Fabspeed Mufflers

[Izzy]

Just finished installing Fabspeed mufflers in the 1999 C2 Cabrio. Started last night to "prep" around 9 pm, lifting the car, getting wheels off, etc.

Next started to see how difficult it would be.... tinkering with removing the nuts. Before I knew it, had the first muffler off and the the new one on, so figured just did the second one too. All done in less than 2 hours!! Pretty easy to do. Car was ready for my 6:30 am Starbucks run (aka empty highway on a Saturday). Sweet sound.

The sound is fantastic. Now I have the airbox mods done and the muffler with higher output, must have gained about 350 HP, right? But the sound is great, and the torque faster to respond, noticeable. I also noticed the tips stick out further with the Fabspeed, about an inch more.

Followed Lorens instructions for removal and install of the mufflers, easy as pie.

Got the mufflers from PowerTech in NJ, lowest price I can find and a real dealer for Fabspeed (I checked with Fabspeed).

Izzy

[Danyol]

Did you get just the exhaust or the header as well, how much did you pay?

[Guest]

I've had Fabspeeds on all mine: White 01 Cab; Black 01 Cab; 94 Speedster; 98 993S; and of course MISTY! Beautiful workmanship. Joe actually installed my 02 mufflers in his shop in NJ.. Very nice guy!

[dipspanigrahi]

i have the same question....

how much did it cost you?

[Guest]

I got a special deal because Joe F. used my 02 Cab to check out measurements that were different from pre 02 996s. I got my 02 in Nov 01 and drove it to PA for him to check it out.

[Izzy]

They where $895 plus shipping. I reused the tips. With tips would have been $995. If I thought I could have sold my tips for $125 or so on Ebay, I would have gotten them. But didn't look like they where worth that much and they are in pretty decent shape.

I recommend you call around for pricing to Fabspeed dealers. They can give you pricing. For example, direct from Fabspeed without tips are $995. So $100 better.

I may be checking out the Schnell from VertexAuto, and compare quality, etc.

At a glance, the Schnells seem to have a lot of surface carburation on the welds. When welding stainless on a non-oxigen purged environment, you can get the high carbon to come up to the surface, an rust can ensue like any other steel without protection. Fabspeed welds are clean, and seemed like manually cleaned (some cleaning paste still on the welds) with a power tool.

Regardless, the sound is cool. Maybe to loud for long trips, will let you know when I drive to VIR for a track day in November.

Izzy

[Guest]

I should have mentioned that I needed to get the factory TT tips bacause at the time there was no other option.

[Izzy]

Okay, after a few days of running withe mufflers, they are loud. Not always pleasant loud, but raw. Not sure if they are correct. Also, there is a lot more vibration in the car, vibration you can feel under acceleration.

For those who have put in Fabspeed before, is this normal? How loud should they be?

[Guest]

Absolutely not! I do not experience any of this. The sound is just a bit deeper than PSE, but I do not get any vibration. I know he install is fairly easy and I don't mean to insult you, but is everything tightened up properly? The mufflers should not do this. I'd suggest you contact Joe Fabiani direct at www.fabspeed.com even tho you bought from a dealer. He takes a lot of pride in his work and I'm sure he will be able to help with the vibration. The sound is relative, but you can compare the sound you should get by going to his website.

Hope this helps.

Don

[Izzy]

Don,

I torque the bolts to 22 ftlbs and the cat sleeves to 34 ftlbs. Do you recollect if you had to go further than that?

The ears that hold the mounting bracket where a little odd, the short bolt one was very snug to the bracket, the long one was about an inch long. When I torque that one down I could see the ears bend a bit.

Did send an e-mail to Joe yesterday, waiting to hear back from him hopefully today. Thanks for your input.

Izzy

[OceanLiner]

Okay, after a few days of running withe mufflers, they are loud.  Not always pleasant loud, but raw.  Not sure if they are correct.  Also, there is a lot more vibration in the car, vibration you can feel under acceleration. 

For those who have put in Fabspeed before, is this normal?  How loud should they be?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I recently purchased an 00 C4 Cab with the Fabspeed headers and mufflers. My first impresssion was that these are LOUD.

After driving with them for a week, I couldn't take it. I put the stock mufflers back on the car but left the headers. Way better!!

Perhaps if one has a coupe and keeps the windows rolled up they would be OK. But not in a convertible. I literally could not play tunes in the car.

