So wow im a little surprised at the FVD headers but then again I don't believe they have ever posted any before and after dyno runs on there exhaust system vs stock.. There are only a couple systems that I know of that have posted dyno runs. I thought the Y pipe was a direct replacement for the original, so how does this not fit totally blown away. I believe there 997 intercoolers fit the IPD Y pipe. I know the IPD Y pipe made decent gains on the 997.2 Cant help but wonder it some HP was left off the table.

 

Noooo Wayyyy, the most you can see from a catless vs hi flow cats is10whp... I already did it on my 997.2 Turbo

 

The IPD Y pipe will fit the stock ICs but not the Champion ICs. The Champion ICs have carbon tubes leading out of them that are different than stock (which I believe uses more flexible rubber hoses of different lengths). And the IPD Y pipe has different dimensions/shape than the stock one.

 

What high flow cats were you running? All exhausts with high flow cats are not created equal in the Performance department.

 

The reason for this is because in the factory configuration, you have the intercooler top tanks, then a short plastic pipe, then a section of rubber hose about 10 inches long, and then the Y-pipe. When designing our kit, we eliminated the rubber hose section altogether so that our carbon pipes connect directly to the top tank of the intercooler and lead all the way to the Y-pipe. IPD also designed their Y-pipe to eliminate the section of rubber hose, however, they did so by extending the length of the Y-Pipe in the other direction, closer to the top-tank. Thus...they won't work

Have no fear though...in the next few weeks we'll be releasing a carbon Y-pipe as well, which will be compatible with our kit.

We tested the same scenario on a 997.2 and saw a difference of about 40whp when switching to a catless exhaust. However, that was with our CMS/GIAC 9-second tune. The difference may have been less for you depending on what software you were using.

 

Here's two pictures that illustrate what I was saying above about the pipes. Notice the difference of factory pieces versus ours.

 

Good luck with the upgrades, I'll be looking out for your car on Longboarder's (Adam's) next video!

 

I was using Custom COBB, so is not the softwear... Maybe the brand of the catted exhaust was to restrictive... I was using Fabspeed with and with out cats

 

Is Champion developing a carbon fiber y-pipe as well? I thought I remember it mentioned in a previous post at some point.

Also was curious can the O2 CEL be programmed out with GIAC software when running catless exhaust?

 

Yes, we have a larger carbon fiber y-pipe in development as well. It should be ready within the next couple of weeks.

With our GIAC software, we can make accommodations for a cat-less exhaust, yes. We never recommend programming out the secondary O2 sensor because it is still needed, but we do insure that it doesn't cause any fault codes.

 

I have been reading that aftermarket headers are a complete waste of money and offer no gains, but this is the first time I hear that power goes down dramatically on them. I just did a complete Fabspeed setup, including their headers. How much power did you drop and where - using the FVD headers? Should I be heading back to the stock headers? I'm running a Cobb AP3, BMC intake filter, and Fabspeed exhaust.

 

Take them off, unless you plan to upgrade turbos in the future.

 

The FVD headers dropped from stock headers in both peak wheel horsepower and peak wheel torque -- drops of 7 wheel hp and 14 wheel torque. But the bigger story is that there are very large drops from stock in the lower part of the rev range. For example, at 3850 RPMs the FVD headers made 32 less wheel horsepower and 44 less wheel torque than the stock headers.

I will post the Dyno graph as soon as champion makes its formal release of its intercoolers with GIAC stage 2+. The reason is that the graph with the stock headers is my car is with the stage 2+ and the Champion intercoolers.

Also in terms of the numbers, my car Europipe made 10 less wheel horsepower and 35 less wheel torque then the champion test car made with Tubi catless on 93 octane. The 35 less wheel horsepower number is my car on 93 octane with Eurpopipe versus the Champion test 991 TTS with Tubi catless and race gas.

For a difference of 10 wheel hp and 35 wheel torque I am leaning towards keeping my Europipe which for me is a lot easier to live with than a catless exhaust in terms of volume of sound, neighbors, and inspections. But I'm still pondering.

 

The minute I saw those Dyno results those aftermarket headers came off immediately. This is not to say that those aftermarket headers wouldn't gain the car power in a different configuration with a different tune. But with my configuration and tune they were a power suck.

I wonder if the GMG headers gain power. GMG has a great reputation in Porsche racing and I just can't imagine they would put a product out that didn't make the car faster. That is so not them. And who knows maybe Champion Motorsports one day might develop a set of headers that would make more power with its mods and the GiAC tune.

 

My dealer GM was not surprised at all that aftermarket headers lost power. SDG after a few days of driving with catless, i can say that now i am used to the sound and can possibly take more . Drive my car and see what you think. I think the sound level settled down or i'm just used to the sound.