Received my RNR 2.5" catback few days ago

[mach1one]

I ordered a RNR racing 2.5" catback on Jan. 2, and received it on the 12. So not too bad. It was packaged better than most of the horror stories I've seen on here. There was a quarter size ding in the muffler, but I doubt it'd even show when installed and my car is far from being show-worthy. Seems like if they'd fill the box w/ peanuts it'd keep it from moving around so much in the box. Nice looking piece, I like it.

The guy on the phone was nice, I basically knew what I wanted going in (thanks search ). I ordered the non-ricer verions (no 4" tip) but I got one anyway :laugh: Not a huge deal, it's fine. Though I'm gonna catch alot crap from all my domestic friends I showed it to my fiance, and she was like "isn't that what all you guys use to make fun of?

I guess I could take off the turbo awd badges off the side and let everyone think I'm just another ricer

Here are some pics. I bought the archer racing down/test pipe from a guy on this board. So hopefully it'll be a nice difference once I get it all installed. I'll post about it in this thread when I get done. I have no other mods. Boost gauge goes to about 12 when it spools up then settles at 11.


We also make jokes about exhausts being too big if you can fist it :laugh:

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[Megaman]

niiiice!

 

[KFT0001]

I wonder where my exhaust is. I ordered mine December 17, and my order status page just says pending under order tracking.

 

[98TsiAWD]

The tip isnt too big if you have 3" piping, but seems overkill with the 2.5".
I saw your post on stangnet, your mach1 got burned up or something right?

 

[mach1one]

I knew their custom orders took awhile, so that's why I ordered just a standard catback.


yup that's me. I never really found out why it happened. After 2 months of working on it nights/some weekends, I finally got all the kinks worked out. We were driving along and the thing just shut off. I pulled into a parking lot where a cop was sitting. I looked at the laptop (it had a t.b. f.i. kit on it, and you could tune through a laptop) and it wasn't showing anything. I tried to crank it again and a 3 foot flame shot out the hood. By the time I got out it was too late, the engine was pretty much engulfed in flames.

Then my mom took the car and put it in storage somewhere. Not sure if I'll ever see it again.

 

[Blk95gs]

I ordered my 2.5" downpipe on december 27th and theres still no word or response from them about it...im starting to get a bit aggravated with them.

 

[kev98gsx]

I was wandering where you order the custom exhaust at? And how does it sound?

 

[CanadianTSi]

I'm Glad to see they now weld on the tips all the way around...my tip is just tacked at the top and bottom so some of the exhaust goes out the sides in between the muffler and the tip, which turns the back of the muffler black.

 

[91TalonTSiCT]

Ryans a nice guy. He'll work with you on anything. My first 3" turboback arrived with lightning speed but the packing sucked and the tip was flat for about a 2" span and it was only tacked on like canadian's so i sent the catback portion back to them and then it took about 3 months to get it back to me. This time the tip was welded all the way around, the muffler and tip were wrapped up, and the end of the catback has that flair on it to allow the intermediate pipe to slip right into to.

 

[boostcrazy92tsi]

well this might b the problems with ship times.... i ordered my 3" turbo back on dec 15 and i got mine jan 12. i called them and found out that all the flex pipes were on back order and thats y it took so long. once the flew pipes came in they shipped it out the next day and i had it in about a week. id call the number on the site cause sending emails to them seems to be useless

 

[98TsiAWD]

Originally posted by CanadianTSi
I'm Glad to see they now weld on the tips all the way around...my tip is just tacked at the top and bottom so some of the exhaust goes out the sides in between the muffler and the tip, which turns the back of the muffler black.

I also noticed that, mine just has the 2 tack welds also. Looks much better all the way around.

 

[DSMTurboEclipse]

My RNR downpipe/test-pipe took 2 months to get here but they are in good shape and look sweet. Haven't installed them yet because I am going to wait til I pass emissions. Your cat-back looks good, the tip isn't that bad.


PS. You have a goofy looking hand..

 

[King Salami]

I had the same problem as Mach 0ne. I did not get what I ordered. I wanted a simple 3" tip, but got the polished 4" tip on my 2.5" turbo-back. When I requested $40 back to cover what it cost me to have the tip chopped off, have a new one welded on, and live with a muffler with chopped off welds on it, Ryan initially acted like he was going to work with me, then refused to answer my emails. When I asked (for the 5th time) about my refund, he got completely pissy & refused to refund any $.
I chose RNR because their prices were good, their products looked pretty good, and of generally positive feedback on this site.
I would not buy from them again - it took 7 weeks for my turbo-back to ship (they kept telling me it would ship at 3 weeks, then 5 weeks...), they put the wrong tip on my muffler, then refused to make good on their screw up, two hangars on the back of the muffler & aft piping were misplaced, and the straight middle section of tubing had to be bent a bit to keep it from rattling on the underside of the car
Also, keep in mind - if you want to be able to disconnect your downpipe from the rest of the exhaust, you'll have to pay to have bolt-up flanges welded on the downpipe & cat.
All-in-all, it cost me $100 at my local shop to have my exhaust system installed (with the bolt-up flanges) correctly. RNR is not that great of a deal....you generally get what you pay for.

 

[mach1one]

Well I had it installed today. Definate power increase I stomped it a couple times. Once it went to 14psi in 2nd, then a few seconds stomps in 3rd only seemed to yield 12-13. As a whole, the power feels much better all through the revs. I'm gonna install the boost controller I got and bump it back to 11 to see how much better it feels at the same boost level.

