Well... Unfortunately, not really much different than my DB9. Still engaging towards the top of the pedal travel. Maybe just slightly smoother engaging however the transmission in general definitely rows through the gears more smoothly and effortlessly, which is really nice.

I love this car!

 

That's what I expected to be the case. Only thing you can do is to fit a 'better' clutch pedal that makes control a little easier.

 

Sounds like the db9 may be on the way out or no need an exhaust and startup vid with your thoughts video of the little tonka truck as well

 

I'd have to say that the DB9 is probably going to go.. As much as I've loved that car, I've been able to get a few miles in the DBS over the past week or so and I just can't see a reason for both. They're just too similar.

I'm planning on doing a little side by side write up before too long but there's one thing particularly that I need to address soon. This is the exhaust system.

The day the car arrived I immediately pulled the fuse 22 as the previous owner still had it in place.. Poor bastard but this isn't nearly enough after driving my DB9 for so long with many different levels / variations of exhaust modifications. The latest being a pretty aggressive setup using a Xpipe in place of the secondary cats and absolutely no muffler at all. It's pretty aggressive sounding but not nearly as loud as you'd expect with no rear box being used.

Obviously I expected the DBS with an unmodified exhaust to be pretty tame by comparison but the real shocker is when driving them, back to back, is the performance difference due to the exhaust modifications. I've realized how significant the power increase is when the secondary cats are removed. But more obvious then that is the difference in the way the engines Rev with and without those cats in place. The DB9 revs so much more effortlessly than the DBS.. It's really significant! I can't wait to get these things off the DBS. The DBS almost feels lazy compared to the DB9. I know some of you will think this is impossible and certainly some of what I'm sensing is the perception of more power due to the comparative noise levels of the 2 cars. When you blip the throttle on the DB9 it spins up like a 12 cylinder Ferrari compared to the unmodified DBS.

I wonder, from a performance perspective, what the difference is between the decat pipes / Xpipe vs 100 cell cats would be? I don't want to put an Xpipe setup on the DBS.

I tried most every conceivable combination of exhaust components over the years with my DB9 but have no experience with sport cats. My thought is to keep the original rear box and then going with either test pipes or sport cats to get this bad boy uncorked and revving like it should.

Anyone have an opinion on this? Why would someone use a sport cats in lieu of test pipes? Or vice versa?

 

Brilliant DBS purchase and well engineered plus tasteful mods on your legacy DB9.

I'm on the same note researching the exhaust setups you mention for the DBS and after getting into examining some of the systems engineering behind managing the beautiful V12 exhaust notes rearward, I've reached one conclusion

My assessment = X pipe is most correct, efficient and true tune setup that we can go with on these cars. (few videos online describing this setup and science)


I'm no expert however from my notes:

1) X pipe will equal out the rearward exhaust gasses and sound pulses in syncopation which equates to maximizing the performance factor in achieving a broader torque curve across the V12 1800-5000rpm band. Add independent tuning to this formula and you will have a new beast altogether...my tuner is currently doing real-time, on car testing with my setup but we slow since dyno time with a prime-time race team tuner is hard to get.

2) Straight pipe; some DBS with straight pipe and 100cel cat setups sounds God smack amazing!...even better than X pipe however, straight adds some rasp that when added the engineering formula MAY not be as efficient as an X pipe.


...in other words = Science beats brash sound in this example. Thoughts?

 

Thank you very much.

I agree with you. The Xpipe has clearly been the biggest winner from a performance perspective throughout all my experimenting. If you took sound out of the equation all together (very subjective), I believe the Xpipe in place of the secondary cats (as close to the headers as possible), then no rear box at all, has been the best performance combination I've tried. That being said, I have no dyno results to back this up but I wouldn't be drawing this conclusion if the results weren't so glaringly obvious.

This is the set up currently on my DB9 and I really like the sound, however ideally I'd like to turn down the decibels just a bit.

The first time I installed the Xpipe on the DB9 I still had my RSC Supersport rear box in place and my original plan was to use that with the Xpipe eliminating the secondary cats and I thought I'd be pretty happy with that result. That was not the case however because the car was WAY to quiet when the Xpipe went on.. I was really shocked as the RSC rear box is a pretty aggressive exhaust. I enjoyed the pitch the system was creating, complete with some nice crackles etc and absolutely no "raspyness" (which I don't care for at all).

I then reached out to Stewart and we decided I should try to just remove the RSC box and instead just run some "tail pipes" (essentially) that he built for me.

So I could just swap this set up right over to the DBS now but like I said, it's a bit too much volume.