Sound is a personal matter but I am very happy with my decision to take them off the car. Sure the sound is a bit closed now. I am going to try the cold air kit and see if that is better for me personally.

Hope you work out your issues with the muffler.

Bob

[Izzy]

Thank you Bob and Don. I will be checking all the bolts, and re-torquing further to make sure they are tight.

Worse case, it is too loud for a Cabrio, and I will order PSE's and sell the Fabspeeds on E-bay. I will see if I can borrow a decibel meter and post results.

[C4S Surgeon]

Thank you Bob and Don.  I will be checking all the bolts, and re-torquing further to make sure they are tight. 

Worse case, it is too loud for a Cabrio, and I will order PSE's and sell the Fabspeeds on E-bay.  I will see if I can borrow a decibel meter and post results.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fabs are loud no doubt about it, my brother had 'em on for about a month, couldn't take it and got some GHL quiets. Another friend has them and loves it, muffler sound is a very personal thing, always try to hear them first. BTW PSE ain't quiet either.

[AG996LV]

I have fabspeeds on a Cab. They seemed to mellow out after a while (or else I just got used to them :) ) But I remember thinking that I would get rid of them too, almost immediately after I got them. The wife bitched about them every day the first month saying the porsche now sounded like "a ridiculous honda with the stupid loud muffler" and I even called fabspeed about the resonance. It took a month or so, but the sound has now seemed to mellow out quite nicely. I also had the car insulated with dynamat when they did the stereo, which also helped with the interior sound. I don't know why, but they do sound better with a few thousand miles on them.... you might need quite a few full throttle runs to redline to break them in. :D

[Izzy]

I may keep them longer, nut sure yet.

Surgeon, can you articulate the relative difference between GHL and Fabspeed?

My reference point has only been PSE's. They sound to me about 2/3's the resonance of the Fabspeed, more "discreet", and deeper ie lower octave sounding. The Fabspeed website sound is almost close to the PSE's I heard. The Fabspeed I have are more like the "ridiculous Honda with the coffee can on the muffler" sound.

If I keep them longer and start loosing my hearing, might not be able to hear my wife complaining..... No, wait, that's bad, isn't?

I am going to Carolina Motorsport Park (Kershaw) on Friday to track (or "a round of golf", like I tell the boss), will let you all know if the sound did mellow-out afterwards. Thank you all

Izzy

[Guest]

I still don't understand it. We drive around our neighborhood on Cape Cod (lot's of old folks) and no one has compleined. Maybe Joe is tuning them different 'cause mine are 4 years old now. Very sweet sound!

I guess folks are right when they say it's a personal thing.

[quicksilver77]

I assume that you have already sold your fabspeed mufflers?! If not I would love to take those "LOUD" things off your hands!

Thanks,

Sean

Okay, after a few days of running withe mufflers, they are loud.  Not always pleasant loud, but raw.  Not sure if they are correct.  Also, there is a lot more vibration in the car, vibration you can feel under acceleration. 

For those who have put in Fabspeed before, is this normal?  How loud should they be?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I recently purchased an 00 C4 Cab with the Fabspeed headers and mufflers. My first impresssion was that these are LOUD.

After driving with them for a week, I couldn't take it. I put the stock mufflers back on the car but left the headers. Way better!!

Perhaps if one has a coupe and keeps the windows rolled up they would be OK. But not in a convertible. I literally could not play tunes in the car.

Sound is a personal matter but I am very happy with my decision to take them off the car. Sure the sound is a bit closed now. I am going to try the cold air kit and see if that is better for me personally.

Hope you work out your issues with the muffler.

Bob

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Izzy]

I will keep you in mind, Sean.

Did torque the cat sleeves to about 55 ft lbs (from 34 ft lbs in manual), and tighten all other bolts as hard as I dared without causing a break. Vibration is gone, and it did improve the "harshness" of the sound some. It is raining today, so may not be able to really tell how they are with top down. May keep them another couple of weeks and decide. If they "mellow out" the sound would be actually good. Still looking for one of our techs with a sound meter and get some readings new and after 1000 miles. See if we can disprove the theories.

[C4S Surgeon]

I wouldn't pin my hopes up on them turning quiet over the next two weeks, they won't or you will get used to them.

My GHL regular version (not loud) are just slightly louder than stock at idle/ less than 3k rpm, when you hit it, they are louder than PSE. I think they are the pefect compromise, I have no regrets.

[OceanLiner]

I assume that you have already sold your fabspeed mufflers?!  If not I would love to take those "LOUD" things off your hands!

Thanks,

Sean

Sean,

Sorry - They went quickly!!

Bob

Okay, after a few days of running withe mufflers, they are loud.  Not always pleasant loud, but raw.  Not sure if they are correct.  Also, there is a lot more vibration in the car, vibration you can feel under acceleration. 

For those who have put in Fabspeed before, is this normal?  How loud should they be?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I recently purchased an 00 C4 Cab with the Fabspeed headers and mufflers. My first impresssion was that these are LOUD.

After driving with them for a week, I couldn't take it. I put the stock mufflers back on the car but left the headers. Way better!!

Perhaps if one has a coupe and keeps the windows rolled up they would be OK. But not in a convertible. I literally could not play tunes in the car.

Sound is a personal matter but I am very happy with my decision to take them off the car. Sure the sound is a bit closed now. I am going to try the cold air kit and see if that is better for me personally.

Hope you work out your issues with the muffler.

Bob

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[dj996]

Here's my take on the Fabspeeds, they are a good quality muffler that has a deeper more aggressive sound than PSE, one of the reasons I got them, overall loudness about the same. They are probably 60% louder than stock exhaust, they do have what I would call mild resonance at cruising speeds, nowhere near other aftermarket exhausts I have heard. I have heard and driven them on a 3.6 cab and found them quite tame compared to a 3.4 coupe.

I was more than happy with the Fabspeeds until I heard the GHL regular versions, this was the perfect sound IMO, a raspy loud bark yet fairly quiet in the lower revs, probably 25-30% louder than stock unless you are on it. The best thing, there is ZERO resonance at any cruising speed.

The sound is also very individual, one mans throatiness is anothers unbearable resonance. For example, my wife hated PSE, found them way too loud in the garage. ALL of the performance exhausts will be louder than stock, that is a fact, be it PSE, Ruf, Fabspeed, GHL etc.... If you are not sure you will like a louder car I would not buy an exhaust, especially an aftermarket exhaust. Also try to hear the exact combination before you buy, which may be hard. What sounds good on a '04 Cab may be quite different on a plain jane '99 C2. :drive:

Edited October 5, 2005 by dj996

[Hroussard]

Here's my take on the Fabspeeds, they are a good quality muffler that has a deeper more aggressive sound than PSE, one of the reasons I got them, overall loudness about the same. They are probably 60% louder than stock exhaust, they do have what I would call mild resonance at cruising speeds, nowhere near other aftermarket exhausts I have heard. I have heard and driven them on a 3.6 cab and found them quite tame compared to a 3.4 coupe.

I was more than happy with the Fabspeeds until I heard the GHL regular versions, this was the perfect sound IMO, a raspy loud bark yet fairly quiet in the lower revs, probably 25-30% louder than stock unless you are on it. The best thing, there is ZERO resonance at any cruising speed.

The sound is also very individual, one mans throatiness is anothers unbearable resonance.  For example, my wife hated PSE, found them way too loud in the garage. ALL of the performance exhausts will be louder than stock, that is a fact, be it PSE, Ruf, Fabspeed, GHL etc.... If you are not sure you will like a louder car I would not buy an exhaust, especially an aftermarket exhaust. Also try to hear the exact combination before you buy, which may be hard. What sounds good on a '04 Cab may be quite different on a plain jane '99 C2. :drive:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Anybody has the tools to measure the ACTUAL DB ( decibel ) at idle, 3K revs etc etc. that's most likely the only real measure to determine how much louder it really is istead of " I think it's about 60% louder than...". An additional 3 DB equals TWICE as loud as the previous measurement.

[dj996]

Why don't you do that and post your findings.

[Hroussard]

I ain't got no db meter otherwise I would have done it :beer:

[phillipj]

:clapping:

I have a 1999 996 Carrera Coupe. I bought the car 6 months agao. It came with the fabspeed mufflers and cold intake and chip.

I recently added the Fabspeed headers and high flow cats. What a difference!!

I gained anothe 25hp with both mods. I strongly reccomend either of these. More power, more torque. Awesome. About 3k for both.

It is definetly louder with the cats but I like that. It's very personal the way we like our cars to sound. The headers (According to Fabspeed) do not effect the sound at all. So maybe if you don't like the increased sound you could just go for the headers.

Had a mechanic friend install for me. The cats are easy but the headers are a bit more labor. Love their products. Will definetly go for the fabspeed products when I get my Turbo.

Phillip

Edited October 7, 2005 by phillipj