Porsche factory sport exhaust vs Fabspeed vs others

I know there have been several posts on this board re exhaust upgrades for the 996...I am considering either Porsche sport exhaust or Fabspeed...I've read that the Fabspeed is considerably louder...would appreciate any and all comments re exhaust upgrades and their differences

I have motorsound pkg on my car, along with rsr mufflers!. sounds great, but I wanted louder.....I have ordered fabspeed supercups

I have heard both and have driven both. My preference is the Fabspeed as it is much cheaper, lighter, and easier to install than the Porsche system. Your personal sound tastes may vary. The Fabspeed has a deep throaty sound. The Porsche system has more of a raspy sound. I drove the Porsche system in a C4 cab with a tip and thought it had a low RPM drone to it (the auto will cruise at a low RPM). The Fabspeeds are on my C2 coupe do not ever sound to loud to me. They do not seem to intrusive at 80mph on the interstate. However, if you runwith the engine wound over 4000rpm all the time then I could see where it would seem loud. As I stated earlier, sound is a personal preference. Your findings may vary. Good luck!

If you want to keep the bottom-end torque characteristics of your engine, stay with the factory exhaust setup. Free-er flowing aftermarket exhausts tend to give you a slight bit of HP at high rpms at the expense of less torque.

any aftermarket exhaust and even the Porsche factory spot exhaust TECHEQUIPMENT with the bypass valves loses some minor low-end torque off idle to low revs. This is quite normal and typified by the reduced backpressure of an aftermarket exhaust like our Fabspeed 996 system. The resultant power gains from the low midrange to high RPM power more than offsetts the minor loss of low end torque that is hardly noticeable. Porsches are small high winding engines like BMW and Ferrari and any significant torque and power is found in the midrange and upper RPM anyway as we all "feel" anyday we drive these cars. If we were really concerned about off idle low end performance and we Porcshe drivers wanted low end torque........ we would all be driving Chevy Corvettes with automatic transmissions or Dodge Vipers. Right Viken my friend.

I just heard the Fabspeed exhaust on mp3 from their website. To me the sound is too pipey, not deep enough, almost like it is trying to sound like a Tubi on a Ferrari. It sounds like a high volume of exhaust is being squeezed thru a tighter tube... The sound I get from the 996 out of the GT3 cats, no muffler, is much deeper, and very much like if not identical to the sound of an older 911 with a Monty exhaust. It is loud though, but we have not yet put on the 90 deg, open bore style tips with wire mesh acting as a resonator...With just the exhaust blowing out of the cats it sort of blows right up against the rear body panel, kind of creating an echo chamber, i think with the tips we can lower the noise level w/o removing the boom.

That's "Tequipment." And, it does nothing more than adding a little rumble to the sound. You are missing the point. The 993/996 have marginal torque below 4000 rpm's. Taking any of it away would be a shame. As to the 2002 996, perhaps it is much improved and some people may not mind to toss a few ft/lbs out the window.

"I just heard the Fabspeed exhaust on mp3 from their website. To me the sound is too pipey, not deep enough, almost like it is trying to sound like a Tubi on a Ferrari. It sounds like a high volume of exhaust is being squeezed thru a tighter tube..." REALLY need to hear them in person. The MP3 from their web-site (or exhaust MP3 from ANY web-site) really is a poor comparison. Personally I found the Fabspeeds to sound great, but they were a little loud for me. Exhaust note and volume is TOTALLY subjective and you should ask Joe (or others here, in your local PCA, your local Porsche dealer, etc) for the name of a person in your area who'd be willing to demo them for you. BTW, this is an inaccurate statement (save for the weight savings which is true): "the Fabspeed as it is much cheaper, lighter, and easier to install than the Porsche system." You can install the factory sport system which can be purchased for $1600 (including shipping) in the SAME amount of time you can the Fabspeeds (just as easily) if you don't hook up all the electronic (useless) horsecrap that comes with the factory sport exhaust. Further, you might see if Gert @ Carnewal can order you just the mufflers (without all the electronic crap you probably won't want to install anyway) for less dough. The electronic crap merely makes the exhausts quiet (ie: same as stock) from like 20 mph to 40 mph (not based on RPM - just speedo). This useless feature is so the exhausts pass European noise ordinances we don't have here. PS. I've had both on my car.

So the Fabspeeds are cheaper than the Porsche system by about $600 and compared to the full electronic setup the Fabspeeds are also easier to install. I fail to see the inaccuracy. Well at least you mentioned I was correct in that they are lighter. That alone would make them easier to install in my book.

"So the Fabspeeds are cheaper than the Porsche system by about $600 and compared to the full electronic setup the Fabspeeds are also easier to install. I fail to see the inaccuracy." The Fabspeeds were more than $1k when I bought in 2000. I was quoted near $1k for the factory sport exhaust mufflers alone in 2001. BOTH sets of mufflers require EXACTLY the same installation procedure (if you just install the sport exhaust mufflers without the close at 20 mph/open at 40 mph crap).

Fabspeed Motorsport Maxflo 996 sport exhaust system is $1095 with tips or $995 without tips. Porsche factory OEM 996 big chrome tips or any 2002 Porsche 996 tips bolts right onto Fabspeed hiperformance mufflers. Fabspeed also offers big chrome Porsche techequipment tips for $350/set and will soon have Porcshe 993 chrome ovals for $295/set. Just like Porsches without the high cost. Its all outlined on our website. Have a great day.