Long story short, my father has a 2.5l 986 that he enjoys flogging around. We thought it might make a fun weekend project to throw some cheap go-fast bits on it to spice things up a little. It's admittedly not worthy of any $3k exhaust/header combo.

Just curious if anyone has installed an exhaust or header from ebay? They all seem to be quite similar and I'm guessing made by the same manufacturer.

Here's an example of each.
Exhaust
Headers

If they're seriously not worth the time, I'll just can the idea. (ie: terrible fitment, droning, will rust out in a month, etc.) But for less than $500 total investment, it would give us something fun to do one Saturday.

 

Good luck with that! For that kind of money your best bet is modifying the stock exhaust and cat's. I did it to mine and worked well. But, if you want to spend a little more on it, pm me. I have a fabspeed header, cat, and exhaust you can get for a little more. You can also call me at 787-403-1491 or email arortiz@libertypr.net

 

For that kind of Money there has to be something wrong but if you do end up buying them I would be curios to the results .
My Fabspeed Headers cost me over 2K but worth every penny .
One thing i have learned by owning a P car you get what you pay for in the Porsche world .Junk is Junk
I now stick with top quality or nothing at all ..

 

Believe me, these parts surely wouldn't be going on my car. That said, he and I were basically both still curious, "how bad could they be?"

Just looking to have some cheap fun is all. If they were able to coax some more volume out of the car and survived a year or two we would call it a success.

Surely someone has given one of these parts a whirl.

 

Not something I would personally do, but being the guinea pig is always a bit of fun. Just make sure you fund your Paypal payment with your credit card!

 

I seem to recall someone with a modded 996TT getting cheapo headers (or some exhaust component) off ebay and having them crack or break pretty easily.

I would avoid it. We're talking about a Porsche here not a Yugo. You'd be better off going to a good local shop and getting them to custom fabricate something cheap for you (say a copy of a well-engineered design; I can see the frowns now), though I can't say that'll be as cheap.

 

All those naysayers, tsk tsk yes they are cheap knockoffs the design however is legit. I know where you are coming from but look at what he's got and what he is trying to accomplish. I have been running those headers on my car for 2 years with out any problems. when I had my 97 2.5 I put a set on and they made quiet a difference then I got an 04 S which did not seem to help as much, better sound and little better umph. The only problem you might run into is the mount holes could be off by a hair, nothing that can't be fixed with a dremel. I have installed two other sets on friends cars with budget in mind, they have been running without any issues and are happy with theirs. I wouldn't waste my money on the hi priced stuff unless you are going racing. I say go for it and enjoy. the first pic is what they turned into after running at sebring the second pic I had the ceramic coated to reduce the heat in engine bay. third picture is after 1 1/2 yrs of running them. mostly DE's. BTW if you decide to get them there are 2 different types out there one only has 1 o2 pung in eache header the other has 2 pung each header, determine which you need before you get them. I think the 2 pung's are $79 plus shipping.

 

Appreciate the thorough response! I was hoping to hear from someone who's actually used the product because I, like most, was a little skeptical. Sounds like it's hard to go wrong for the price.

I'm actually more curious about the exhaust since that should make much more of a difference in the sound department.

 

You are right about the exhaust but it's actually a package deal. I would start with the headers then work my way back as the budget allows. getting rid of the cats is all part of making noise, so you will probable notice the most improvement with the headers. the headers will give you a more throaty sound and then the midpipes and mufflers will just add noise level.
good luck.

 

Had bad expierence buying cheap parts, welds tend to crack.

 

2 years without any crack, I would say I got my money's worth plus some