We've been hard at work on my dad's
987.2
Base. The most recent addition was a Soul valved exhaust.
I'm impressed with the weld quality and the sound. Great tone and minimal drone, though being bolted to a 2.9 isn't anywhere near as loud as the 3.4.
But I am very unimpressed with the over-engineering of Soul's exhaust and the lack of detailed instructions for vacuum and wire routing.
The exhaust itself was easy to install. Took about an hour to pull the stock exhaust and install the Soul system.
It makes sense that this valved system was developed or a quick plug and play application for cars with the factory valved exhaust. But for cars without factory valved exhaust, it makes zero sense to wire an electronic controller for a vacuum controlled valve system.
Tapping vacuum lines creates an additional point for failure and since we already have to cut and splice wires, why not just offer electronically controlled valves instead? This would be a cheaper option to bundle as well...
Also, the universal lock/unlock fobs are an ugly accessory to pair with a $3,000 exhaust system. I would have preferred to see a nice switch, maybe with a picture of exhaust tips on it, rather than a lock/unlock button.
The real frustration was the vague install instructions for vacuum and power. Super detailed instructions for the exhaust system, which is already self explanatory. Soul's install photos are only applicable for an S model, as the Base does not have a convenient vacuum line to tap near the throttle body. Instead, we had to cut into the line for one of the plenum actuators.
Once again, I was faced with over engineering on
Porsche
's part. It would make sense for the actuator vacuum lines to be single hoses, but instead they opted for straight plastic straws connected with tiny bits of rubber hose for every point where the line had to make a bend or turn.
As I said before, every time you have an unnecessary vacuum connection is an additional point for failure. Why
Porsche
did not opt to run a single hose is beyond me... What is even better is that the plastic straw pieces are not flared, so when attempting to connect our T connector for the exhaust system, this factory vacuum connection came undone, requiring us to remove the plenum just to reconnect the stock parts. One hour to install the exhaust system, five hours of dealing with the vacuum routing nightmare.
For power, we tapped the passenger footwell 12v socket and put the signal unit behind the dash for unobstructed communication with the remote fobs.
At least is sounds great! If I were to install this system on my own car, I would just lock the valves open and save myself the trouble of running vacuum lines.