It's pretty loud. I'm a muscle-car/mustang guy and I can't stand the sound of loud imports. Granted dsm w/ exhaust do not = honda's w/ exhaust, but it is noticeable louder. I'm glad I didn't go w/ 3", it'd been too much for me. It is easier to keep the revs down. Much louder and I wouldn't like it, so I'd say it's perfect for my situation.

As far as the fitment goes, the muffler guy did have to heat the muffler up to bend it ever so slightly to give it some room b/t the tip and the bumper.

I have a vid camera, so expect some audio clips within the next few days. Overall I like it

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[awdsm drft]

I'm planning on ordering a cat back from rnr in the upcoming months. I'm not much of a fan of the round n1 styled exhaust on 1st gens. So I think ill be ordering the oval exhaust with dual tips. Has anybody seen this muffler? I emailed Ryan and he told me about it but ive never seen a picture and i don't plan on buying one until i see a picture.

I admit though thats the best looking n1 style exhaust ive ever seen on a 1st gen but it's not exactly the sleeper style I am personally looking for. I'd love to see some videos with sound clips if you can get them!

 

[King Salami]

I agree about the noise level of the 2.5" w/ the Bullet muffler - a little quieter would be nice.
You might try the 18" Magnaflow w/ dual tips. I've heard it's a few decibels quieter than the Bullet.

 

[boostcrazy92tsi]

hey mach do u know exactly where he bent it to clear the bumper. i have the 3" turbo back with the 4" tip and im just rubbin the plastic. i was thinkin of heating up the rubber hangars and trying to stretch them a lil bit but if i can bend it id rather do that.

O and the 3" is pretty loud.

 

[mach1one]

If you heat up the bend in the pipe before it goes to the muffler and pull on it, you can tug on it and pull it down enough to clear the bumper w/o putting any kind of bend in the piping. That' what we did at the shop.

 

[boostcrazy92tsi]

what i found out is that one of rubber doughnuts that holds the hangar is too short. basically i cut the one on one side for and it should hold for a lil while. im gonna goto the exhaust place next week and get a longer doughnut and that should fix the problem. other then that install was pretty much cake. only thing i had a problem with was putting the 3"dp onto the 2.25" o2 housing. they didnt leave u enough room to get a 1/2" drive socket on so i had to use a 3/8" socket and i barely had enough room for that.

Now only if it would stop snowing i could take the ride out and see how she performs. i hate snow

 

[PaulPDX]

Quit fisting that tailpipe you perv!

I'm still waiting for mine... ordered a while back, but it's my own fault. Made some changes mid way. I have been emailing Ryan of RNR this whole time and every single email has been answered the same day or within a 24 hours. Some were even answered within the hour. Last time I got a response Ryan said they had just moved into a new shop so that added some delay. It sounds like they are just going through some growing pains... first not being able to keep up with demand, then moving to a mass production system, and then running out of shop space. So be patient guys. Can't have your cake and eat it too. It is cheaper than the other brands. If it takes longer to get... so be it.

 

[mach1one]

I finally got a chance to get on it today to see what the boost would do. I started out at 2500 in 3rd. I floored it and the boost rose to 13 and stayed there until 3500-4000. Then the boost rose pretty quickly to 16-17. It also felt somewhat sluggish when the boost rose above 15, I guess the car was pulling a good bit of timing.

I didn't think boost creep was possible unless you had an o2 elim. dp. My car is stock except for this exhaust. I guess I'll install the joe p. mbc controller I got and start running 93 as opposed to the cheap stuff I've been using.

 

[mach1one]

Don't knock the fisting till you try it


I finally got a chance to get on it today to see what the boost would do. I started out at 2500 in 3rd. I floored it and the boost rose to 13 and stayed there until 3500-4000. Then the boost rose pretty quickly to 16-17. When it shot to 17 and looked like it wanted to keep rising, I left off. It also felt somewhat sluggish when the boost rose above 15, I guess the car was pulling a good bit of timing.

I didn't think boost creep was possible unless you had an o2 elim. dp. My car is stock except for this exhaust. I guess I'll install the joe p. mbc controller I got and start running 93 as opposed to the cheap stuff I've been using.

 

[RnR Racing]

All orders placed in Dec will be shipping out this week most likely. We have been super busy moving into a bigger shop and it is taking longer than expected. The nice thing is that once we complete the orders we will actually have room to store orders. So that means in the future you won't have to wait a long time to get them.

 

[mach1one]

I installed my mbc and set it at 10psi, and it still creeps to 16-17 around 5K. I'm sure it'd creep higher but I don't want to find out.


Here's the audio clip. Either I'm too used to a lopey v8 or this thing sounds like ass Oh well, the seat of the pant gains were well worth it. 117K for those on dialup.

audio clip of my exhaust

 

[PaulPDX]

Hmm... that is pretty loud contrary to what I've been told. Hopefully that additional resonator I asked for will help.

And, it's a 4 banger. You can't compare it to a 6 or an 8. Pretty hard to make any 4 sound good. The bullet muffler and the 4" tip doesn't help either. The large tip works like a megaphone. If I remember my high school AP physics and college physics courses correctly, the large diameter tip has the effect of increasing amplitude (volume) and decreasing frequency (lower tone). If the tip was smaller the pitch probably would've been a little higher. You'd be amazed how much of a difference in sound exhaust tips make.

The sound is pretty similar to my friend's 2G with a Tanabe exhaust (similar muffler and tip).