especially if you can get someone to weld together a y-pipe for you for free. Just make sure that the guy doing the bends and welds understands what your trying to accomplish and thats maximize flow and he should be able to minimize the ammount of bending he does on the pipes. Otherwise you can try your best to find a shop that mendral bends pipes which I believe is hard to find. Then youll have non of these concerns.

I believe the people that are losing back pressure from custom setups are either going 3in (only for turbos) or they are f*cking with the first two cats which will cause lose is back pressure just like if you have read Pro-Cats with a j-pipe loses power on N/A base TL's dont know about the type-s, dont think anyone has tested that setup on a type-s yet. Anyways DO IT youll make gains.

 

Thanks dude, I know the shop will do whatever I tell them to do because my buddy owns it and anytime i bring my car there they take great care of me and let me sit in with them and help them with things here and there (obviously welding isnt going to be on of them). There is a big sigh of relief coming from me right now

 

Well I never updated this thread, I ended up doing half of the exhaust for now, I took out the third cat and replaced all of the piping from the J-pipe to the Y-pipe with 2.5 inch piping leaving the resonator in...felt a little in the butt dyno, sounds freaking awesome and I dont really hear that much inside the car (unless the window is down or I go under a bridge)

 

Which shop are you going to get your work done? I need custom exhaust work done and so does my GS460 buddy.

 

i need a greddy

 

Just a buddies garage with a professional welder...It could be possible for me to make an exact replica of the one I have and get it so you can bolt it right on...let me know

 

DUDE!!!!!!!!! where have you been all my life? Haha

Check this out when you get a minute and let me know if you can help me out.
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/help-brother-out-his-exhaust-689051/

I assume you're all 304 SS?