The downpipe I went with is Megan Racing...I don't trust the fitment on those ebay ones. And the megan one was $150 shipped anyway, so cheap enough.

I don't like anything that creates artificial added noise off the exhaust note. I like the natural gurgling and loping sound from the engine, which is why I love my magnaflow -- it's quiet and allows my motor to sing. Some resonators are outrageously loud and fake. Some idiot neighbor of mine has a STi bone stock except for a muffler and the resonator is friggin LOUD! Same with a guy with a 3G bone stock. Nothing done to their cars and they think they're hot shit. All noise, no motor. My car is louder than both of theirs thanks to the 272s now, but at least it's a lope, not a drone.

BUT, the price is right on that japanimport N1 replica.

One of the things that I'm worried about with buying an ebay exhaust, or any exhaust for that matter, is the noise level. To be honest, I kind of like the stock exhaust note. Okay, maybe a few notchs louder/deeper would be nice, but anymore and I think it would just be too much. I don't want to be seen as the "idiot neighbor" with the ricer exhaust.

95autogst said:

One of the things that I'm worried about with buying an ebay exhaust, or any exhaust for that matter, is the noise level. To be honest, I kind of like the stock exhaust note. Okay, maybe a few notchs louder/deeper would be nice, but anymore and I think it would just be too much. I don't want to be seen as the "idiot neighbor" with the ricer exhaust.

Click to expand...

Hey i got this exhaust on and it sounds awesome. Very deep and not loud really at all. Sounds really great. I added a sound clip on page three of this post but i will try to repost it here. The recording is not the best but it gives you an idea of the nice sound it gives you.
I definately recommend this exhaust. For the money, looks and performance.

Link does not work i will quote the post i had before.

LoL... if you have the supporting mods and when it comes to actually needing a 3 inch exhaust, and your neighbors have a little idea of how much HP you are really pushing.. you won't be that "idiot neighbor" .

To tell you the truth, my 3 inch exhaust is A LOT QUIETER than my other ebay 2 1/2 inch exhaust, I don't even have a catalytic converter, and it's still quieter.

If you want a nice deep but not too loud tone, then look for a MANDREL BENT exhaust with a second muffler to reduce noise. Mandrel bends are proven to be quieter than crush bends, due to smoother bends and less amplification of sound waves.

Mark

96gstdsm said:

Here are some pics and a sound clip of my 3" catback exhaust i put on.





[URL="[ATTACH=full]362351[/ATTACH]"]

[URL="[ATTACH=full]362352[/ATTACH]"]

[URL="[ATTACH=full]362353[/ATTACH]"]


[URL="<embed width="430" height="389" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://s123.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid123.photobucket.com/albums/o281/ryangreene555/myexhaustpicsandclip008.flv"></embed>"]<embed width="430" height="389" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://s123.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid123.photobucket.com/albums/o281/ryangreene555/myexhaustpicsandclip008.flv"></embed>

Hopefully these links all worked. Let me know what you think of the exhaust note. I am not a huge fan of this tip but it's what seems to come with all the exhausts for eclipses.

Click to expand...

OK didn't know how to repost that sound clip i posted here so i'm just going to quote the whole thing. This is the exact same exhaust system. I don't at the moment have a downpipe so this is stock downpipe and cat with the 3" catback.
Hope this helps make someones decision easier.

No 1g ebay exhausts? .

Ok, I got my exhaust on today. Japanimport N1 replica with Megan dp. Overall I am pleased, however I do have a few minor complaints regarding both parts of the exhaust.

MEGAN

Quality: Excellent
Fitment: Excellent
Design: Above average -- narrows after the flex section and before the flange where cat is eliminated

CATBACK

Quality: Excellent
Fitment: Good -- it was 1.5" too short between the muffler/rear axle section and the middle section.
Design: Above average -- but narrows at the front flange where it should connect to a cat/testpipe/dp. Hanger on muffler is useless in wrong spot. Very tight fit over rear axle where there is some rattle from contact.

I cut/welded 2" more pipe near the rear axle to close the gap. I also cut/weld 4" section of pipe between catback and dp to eliminated the neckdowns. A hangar had to be welded to top of muffler for support.

Overall it is superior to the 3"/2.25" fabbed system with magnaflow muffler I had before. Noticeable gain in power from the improved flow even on a BT28. My last system was poorly designed and installed by a previous owner. The stainless steel seems of high quality and broke three sawzall blades. The welds are very good. It has two resonators.

