[michael lang]

Last week one of the guys at the dealership I work at gave me his brand new Fabspeed euro pre-muffler. He told me that it was causing him headaches because the cabin of his cabrio was smelling like burning oil and exhaust fumes. He had his cat reinstalled back on and said that the oil and exhaust smell have gone away but was told by the shop he went to that due to the lack of back pressure from the pre-muffler & muffler and the fact that his car's valve guides and seals are mostly likely worn that the pre-muffler was the cause of what he was experiencing and has only accelerated the inevitable. If I were to install that pipe onto my car's engine, what is the likelyhood that I will experience the same thing? The difference between the two engine in case this makes a difference is approx. 45,000 miles. I'm not 100% certain that I want to install it because I'm very pleased with how my car runs & sounds with the way it is now. I don't want to do anything squirrelly and break something that is not broken. Although I could install it and see if I like it, if not I could always switch it back. Is anyone currently using a Fabspeed pre-muffler, if so what do you think? I'm very interested to know!

Mike

[Charlie Stylianos]

Less back pressure is good for all out WOT, high RPM performance where you are trying to get all the air you sucked in, out through the exhaust w/ minimal restriction as possible. Think engine = air pump. On the other hand, back pressure IS good for lower RPM preformance/torque as is helps fill the cylinders a bit from the exhaust valve (at cam overlap). As with anything, there is a happy medium between these two extremes and honestly don't think the bypass will hinder low end performance. You can possibly gain lower end pep with a chip (see below).

If you are talking forced induction (turbo or supercharger), different ball game totally. Back pressure is minimized all together. In their world, backpressure = bad.

The only thing I can think of that would change are your air/fuel ratios. I'd send Steve Wong an e-mail asking if this bypass would cause a lean condition causing the above. Also, a good opportunity for him to burn you a custom chip including tweeks for the bypass mod.

[Vicegrip]

Cats will burn oil smoke if there is not too much. Take the cats off a car that is passing oil and the car will smoke but it was smoking before, the smoke was being consumed in the cat. I would guess that the smoke has nothing to do with the back pressure.

[markwemple]

With Kurt on the smoke thing. I've also heard that a normally aspirated engine wants some back pressure and that, unless someone else has done it, the only way to ge it to optimum is trial and error. A computer comes close but, as even F1 proves, noting beats track time.

[Mackpipes]

I have been running the Fabspeed cat pipe for the past 2 years without drama. I never experienced burning oil or fumes as a result of it's instalation. I concur with Kurt. This guy had existing problems. The Cat pipe was not the cause of his "oil burning" or "fume" problems.

I would also consider a sport muffler of some kind: B&B, Fabspeed, GHL, or MB911. The Fabspeed cat pipe will cancel out alot of the resonance from a dual outlet sport muffler that a non-baffled cat pipe will produce. I am currently running a B&B dual outlet muffler with the Fabspeed unit and absolutely LOVE the sound.
I'd put it on without hesitation!

[87turbolook911]

Another happy Fabspeed pre-muffler customer here....I have it combined with a Steve W chip and Bursch (Jet hot coated) muffler. Love the sound and performance.

Put it on and if you don't like it, you can just as easily take it off.

Be sure to use new bolts and nuts and put a little anti-seize on the threads.

[}{arlequin]

i believe only turbo cars cannot have enough of a good thing, ie: low back pressure...

otherwise, n/a motors benefit from the exhaust pulse that is exiting actually creating a sort of a vacuum and thus helping pull out the next exhaust pulse thus not using engine power to push each and every pulse.... imagine a siphoning effect except w/ gas, not liquid. that's what they used to mean by "tuned exhaust"

[michael lang]

I think I may have figured out why my colleague was complaining about oil and exhaust fumes coming into the cabin of his cabrio. I was in the garage earlier this morning looking @ the bolts on the cat of my car trying to plan the easiest way to get them out and it dawned on me that something was looking very odd about the pre-muffler. It appears that the pipe was not installed properly on his car, I noticed that the top inlet pipe was heavily blackened from exhaust leaking as if the pipe was not fully secured to the heat exchanger. The lower inlet pipe & the outlet pipe are very clean look like they had a tight fit. If I put this thing on I would have a set up very much like Vu less the chip and I believe I will be very happy with it. (can say much for the wife when I have to leave the garage early in the morning and our bedroom is directly above the garage, HAHAHAHA!!)

Mike

[michael lang]

I took some pictures of what I was referring to and followed the instruction for downloading but now can't get them to appear in the thread. Can someone please walk me through it?

Mike

[Vicegrip]

I always crop and adjust the image size and then leave the prepped image on the desk top. Then when you want to insert the image you click the go advanced button and scroll down the the Attach files box with manage attachments button. Click the button and find the image you want to post and load it up. It should auto load in the post.

Like this.... I always bury my kids in the sand vertically. They can't get out as easily that way.