Just received my order for Schnell Mufflers and Exhaust. Had it professionally installed by a exhuast shop. Let me tell you, they are quiet. More quiet than the stock, is that normal?

Got a smokin price of $1300 shipped with Airfoil tips. The install cost me $280. Overall qualify, EXCELLENT, heavy gauge, stainless steel, heavy weight metal and clean welds.

Any advice on the sound?

TGee

 

First pics, second quiet usually means higher backpressure, less hp.
FWIW, muffler and header install is a 1hr job tops on a 996 (with basic handtools and a floorjack), 280$ is a little high I think.

 

did you do and before and after dynos?

the price is a little high, but not too bad. it takes about an hour from start to finish to do the headers (lift up to lift down again). and that's if all the nuts came off easily. i've done my own mufflers, and that's at least an hour to do that as well. maybe you had a header bolt snap or something to account for the extra money. if that's out the door with tax, i wouldn't feel too bad. not a bargain, but i wouldn't say you got screwed.

 

Doggy, maybe you work slower than me, it took me a total of 30min to do the headers, and I only jacked up one side of the car to do both, (that doesn't count the 15min I waited after spraying down the bolts). I guess if you had a lot of corrosion it could take longer, but headers are the simplest of all the diys' on a 996, far easier than even mufflers. Mufflers should take no more than 30 min, here's the trick; leave the mounting bracket on the motor, only use the two long bolts, but flip them so the nuts are on top, then it's a simple matter to just pull the bolts and drop the muffler down, saves 1/2 hr at least.
At 280$/hr, those are approaching my rates!

 

thing is, when you take it to a shop...they don't stop the clock while waiting for the penetrant to work it's way through the rust. i had to have my headers done at a shop because I live too far from the dyno and the shop was around the corner from the dyno. From lifting it up to putting it down took about one hour. Included some time to let the penetrant soak. However, it is really common to snap those header studs. I can only assume this guy's shop ran into some sort of problem when installing his.

i agree, it's a pretty simple job. i'm not quite sure how you could do mufflers in 30 mins from placing the jack under the car to pulling it out again . that would be impressive to watch you may want to think about putting down your scalpel and joining a pit crew i think i'm following you on that trick. seems like it would work.

 

Remember the fabspeeds are very small in size and very easy to manipulate in place. Who counts the jack time?

 

the job starts the minute you touch a tool. at least when you're paying a mechanic it does it is part of the total job after all. that's like saying it only takes 2 hours to change your suspension cause you're not counting the time it takes to jack your car up ,take the wheels on and off, and adjust the ride height.

are the fabspeed mufflers that much smaller than stock?

 

I guess you can add 10 minutes then, but it's still really easy. Yes the fabs are about 2/3 the size and very light.

 

Yep! They went in much easier than the stockers came out. More room to work with.

 

tlgee, the sound changes with the age of mufflers. I'm not exactly sure why but, there are probably different reasons for it. I wouldn't count on it staying that quiet for the life of the muffler. But, it might sound better when it is louder.

b-man

 

No way it takes 1 Hour to drop your headers and Mufflers then reinstall new parts. At least I can't and I think I am pretty quick. I have done it 3 times total on 2 seperate cars I know the ins and outs of what I am doing. However there is no way I could do that in an hour and I use air tools for some of the work. I could do the headers in an hour though.

 

sandoval: do you have a check engine light yet?

 

No sir. No CEL. Bitter sweet because I have the AE Scan tool wanting some CEL action... The car will be driven long and hard this summer so we will see I have a couple hundred miles on the car and No CEL.

 

i may have to bite the bullet and order a set of those. i just know with my luck i would have a cel in five minutes and the car would start running like crap.

 

Yes way, I've done it a bunch of times. Everytime I go to the track(10-15x/yr) I change out the mufflers for bypass pipes, it's easy, guess you just need more practice . Esp easy if you do it my way with the long bolts.
The headers are childsplay, and you don't need airtools either. If it took you an hour, you must have stopped for a beer break. 6 13mm bolts on the manifold and 3 on the collectors, then the header falls off. No lie, I sprayed 'em down with wd40, waited 15 min then banged it out in 1/2hr.
It's too bad so many guys(present co excluded of course) are so fearful of turning a wrench on these cars, they are really user friendly to work on. Now, I (and my former cohort DJ 996) happen to have significant experience fabricating and building race cars in my distant past, but even a novice can handle these cars with simple hand tools.
Have a nice weekend guys!