For $380 ss turboback system shipped? Very good deal and I'm happy with it.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I left the rear O2 since my last one was seized in the other exhaust. I planned to put in a wideband today but it got delayed by fedex. I knew that pre-resonator exhaust leak skewed the exhaust note, but I didn't realize it did A LOT. I since plugged the hole with a friend's wideband and now it sounds great. Not too drony, aggressively loud with 272 cams, but overall it sounds pretty damn good! VERY VERY happy with this system!

Rice Over Wheat said:

The one thing that I don't like so much is how loud the exhaust is -- it has two resonators. Kind of annoying when I'm listening to music and must keep it a couple notches louder now.

Click to expand...

Dang... That's not what I was hoping to hear... How about with that removable silencer? What sort of affect does it have on the perfomance/noise level?


96gstdsm- Great clip, I'm glad you took the time to shoot it, but from what I'm reading it seems as though we're talking about two different exhausts. You said that the sound quality wasn't that good. What sort of a difference in sound is there as apposed to the movie? From what I can hear, it sounds very good, almost like the sound from say... a stock Mustang GT(??), or somthing with more than 4 cylinders, not the blaaaahhhh from a honda-coffee-can muffler.

The silencer is great...if you like 1" exhausts. Because that's what it effectively makes your 3" exhaust become. Which wouldn't exactly make it an upgrade anymore.

Edit: 95autogst, don't worry about the loudness...I edited my review above as I corrected an exhaust leak and it sounds great now!

Rice Over Wheat said:

The silencer is great...if you like 1" exhausts. Because that's what it effectively makes your 3" exhaust become. Which wouldn't exactly make it an upgrade anymore.

Edit: 95autogst, don't worry about the loudness...I edited my review above as I corrected an exhaust leak and it sounds great now!

Click to expand...

Nice! I'm really glad to hear it. I'm sold. First stop; 14b, second stop; japanimport 3 inch cat back.

95autogst said:

Dang... That's not what I was hoping to hear... How about with that removable silencer? What sort of affect does it have on the perfomance/noise level?


96gstdsm- Great clip, I'm glad you took the time to shoot it, but from what I'm reading it seems as though we're talking about two different exhausts. You said that the sound quality wasn't that good. What sort of a difference in sound is there as apposed to the movie? From what I can hear, it sounds very good, almost like the sound from say... a stock Mustang GT(??), or somthing with more than 4 cylinders, not the blaaaahhhh from a honda-coffee-can muffler.

Click to expand...

It sounds better in person than in the sound clip! It has a very nice low rumble to it. No tinny, or ricey sound at all! At idol it is a very nice quit deep note, when you really get on it it gets a little louder but still sounds awesome! I still can hear my turbo spool over my exhaust so it's really not loud. I did get an illegal exhaust ticket for it just two days ago, but that is more to do with a douche bag cop than it being loud at all.

Damn, looks like this exhaust is great, I think I might be buying it. Just a question. I read through the entire thread, and I'm tired. But is there a link to a 2g GSX one that has perfect fitment?

Everyone so far has talked about their GST exhaust, but no GSX. Well there was one, but which exhaust to be exact? Some people are saying get this one, and others saying get that one.

Also, a megan racing downpipe for a GSX will mate right up to it?

I understood most of everything but the last few posts talked about it not fitting right.

Ok I had to update on my impressions. Did I say this exhaust isn't too loud? My bad, it is LOUD with big cams. The lope at idle is so loud I'm starting to think about doing something to reduce it. Yes it sounds badass but this is going to get me a ticket, I just know it. My previous system didn't have resonators and the N1 replica has two. I'm thinking that is mostly responsible for it. I may have to cut them out and replace with 3" straight pipes instead. That video above is what it sounds like on stock cams. On 272s it's a completely different beast.

This shit makes a mustang cobra sound like a garden snake! Er...you know what I mean...

So, I'm not really getting this, how is it that resonators are causing an increase in sound? From what I understand, they're just like little mufflers in the piping of the exhaust. I know I must not be getting something here, so if someone could help me out, that'd be great.

Resonators and mufflers reduce sound by reflecting soundwaves coming from the engine pulses against each other, low pressure waves bounced against high pressure waves. Think "noise canceling" technology in Bose headphones. They do it by designing a muffler's inner dimensions to match the specific pulse width of a car's engine note, which is why stock mufflers work so well on an unmodified car. But since the sound of your exhaust note depends on the stroke of the engine, air flow, etc, once you start modifying the car out of spec the exhaust note changes because the resonators/muffler aren't working efficiently anymore. Remember they were designed for a certain frequency where they work best.

