Sup guys, was surfing ebay and came across this exhaust made by becker.. Seems to be a well made exhaust and comes complete with installation hardware and cats as well . I cant even find a company website or anyone who has purchased and installed this exhaust.. It seems to be a very good buy for the exhaust... What are your guys thoughts?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Becker-Catback-Exhaust-Fits-2010-2012-Porsche-911-Chassis-code-997-2-Twin-Turbo-/152482147661?fits=Model%3A911&epid=603012344&hash= item2380a4ed4d:g:w5kAAOSwuLZY0ut2&vxp=mtr

 

The pictures look good to me but... Recently I purchased some GT2 inlets from eBay. They were roughly 50% off the going rate and the pictures looked great. Needless to say when they arrived, I was completely disappointed. They were terrible. I personally would not purchase an unknown brand off eBay from a company without a website.

Especially on an important item like the exhaust. Fitment, welds and weight are all factors. I'm kind of an exhaust horror. I've only had my 997.2 TTS since March and I'm on my 3rd exhaust. I will be listing my FVD cat back this week if you're interested in improving the sound and gaining some power. PM me and I will send you the details...

 

One of my employees constantly buys ebay exhausts, thinking he gets a deal. Every one of the 3 times he did it in the past few years he ends up wishing he just got one from a reputable supplier. He has since resorted to buying used exhausts on forums.
Try hitting up Sambo from ByDesign and see if he can hook you up with a Kline for a good deal. They are top quality and have affordable options.

 

Damn that's cheap ,but they also have headers on eBay for $150 but I wouldn't put those on my car either .

 

Is not just the cost of the material more then what they are selling?




Until someone tries it out, there is more then meets the eye.

 

Im gonna be the test mule... im going to post pics and review the quality and sound when it arrives.

 

I am definitely a skeptic on this though the ebay seller has a nearly 100% rep score since 2007. The top-quality early 911 stainless exhausts go for say $800 to over $1000 without cats so even with a slim profit margin it's hard to see how they are managing this price point. A Fabspeed listed alongside on ebay is 2X the price. We all know what the Europipe and Klein stuff goes for.

 

I would say the prices of well known brands are high because of thier R&D , i am guessing the manufacturer of this exhaust basically bought a top quality one and stole thier design cutting the costs of that and is able to provide thier exhaust at this price... Now i just have to figure out which exhaust they may have cloned.

 

Any update to this thread?

 

I bought one, and I'll review it, but first a bit about me: I've been in the automotive industry as a professional for almost 20 years, and I got tired of buying low-quality parts from manufacturers with huge brand recognition, so a couple years ago I took a hiatus and went to welding school full-time, and subsequently stuffed too much metalworking equipment in my garage. I have a Miller Dynasty, Millermatic, plasma cutter, Ellis band saw, and other pieces of professional equipment. I know how to use it all, and I know what I'm doing. Businesses now pay me to produce things for them. Consequently, I can call myself a welder.

That said, once I started pricing out tubing and my time, I came across the Becker exhaust on Amazon a couple weeks ago. It was 20% off which resulted in a cost of $615 shipped to my house. It would cost me more than that in time and materials, so I bought one. I wasn't expecting much, but I was shocked when the unit arrived.

First I checked the material to ensure it's 304 and not a lesser grade of stainless. Grade 409 is sometimes used to cut costs. A magnet will not stick to a straight section of 409, but it will stick to a bend. From the tubing to flanges to the resonators to the tips and even the filler metal, this exhaust is 304.

The quality of construction rivals that of some of the big names in the industry. The colors of the welds are generally straw to salmon color, which indicates sufficient gas coverage of the weld. In stainless, bright blue is bad and is a result of inadequate gas shielding. Another gotcha in stainless welding is carbide precipitation on the inside of the tubing. If the back side of the weld is not shielded from oxygen, the chromium that makes stainless stain less will essentially melt out of the base metal, forming black crystals known colloquially as sugaring. The Becker exhaust has none of that.

First and foremost, it's important to acknowledge what an exhaust is: It's an engine's trash chute. That's it. In a turbocharged application, the objectives are flow and sound, in that order. There is no magic to it. The prices that companies charge are flat-out obscene and the enthusiast communities are being taken for a ride. A $1,000 exhaust is fair. A $2,000 exhaust without cats is shameful. A $5,000 exhaust should be criminal.

The sole problem I have with the Becker unit is that the one I received does not fit my car. I received a 997.1 unit and I'm waiting for resolution on that today.

Here are some images:

 

NICE work SM and quite the little helper on your back. I can agree with you more on the pricing. Having just switched platforms (GT350R back to Porsche) there certainly is a tax. All we are trying to do is free up some back pressure and get some volume.

Looking forward to your final outcome. In the end the catback Sharkwerks and Speedtech have my eyes, but if another can do it for 50% less than I can spend that on my many more follow mods: tires, wheels, springs, DSC, Flash, bar,...

 

Thanks for the great review. Do u know the size of the pipe? I can't find one for 997.1 though...

 

I understand that businesses exist to generate a profit, and I don't begrudge anyone for making a buck, however there's no real proprietary stuff going on in exhausts but for a few exceptions, such as the 3D-printed stuff from BBI. I know firsthand how much engineering time and production cost goes into it, and most companies would look at that process and say 'NFW is that worth the brain damage necessary to make it that way'. I appreciate massive overkill, so my hat is off to them for undertaking that.

The rest of the stuff is rudimentary. Whether you buy a $1,000 unit or a five-$5,000 unit, the materials and labor costs are defined by the market. A 20' stick of 304 tubing in 3.0" diameter with 0.065" wall thickness is $400. The guy assembling it is making $20 an hour. If he's slow and it takes him a day, that's $160 in raw labor costs. HJS cats are expensive at about $400 per. Add in $100 for flanges and consumables, and you're at $1,300 with about six feet of scrap metal. If we round up, that's $1,500 with cats. Without, we're at $700.

If you're marking $700 up to $2,000 and $1,500 up to $5,000, you're a jerk. Granted, there are sunk costs into tools such as benders, saws, and welders, but $20,000 gets you nice equipment and you get to write it off.

The tubing is 3" from the inlet flange through the first set of resonators:



It enters the second set of resonators at 3":



It exits the second set of resonators at 2.5", which is the diameter of the remainder of the exhaust:

 

Thank you for the reply! btw, i like the pics where you have baby in your back! hahaha. my kids will be all over playing with tools.