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Good Exhaust Size for an N/A

3K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  rcmdesign 
#1 ·
So the stock exhaust system I believe is 2.25" on an N/A car. I think I might take it to a local stainless steel exhaust place in town and replace most of the exhaust system, minus the cat of course, with bigger tubing. Two questions:

What size should I get, 2.5" or 3" exhaust?

Should I get the intermediate muffler thingy removed and just leave the cat on the system and the rear muffler? Or will this fail emissions?
 
#2 ·
it should be fine with just one mufler. the saab sport exhaust, even the stock viggen exhaust has only one muffler. i believe 3" piping will hurt performance. its good for turbos but bad for us n/a motors.
 
#3 ·
i would def go with 2.5 and a AERO-TURBINE for a muffler. 3" is going to be to much for you.
 
#4 ·
snow4_1man said:
i would def go with 2.5 and a AERO-TURBINE for a muffler. 3" is going to be to much for you.
Sweet 2.5" it is, and I will get rid of those other mufflers/resonators. I'll call Monday and see how much it will be. How much do you guys think it will cost?

What's an AERO-TURBINE muffler?
 
#5 ·
The aeroturbine is the one I'm running..

barely weighs 5 pounds compared the 30+ pound SAAB muffler... stainless, and pretty much straight thru.

I run sort of a hump back solution now.....to keep torque band low relative to a turbo'd car.

I think you'll be extremely impressed with their cost effective solution for performance...and a good sound. Blaque_Out can give you his impression of the sound. But to me...not ricey.., just a deep resonating but smooth sound as you need more throttle.

I took some pics here somewhere....here
 
#8 ·
DC, i see nothing :cry:
 
#9 ·
I feel that there is no such thing as too big... an 8.5 inch should suite your needs quite well while providing a sporty sound. LMFAO nah everyone seems about right... 2.5 or 2.25 should do it for an N/a saab... find your self a nice used viggen exhaust... cheap and great fix.
 
#10 ·
yeah listen to boxerchip and get a used viggen exhaust, or you can just wait for results after i install mine, which he better be shipping on monday :D :D haha j/k, take your time shipping i wont be back home to install it until a few days before easter anyway
 
#12 ·
nah, im still slow/ pathetic n/a. but at least it looks and sounds good :lol:
 
#13 ·
well shit man... you want one of my turbos? ive got 2 now... so ya know i figure ill spread a little love around.
 
#14 ·
haha, its not worth it. spend like 2 g's making it turbo, only for it to blow up in the next few weeks
 
#16 ·
try and find out so we can get some pics or something id realy like to see what it took. im pretty sure the motor could handle like 5 psi TOPS without damage, if its the n/a motor. i wonder how much money he spent
 
#17 ·
2.25" would be large enough for around 230 hp. Just find someone with an old Viggen muffler section. Should bolt up, not be too loud, and flow well.

2.5-3.0 is overkill for a car that won't make more than 250 hp on pumpgas. Larger pipes also tend to be louder. But the choice is yours. ;)

Adrian~
 
#23 ·
on an n/a car with stock cams, manifolds, etc, I don't even really see the point of upgrading the exhaust. unless you can spin the engine up to 7000 RPM's and make power up there, all a really good flowing exhaust is going to do for an n/a, is give you a little more top end power but it will reduce your low end torque considerably... honestly with an n/a saab, I would want all the low end torque I could get because there is so little to go around as it is :lol:

I say get a turbo, THEN upgrade the exhaust. there are a bunch of people on SC who have converted EZK ignition n/a saabs to LPT's, and those things move when they are set up like that.
 
#24 ·
I've heard that low pressue turbos on an N/A Saab will cause the transmission to slip a lot. There is a different transmission computer for the Turbo cars that needs to be put in there, or is it just the turbo transmission itself, I forget...At any rate, I don't think I will ever go Turbo for fear of destroying my engine and transmission altogether.

So you're saying I will loose low end power? That's where I want it, being able to get off the line fast...
 
#25 ·
i think the only mod to help our pitiful low end torque would be adjustable cam gears, but i dont understand why you say that exhaust would be harmful to our low end torque. there are so many ars out there that are not turbocharged, and they do have exhaust to aid performance. if it hindered performance, i dont see why SO MANY cars without forced induction would bother spending the money. there are cars out there that are all motor and modded to be somehwat quick out of a small motor. unfortunately, there is not anything really out there for the n/a 2.3L motor which will ever make it significantly faster.
 
#26 ·
1. bad ass intake filter
2. larger throttle body..,
3. hotter, bigger spark,
4. headers,
5. bigger exhaust,
6. higher lift or longer duration intake cams & larger exhaust valves.

Can't do one without the other...intake, combustion, power, exhaust...
you could just have your stock and after-market exhaust mufflers flanged with a 3 bolt pattern...for easy install and comparison.

I would dyno each major install to see the results for yourself.
 
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