I've had my 997.1S for about a year now, and have made a number of performance changes including an IPD plenum with GT3 throttle body and Fabspeed cold air intake. I wrestled with the exhaust question for a long time, and finally went with Fister mufflers and a set of Fabspeed dual tips in chrome.

I was happier with the Fisters than I was with the stock exhaust, certainly. They made a world of difference to the car's sound -- i.e., it finally had a sound. But for me, it wasn't quite there. That said, I wasn't about to hop onto the same exhaust merry-go-round I'd ridden with my Harleys -- especially not at Porsche prices.

Recently I noticed that the Borla system for the 997.1S was selling at a super-low price ($1270 or so) on Amazon, including free 2-day shipping. For that money, I figured, I could take a chance, so I ordered a set (part #140272). The YouTube clips sounded promising, but it's really impossible to get the true sound from a YouTube clip so I simply hoped for the best. And I could always put the Fisters back on.

The mufflers arrived by Fedex and were very well packed. Inspection showed no damage. The build quality, to my amateur eye, looked fine. I liked the fact that two pipes per side exited each muffler into two separate tips, rather than the stock one pipe with a splitter tip setup. I less liked the fact that the tips were welded on, making positioning adjustments extremely limited and eliminating the possibility of tip style choices.

I brought the system over to my Indy shop (House Automotive in Pasadena -- they do everything but warranty work on my cars), who charged $285 to remove the old exhaust, pack it up, and install the new one. Fair price, as they had charged me exactly $0 to remove the stock tips and install the Fabspeed tips a while back.

The good:

- The system looks excellent.
- When the key was turned, for the first time I heard the car I'd wanted to hear since I bought it. It awoke with a deep, subdued bass rumble that indicated a sleeping giant. Quiet, but deeply THERE.
- With slow acceleration, the sound remains deep and subdued -- very easy to live with. At cruising speed (between 65-80 mph, 2700-3000 rpm) there's little drone. More than with the Fister, which has none at all, but nothing to drive one crazy. With the top up (it's a Cab, obviously) and windows closed, it's 95% as quiet as the Fisters were. With the top down, you hear the exhaust.
- Love the nice rumble (no popping) when I downshift.

The less good:

- Under hard acceleration from a standstill or under load at cruise, with top up and driver window down, it's very "boomy" -- not the most pleasant sound. It's transitory, but it's there. With the top down it's not as pronounced, for some reason, and with the top up and windows up it's not bad.
- It's extremely difficult -- I would say almost impossible -- to precisely line up the left and right-side tips. This is because the tips themselves aren't moveable; the whole unit has to be moved, and the leeway is very limited. After two tries the installer got it close enough that only someone like me, who's very OCD about such things, would notice. But I DO notice and it does bother me. A little. But still.

I can't really tell yet if I've had any detectable performance gains. That will come after I'm used to the sound. But I can't see how there wouldn't be after adding a free-flowing exhaust to my existing mods.

Overall impression so far: The Borla set-up is a keeper, if only for the amazing sound it makes when I start the car. But I also love the fact that the car sounds like the beast it is, with absolutely none of the dreaded "blatty" ricer sound, and in steady-state cruise it's wonderful. For the money, it gives 95% of what the more expensive systems give at about 25% of the cost. How can you go wrong? I'd do it again. That said, I'm holding onto the Fisters just in case my wife changes my mind

I'm in the northwest San Fernando Valley, and if anyone would like to hear the system feel free to PM me. I also sometimes make it down to Supercar Sunday on Topanga.

 

Let's see those tips.

 

Here you go. They're stainless steel rather than the bright chrome of the Fabspeed tips. Not as flashy, but more appropriate to the car, I think.