Looking for LGT exhaust advice

Hey Forum People,

 

Looking for some advice on exhaust... long story short, I'm getting older and the system I've got installed is too loud.

I've got a Borla S-Type cat back up against a fully built engine. Plumbing is a a VF52 turbo and Cobb catted downpipe. I swear the system got louder after the VF52 swap...

 

Running E85, and it idles like garbage when cold, and the cold idle engine speed is 1400 to 1500 and the thing is ... loud.

Thinking of potentially having some fab work done to put on some quieter mufflers in place of the Borla units or adding a resonator...

 

The stock system is too quiet, and worried about it being a power restriction, but I'm also ok with giving up a few HP to have something that isn't quite as obnoxious.

 

Advice welcome!

Hey Forum People,

 

 

 

Looking for some advice on exhaust... long story short, I'm getting older and the system I've got installed is too loud.

 

I've got a Borla S-Type cat back up against a fully built engine. Plumbing is a a VF52 turbo and Cobb catted downpipe. I swear the system got louder after the VF52 swap...

 

 

 

Running E85, and it idles like garbage when cold, and the cold idle engine speed is 1400 to 1500 and the thing is ... loud.

 

Thinking of potentially having some fab work done to put on some quieter mufflers in place of the Borla units or adding a resonator...

 

 

 

The stock system is too quiet, and worried about it being a power restriction, but I'm also ok with giving up a few HP to have something that isn't quite as obnoxious.

 

 

 

Advice welcome!

Stock cat back and external wastegate. Only loud when you're getting after it. Or the stock y pipe and nameless axle back sounds nice and is what my wife's wagon has

 

Sent from my HD1925 using Tapatalk

stay stock, stay happy. i have an invidia catless dp and stock exhaust. super quiet unless tailgating a ferrari.

Ahh, this is good all good advice! I thankfully kept my stock exhaust. Potentially can use that do to something a little bit in the middle. What I really want is a "dial a sound level" to open it up when I'm not in my driveway or in the middle of the city. I've seen that done with electric cutouts and a second, much smaller set of mufflers on old Detroit iron, but there simply isn't enough room under the Legacy for that.

My Dad reminded me he reused an old Flowmaster from a Fox body on the parents 94 NA Legacy, pretty quiet when not on the throttle and sounded pretty mean wide open. Maybe the path forward here something like norutah suggested and some different mufflers on the stock exhaust...

 

Many thanks for the replies!

mercedes makes super small exhaust cutout units. idk the price but they fit in really tight spaces. you could straight pipe one side and muffler the other. put the cutout on the straight pipe side. then only have muffler or have muffler/straight pipe. should not be excessively loud that way

I LOVE my 3" SPT exhaust. if you can find one, imo they are fantastic for a slight grumble but nothing obnoxious

I was in your boat I am mostly stock but I have a GS DP and Dynomax mufflers.

 

Really it comes down to trying out various muffles to get the right sound, however that isnt cheap. I listened to hundreds of videos ranging from stock STi to Flowmaster 60 Series to gauge what I wanted.

 

Your build you might want to go 100% back to stock and start cheap/free with a hogzaust purely to gauge sound of that, if you like it its a matter of the best muffler to mimic it. My favorite exhaust was a STi with a Q300 inside and out BUT all those are backorder/no status for the LGT when I was shopping.

 

The SPT (either version) is great but nearly impossible to find and if you do $1100+ shipped. My perfect exhaust is the slight rumble of a STi, what baffles me is they have a bottle style resonator but do not drone, you put that on a LGT its drone city.

I love the "dial-a-sound" idea, I've always wanted to build a system like that. I think I would make the cutout after a resonator, to mellow the tone a bit. True straight pipes (even on a turbo) always sound a little harsh to me.

 

As for louder than stock but not actually loud, I found a great deal on a lightly used Apexi WS2 Dual Exit Catback. With the stock DP its just slightly louder than stock but a really great tone.

Thanks All_talk and GEE-OTTO, great advice on specific models and the approach. I really like the performance change of the aftermarket DP vs stock (I've put the stock one back on to check), so I need to find something to tone that thing down. I love the "hogzaust" term... hack together something to see how it sounds. The stock unit is just rusting away under a tarp, so why not!? I'm a bit leery hacking up the Borla exhaust, say what you will about the sound, it is well made!