$13 DIY muffler bypass pipes.

I am driving the 996 in One Lap this year and have been putting the car on a diet for the last few weeks. My goal is to get the car under 2900 lbs with a half tank of gas. I carefully removed the ENTIRE rear interior of the car:carpet, speakers trim etc.I then moved to the front and removed the spare, tool kit etc. That brought me to about 3000 pounds. I then put studs in the rear holes of the passenger seat bolts so that the seat can be easily removed every morning when I arrive at the track. I installed a GT3 sport seat that does not have the comfort seat motors. Down to just under 2950. I had wanted to buy FabSpeed muffler bypass pipes but the $495 cost is just way too high for a limited use(track day and One Lap) product. So I measured the pipe coming out of the cats 2in and went to Pep Boys. For $6.99 each I bought two pieces of right angle pipe. They fit perfectly without any cutting and I was able to use the factory clamps. The entire install, and muffler removal took about 20 minutes; figure a bit longer if you do not have air tools. If you do not care about the BLING factor of the FabSpeed polished pipes this is a great cheap mod. I have not done an official weighing, and corner balance but the car should now be right at the 2900lb goal. Alex

This is very cool. I knew there had to be a cheap way to do this. Can you post pictures? Is there a way to clamp on tips? And the big question - How does it sound? Neighbors hate you?

very cool - Alex. and much cheaper than the Ti Wonder exhaust i had on the 92 cup (9lbs from the headers to tip)

interesting, definitely MacGuyver-worthy ... and you know -- this thread is worthless without pics!!

Great story and solution. Have you considered a few other areas of lightening? I noticed in your Avatar that your car has the rear wiper. Have a look at how much that motor weighs. It's easily accessible from inside the car, behind that rear trim panel. I'm sure that there are plenty of other areas where you can shave some weight as well if you haven;t hit your target.

also, how heavy are the twists?

I am going out of town, but if I can take a picture before I go, I will post it. At the track have seen several Cup cars sporting plain pipes. To my taste there is a reall appeal to the totally functional, understated look. All business and a big sound. The sound has been discused here many times. My take is that it is not near as loud as I had feared. At 3000 rpms it is very livable. Would my wife tolorate them as a permanant addition, NO. But, they are quite enough that I will use them for One Lap and track days. I think that the weight savings will be worth the 20 minute hassle of switching the pipes and removing the mufflers.

Anybody know what decibel level the bypass pipes produce on a 3.6 996? Some of the tracks I go to have a 89db max, but I would love to try my bypass pipes there.

Hanging head in embarrassment. Sorry about the typos in the last post; must proofread. Alon, the rear wiper is history. Any other thoughts? I am getting a little concerned that it will take me an entire weekend to put all of the parts back in the car after the race. : ( As for the twists, they are my track wheels. I will be using 5 spokes for One Lap. I will try to post a pic tonight but it won�t show you much. Just imagine the big, plain, unpolished exhaust pipes coming out the back of your parents station wagon in the 70�s and you have a pretty accurate image of the 996(without the fake wood paneling). Alex

Remove the front sway bar? It will help redice understeer What about going to a smaller, lightweight battery like some of the GT3 guys? Center, lower console (not much but it all helps)? Remove bumper reinforcement bars (easy to remove bumper skins for access)? They must weigh at least 30 pounds each... Headlights swapped for empty housings (headlights pop out in one minute each) but I don't know how much weight you'd save there and how hard it would be to find another set of housings and empty them out. Hmm, what else?

i was always under the impression that bypass pipes at full throttle were above the 100dB mark. i'd be interested also in finding out the real number as i have to get under 97dB.

Remove bumper reinforcement bars (easy to remove bumper skins for access)? They must weigh at least 30 pounds each... Alon, have you ever seen a DIY for this removal?

Front bumper DIY is here somewhere, do a search for "third radiator DIY" Rear bumper? Even easier than front but I'll have to find you that one somewhere, unless anyone else knows exactly where it might be.

Alex, Two things. First, assuming you have the clamp that is female on both ends, offset the clamp to one side and either weld it or bolt it to the bypass. That will keep that connection secure and give you a longer clamp area to attach to the Cat. Does that make any sense? If you don't the clamps will vibrate loose. How do I know this? I had my own bypass pipes made a couple of years ago and had to tighten them every few days. I actually lost one at Sebring. (sorry if any of you were behind me) BTW, I paid $20 at my local muffler shop. What a rippoff! Second, please don't remove your bumpers. Small bumps sometimes happen on the track and you would do major damage without them. Jim

salazar, what about lighter brakes (aftermarket stoptech or brembo's maybe) and rims to lighten out the car?

Second, please don't remove your bumpers. Small bumps sometimes happen on the track and you would do major damage without them. Good point Jim.

What about those pics!! Is there a way to add a 90 degree and rout it out the normal locations?

Since weight up high is the enemy, I'm a little surprised nobody identifies a plexi rear window. I don't see a sunroof in the photo, but that's a tough uninstall. Battery easy and cheap (relatively) Wheels and brakes -easy but expensive -absolutely Remove AC hardware CF hood-poor reviews on quality Smaller, lighter driver (how much do you weigh, and how much do you want to lose?) I thought the timed events are one-car-on-track. In my experience, if it's not wheel-to-wheel, any event that would be impacted by the presence of the bars is going to be costly anyway. You aren't going to run up someones bumper in this event. AS

a couple of thoughts for the one lap. keep the A/C (my car did not have A/C and it goes a loong way on driver confort when your in the car for Days at a time.) The bumpers are less important on the one lap track events - any shunt you have is going to be fairly big (remember Road America in the wet where 3 out of 7 cars per run group returned on the back of the towtruck & WGI first round) but more important for the transit stages. my 2 cents oh and you need a supercharger