So having recently decided to go "brand new" in my exhaust options, I will let the local community give me their 2 cents about my stage II options. I've already got a cobb catback. I've decided on a grimmspeed uppipe, coated. Cobb heatshield. Tuning? Open source by batlground Downpipe, I've narrowed it down to either Cobb catted: ~$600 Stromung catted midpipe http://www.daddysscp.com/dcart4/product.php?productid=23&cat=10&page=1 With Stromung coated shorty divorced downpipe http://www.daddysscp.com/dcart4/product.php?productid=14&cat=6&page=1 ~$600 So feel free to give me advice, and vote as well. Also can anyone recommend an auto transmission cooler?
I'd look into Invidia and Helix. Both are quality parts and and much cheaper than either of the downpipes you listed. Helix catted $350: http://gruppe-s.com/Subaru/subex.htm Invidia catted $465: http://www.cvrmotorsports.com/store/index.php?target=products&product_id=345 PS, you may be able to get better deals than these as well. Just the first places I thought of to find the products.
nothing wrong with a used downpipe. it's just a pipe, dude. there really aren't anything different among them for bellmouth designs for your power levels. save the $$ on a new shiny piece of pipe and buy a dulled, soot coated piece of pipe that does the same thing. only thing that really matters is the flange style for mating to a catback/midpipe
I prefer the Turbo XS 4" bellmouth, but that is just me. And I TOTALLY agree that used should work just fine. It may have a couple little scratches, but you can always wrap it with heat wrap and get even more benefit while covering those scratches.
I had a stromung on my 04 STi. Ditched it for the Turboxs one. My stromung boost creeped like no other. Cobb you will be happy with. Let me know if you need one. Tray M
Let me explain why I'm not going used. To get a used DP (there is one I could get), I'd have to wait several weeks. Then, I'd have to drive about 30 min there 30 min back to get it. Then drive another hour long round trip to the cryo coating place (forget the name) and another round trip to get the pipe back. OR pay 100 dollars more for a brand new coated dp shipped to my post office. Also I want a new cat, not a used one. As far as helix is concerned, I've heard so many bad things about fitment and quality issues that I just don't want to go there. Also, I'd prefer to get a cat waaaay in the back of the DP, vice the front like the invidia. Tray: you had boost creep issues with a tune?
I have had many DP's ......Dont ask why. Cobb Catted - Best quality and best fitment to stock style exhaust system Invidia Catted and Catless - Superb quality and best fitment to 3" flat flange exhaust Autospeed/ebay catted - good quality but fitment was not perfect Why do you want ceramic coating? Just wrap the downpipe and call it a day. The cobb was by far the best of the DP's I have owned. Having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Invidia Catted DP I ahve on my car now and it mates up to my 3" flat flange cat back much better than the Cobb did.
Case and Point: I got a used never installed (so new in box) Invidia 3" catted DP off E-bay for $250 w/shipping. "Afande" from this site wrapped it for me and my U/P, beautiful job, threw him a few bucks. Saved about $300 on the DP alone. U/P turbo XS (new), Sti Mid Pipe used (free) and Stromung axle back new, but from "KingWRX" so great price. If you throw in local labor: install/wrap, plus a little tweaking by midas maybe $1000 total for parts labor and shipping. Great sound, good fitment, no issues! With the money I saved about $500-$700 I got my AP2. Most of my resources came from this community, FTW.
I've got the stromung shorty coated and catted mid pipe. Fitment was good. I like the coating as it does help with under hood temps / IC heat soak. No data to prove other than opening my hood and it is noticebly cooler. One thing that was a factor for me was that I wanted to mate to a STI catback and the cobb and stromung were the best choices. I was able to get the stromung catted mid pipe used here first so I went that direction. I bought my shorty from daddysccp FWIW. I was happy with them other than it took a few weeks. One other benefit is that you could in theory use your stock mid pipe for emissions reasons if you wanted. I am very happy with my setup.
The main reason is to prevent heatsoak in the TMIC, imo - bare stainless steel radiates heat like a mofo, and the tmic is less than a foot away from a big hot chunk of it.
well, it depends on the temperature of the TMIC and the ambient engine bay temperature. Temps inside the TMIC on the bottom (where the turbo outlet connects) will be higher than the engine bay temps. However, the DP heating up the engine bay will just retard thermal heat transfer rate (Q') from the TMIC to the engine bay due to ambient losses. I think a good turbo blanket would work better since the turbine side will get MUCH hotter than the DP ever will. For me it just seems like a waste when there are much better places for thermal coating (exhaust manifold, uppipe, etc)
deke, thx for that gruppe web site, i just went on and ordered me an 18g. great prices with free shiping.
Another thing I like about the Turbo xs is you can switch out the catted pipe and the "test pipe" (read no cat) in about 15 minutes. So if you want to go catted, you can also swap the cat without having to buy a whole new DP. Fitment is excellent on my Turbo XS bellmouth and it has been a good pipe for me. With some wrap and a turbo blanket (very good suggestion) you would have much lower under hood temps. As mentioned above...that hot side of the turbo gets pretty darn hot!!
go helix catless and take that money saved over other catted downpipes and get an ewg uppipe. more power, no creep, whammy
+5 for Helix... Never heard anything bad about them on here or IWSTI... Also agree about the used thing. I got mine for $250 shipped and it fit/works great. I could see spending the coin on a new cat-back since you can actually see part of it, but the DP you'll almost never see again after install(cept maybe oil changes)...
The reason I wasn't considering helix is because half the reviews on nasioc said it had fitment issues. But if I can be convinced that the helix dp will work... then for half the price of the cobb I could definitely buy it. I'll ask around I guess.
I think maybe their first few production runs had slight fitment issues. I believe that was about 5 years ago and they have corrected the problem since then. I have seen the Helix in person and it is just as good as any of the bellmouth DP. Wrap it and be done with it for hundreds less than the Cobb unit. Which cat back are you getting?
^^^ I already have a cobb catback (stock style flange) installed. Here is what I'm talking about with the helix issues (note the date, 2007, for these threads) http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1351400 http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1422013 Of course another option is keeping the 3rd cat and just getting a shorty not sure how much power I'd lose.... dammit you're all making me rethink things! :fawk:
If that is the case I would get the Cobb DP....It was the best DP I have used to date and I have used about 10 different DP from various subarus' I have owned. I Would look for used one and let someone else take the hit of the depreciation.
I actually might have to agree. I just figured you were worried about the fitment in general, not just the flange that mates with the catback. And since you have a stock style catback flange, you'd probably be best off going for a downpipe with a stock style flange as well. I just imagine it would save you headache in the long run.
I had problems with fitment on my B&B but that was 4-5 years ago. I would just go with the Cobb since you know it will mate up perfectly with your catback.
Cobb is decent but has the OEM bottleneck on the end of it -- just like the cobb catback has the oem bottleneck at the start of it. Weld a full 3" flange to the catback and get a full 3" downpipe. Problem is solved.
Just saw this on IWSTI... http://www.iwsti.com/forums/engine-...-ecu-reflash-units/133885-fs-ct-helix-dp.html