I think it's safe to assume the ebay systems like japanimports don't have resonators or a muffler that were designed specifically for the dsm, rather they look like they use universal types that they put in all their kits to cut costs. And even if they did, we are all so out of factory spec they couldn't possibly design one that works great for all of us.

So when you add big cams, even on a stock exhaust system the sounds changes drastically to the "loping" sound you hear everyone talk about..."badoop badoop badoop" like a V8 kind of. You can imagine how this effects what kinds of frequencies are coming from the engine and why a car's muffler/resonator can't adjust for the change...it was designed for something else.

My last system used a magnaflow muffler 75% the size and no resonators and was MUCH quieter with the same mods. Cats eliminated in both.

So your magnaflow muffler was quieter?? are you thinking about selling it? I really like quiet exhausts that are pretty efficient and flow very well. I hope that the piping for the ebay japanimportshop exhaust I have can accommodate the magnaflow muffler.

Mark

i second that^^.....

MarkAngelo05 said:

So your magnaflow muffler was quieter?? are you thinking about selling it? I really like quiet exhausts that are pretty efficient and flow very well. I hope that the piping for the ebay japanimportshop exhaust I have can accommodate the magnaflow muffler.

Click to expand...

Well the reason why I didn't re-use the magnaflow is because it was also a 2.25" muffler exit, so you'd render the rest of the 3" system as pointless with that final restriction on exit. I let the muffler shop guy have it as scrap because he gave me a great price and freebies during install.

Good deal.. wish they have a "proven 3 inch high flow exhaust that's pretty quiet...

Mark

i had a ebay one too , and it also rusted right through, i had it about a year, and yes it was full stainless steel, piece of crap it was

i had a ebay exhaust and it too rusted right through, had it about a year, and it was full stainless steal, ill never buy one again

MarkAngelo05 said:

LoL... if you have the supporting mods and when it comes to actually needing a 3 inch exhaust, and your neighbors have a little idea of how much HP you are really pushing.. you won't be that "idiot neighbor" .

To tell you the truth, my 3 inch exhaust is A LOT QUIETER than my other ebay 2 1/2 inch exhaust, I don't even have a catalytic converter, and it's still quieter.

If you want a nice deep but not too loud tone, then look for a MANDREL BENT exhaust with a second muffler to reduce noise. Mandrel bends are proven to be quieter than crush bends, due to smoother bends and less amplification of sound waves.

Mark

Click to expand...

My apexi has two resonators I believe .

SwampRat said:

Hi all,

I bought the X-Tune exhaust this last summer and did a video on the install.
It's on my web server for all to check out.
http://ratsden.net/Carhowto/Howto.cfm

Keep in mind that this is a home server so if it get hit with a lot of traffic it may take a bit to stream the video.

As I'm modding my car I'll be doing videos on each mod.

I have no complaints on the Ebay stuff, and I also buy parts locally as well, it all depends on the price,"I don't have money to burn".

I keep hoping the with so many parts available at great prices it will help bring down pricing on the brand name parts as I would prefer to stay with brand,"proven" parts.

Click to expand...

Great video SwampRat keep it up. That will help inspire confidence in the DIY'ers out there. BTW I loved the Crystal Method in the background How long till you get the short shifter vid up?

It's tough for the 1G owners to find cheap exhaust systems on ebay or anywhere for that matter. I just searched ebay (under Talon, Laser, and Eclipse) and the only results that I got was for the aforementioned Pacesetter exhaust (when searching for the Laser), and the Megan exhaust system (when searching for the Eclipse). The Pacesetter was over $200 for a 2.5" and the Megan was a full 3" but cost over $400 once shipped. I really wish we 1G onwers had the same choices the 2G guys have I hope eventually one of these ebay selling companies will realize that the 1G, may not be as attractive as the 2G, but is just as popular and plentiful.

Do a search for "GSX catback".

http://cgi.ebay.com/89-94-ECLIPSE-G...ryZ33630QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/HKS-CATBACK-EXH...ryZ33630QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/TSUDO-N1-CATBAC...ryZ33630QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/MEGAN-Catback-E...ryZ33630QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem