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850 Exhaust and ECU upgrades[ALL/1988] posted by Vincent Eng on
Monday, 23 February 1998, at 7:23 p.m.
I asked these questions a few weeks ago and I'm still not clear as to the answers.
Can I attach a generic 3 inch exhaust on the 855 without any bad side effects?
Is there a difference other than price between IPD and Group6 ECU upgrade?
Vince
95 855T5R
94 854T
88 Jaguar XJ-S H&E
84 Ferrari 308GTSi
Re: 850 Exhaust and ECU upgrades[ALL/1988] posted by Terence Lui on
Monday, 23 February 1998, at 8:02 p.m.
It is not impossible to have a generic 3 inch exhaust, since bigger is better for turbo cars. But since you can not buy a bolt on system, it might be quite tough to built one yourself (seems like the 850 is very sensitive to the exact "fit" of the exhaust) I have heard people having problem installing their Borla bolt on system. So I guess this is the bad side about having your own 3 inch exhaust.
As for the ECU is concern, I have heard and know tons of people with the IPD ECU and everybody is a happy customer. I don't know anybody with the Group 6 ECU, so I can't tell you how good it is, besides I am not a big fan of Group 6 because of bad experiences with them, so.....
Anyway, since the ECU is a very important part of the car, you should go with the more popular brand. IPD is great and their customer service is the best, so although they are more expensive, but it definetaly worth the extra money.
Terence Lui
'95 854T with all the IPD goodies
Re: 850 Exhaust and ECU upgrades[ALL/1988] posted by han chung on
Monday, 23 February 1998, at 11:23 p.m.
Vincent,
by looking at the Group 6 ECU upgrade specs, seems like it doesn't perform as well as the IPD's upgrade. i'd say, go with the experts - IPD. you might save about $300 dollars saved in your pocket, but in the long run, you'll always wonder what that extra $300 might have gotten you more.
good luck
han
97 855T Wagon... someday i'll have the $ for it.
Re: 850 Exhaust and ECU upgrades[ALL/1988] posted by Ira Blumberg on
Tuesday, 24 February 1998, at 6:11 p.m.
A good exhaust shop can probably install a 3" exhaust on any car. However, note that the catalytic converter and pipe from the turbo to the cat are only 2.5" at the largest so a 3" cat back is not that useful. If you want to spend some money, you can get a shop to build a complete 3" system from the turbo back, including a high flow 3" cat. To get a good system however, you will have to find a shop with a mandrel bender (i.e., the pipe stays at its full diameter even when bent as opposed to the more common "crush benders"). This is not an easy task.
In addition to the above, most exhaust shops use fairly thin piping. When going with a 3" system, thin piping will result in a substantial increase in noise. I don't know about 850s in this regard, but when I had a custom 2.5" system built for my turbo Eclipse, it was too loud for long distance driving, even after I had a resonator installed. When I switched to a mass produced aftermarket 3" exhaust with heavier gauge piping, the noise was significantly reduced.
Thus, it is hard to predict how a shop built exhaust will sound and you may be quite disappointed.
--Ira