Having read your comments above though and having a bit more seat time in my DBS over the weekend I'm thinking of reconsidering my stance on not using a Xpipe on the DBS. The more exotic sound is pretty fantastic and there's no denying the performance advantage. Perhaps the compromise is a more "aggressive" rear box (in lieu of no muffler at all)?

I emailed Stewart this morning to get his thoughts as well and I'm hoping he will chime in here also.

 

Why not swap the Xpipe from the DB9 over to the DBS for comparison? I'm not sure why someone would replace the secondary cats with sport cats unless it's an emissions thing or you deleted the primary cats. From a performance standpoint I agree with 09DBS, the Xpipe is the best plus it gives the car a nice tone IMO (I'm running an Xpipe on mine). If you want more decibels then a straight pipe. Be sure to post a video once you get the exhaust sorted out!

 

Because I know the Xpipe on the DBS with the DBS OE rear box will be just too quiet. Obviously the Xpipe is the best performance choice, however it pulls a lot of volume from the exhaust. The reason I was considering the sport cat was to get the sound where I wanted it. The test pipes are too aggressive (imo) and I'm curious if it's possible to achieve the same performance as test pipes from a 200 cell Sport cat but with a bit less aggressive sound level. My original thought wasn't about achieving ONLY max performance, but also getting the sound exactly right for me. I hope that makes sense..?

I'm heading to the garage right now to make a video of the DB9.. I think it sounds fantastic.. Just wish I could turn down the volume **** some..

 

I know what you mean, it's always hard to find that perfect sound...even with a great starting point like a DB9/DBS

 

speedracer800,...moding the DBS sound note = first world problems with a side of vesper martini; 007 theme music follows.

Let me know if you sell your X pipe on the DB9 setup or better yet please take some variety (still and road - if possible) vids for us to get an idea of where you currently stand with the DB9 upgrade exhaust sound profiles. We all can gain and learn much from your time/money and energy investment(s) going through entire DB9 plan, install to drive process; I can only suspect it was not easy overnight feat - thanks.

I'm right behind you on going DBS X pipe and talking to Stuart over at Velocity for a, no exhaust pipe setup after the X pipe. I can't say if my tuner abilities will affect sound however, we are going after part and full throttle tuning on a no-slip dyno drum setup.

 

First world problems no doubt.. Almost embarrassing sometimes.

I made a few videos of the DB9 tonight but to say I'm an amateur film maker is a massive insult to actual amateur film makers.. so editing these to make suitable for uploading to YouTube has proved to be a challenge this evening. I'll get them up very soon though.. One way or another.

The difference in throttle response is such a huge improvement obtained from removing the secondary cats. Being able to jump from one car to the other today really sold me on the Xpipe once again. Many modifications (especially exhaust) look good on paper and the dyno but many times make no real significant (seat of the pants) improvement. Getting those god awful secondary cats off these cars is one of the "must have" modifications I think everyone needs to consider. Just one man's opinion..

 

Look fwd to a video and write-up

 

Nice find. On my radar too over the last year so look forward to seeing and hearing more about yours after you have some "proper" seat time.

 

So I finally had time to work on getting a video uploaded.

This clip is my DB9 with the Xpipe and the Velocity Performance muffler delete delete pipes. Like I said earlier, this is probably my favorite configuration I've hit on so far. No doubt it's been the best from a performance stand point, short of getting into headers, removal of the primary cats etc.

Obviously sound is very subjective. I like the noises this system makes quite a bit.. But it could be improved upon I think. I prefer the more "exotic", higher pitch sound level that comes from the use of the Xpipe but IMO it could use a little more growl..

I've been talking to Stewart about the possibility of creating a muffler that can accomplish that. Maybe it's not really feasible but I'd sure like to try and I'm offering up my DB9 as a test subject.

I did the best I could with the audio here but its being recorded indoors with the doors open so I had to deal with drive by traffic and the inherent "echo" from being inside. When it's under load and cruising down the road it sounds better obviously. I get a lot more crackling on overrun and a bit more throaty noise. I hope that makes sense.. The best part of the Xpipe is the throttle response.. I just can't emphasis this improvement enough and the video really doesn't do it justice.

I'm going to make a side by side video of the DB9 as shown here and my DBS (completely unmodified). Beyond the exhaust the DB9 also has RSC high flow air filters but no other performance mods.

Here the link.. I'd love to hear opinions.. Good or bad.

 

Sounds amazing! The sound of your db9 is going to be hard to beat!

On another note (pun intended), I noticed that your db9 is also a dark color. How do you like the storm black paint of your DBS versus your db9's paint color (which I assume is different)?