Any one here replace the stock cats and center res w/ magnaflow CATS and X-pipe but leave the stock rear boxes? I would be interested to see how this setup sounds.

Thanks!!

 

This is what I am doing, and getting it installed in a week, let everyone know the results then.

 

Should sound real nice and have little or no interior drone.

 

And the results of the much terribly awaited magnaflow x pipe and high flow cat install are....@#$%$#$% TERRIBLE. In all honesty, the car sounds so bad to the point it is almost undriveable. Its reminiscent of someone who decided to put a catback on their Chrysler Sebring and ended up with the sound of buzzing raspy bees. At 1200-1800rpm its not bad, kind of like a 4.6 SOHC mustang which is what I was going for, but anything beyond 2200rpm is wasps and pellets in a can shaking violently.

The next step is as follows:

1) Live with it, and break in the cats to see if they sound better
2) Replace the magnaflow x pipe with a muffler/resonator setup from magnaflow (11738)
3) Put back in the stock resonator

PS the stock resonator and cats must weigh 55-65lbs together. And the stock resonator is like a third muffler with no crossover point.

I'll give it a week and post an HD vid on you tube then. Perhaps it will sound better after the system is broken in. Until then, if anyone has a youtube clip of what just the magnaflow high flow cats sound like with the stock resonator, that would be greatly appreciated if shared. Of if anyone puts on the magnaflow 11738, a vid would be nice as well.

 

Thanks for the insight...Surprised to learn that OEM res doesn't have a X-over point, my exhaust guy told me wrong...Out of curiousity, how's the highway drone?

Like I said, with the magnaflow cats and everything else stock it sounds exactly the same as stock at WOT...

 

Maybe your hearing an exhaust leak and rattle from a bad installation?

I dont have the same set up as you but I have changed the cats and cant share your experence with the sounds.

 

You have Magnaflow cats and x-pipe with no resonator before rear mufflers? If so, she'll be too loud. Use a pair of 16" flow through tube mufflers (resonators) before the rear axle= problem solved with a nice authoritive but not overbearing note.

 

very quick update. now I am getting a P0174 and P1111, while showing the engine light, and sometime restricted performance. ugh!

i very much appreciate the responses. i agree with 03 xtype and think that this is a bad install job, more on that later. i cant tell that the rasp is more of a fast tick coming from the cats. i am going to put the car on rino ramps on sunday, turn it on, and play doctor to try and hear if there are leaks. a proper install should have no ticks at all, especially with a car that doesnt have headers or an off road pipe.

happy 3 day weekend, more info coming soon.

 

The code was thrown by an exhaust leak before the cats. In this case: Leak at exhaust flange, poor weld of pipe to cats, or leak at upstream O2 sensor bung.

 

I finally got under the car and did some investigating. I found three massive exhaust leaks on both sides. Overall, I am pretty impressed with their engineering of the exhaust, as the high flow cats fit rather well with the geometry of the current setup. However, they need to fill in the holes and maybe we'll be good to go.

The stock "Resonator" is really a straight through third muffler. I will take a pic this week and show everyone soon. It's two straight through pipes, with some muffler material and pin holes around it. And again, its very heavy.

With the current exhaust leaks, there is absolutely no drone at all even on the highway. With the sunfroof down, the windows cracked and my music on, I cant hear anything. Even with the music off and all the windows down, it's still hard to hear.

I will provide more info/videos once I get everything patched up.

 

The stock center resonator also has a crossover tube.

 

What is the closest distance between either of that cats and the body of the car? just to make sure thats not the cause of the rattle.

 

You'll need an inch or so clearance between the cats and frame/floorboard.

 

Got everything patched up today and here are the results:

Jaguar S Type R Exhaust Hight Flow Cats and X Pipe Only - YouTube

I gave it about 2000-2500rpm. I am NOT happy, so I will either go to the stock exhaust or another muffled straight through muffler from magnaflow.

Below are the pics of the stock resonator. As you can tell its straight through, with NO crossover point. Its super heavy. I am surprised this thing has so much sound suppression.







After 5 miles of driving the restricted performance light came off, but the engine light is still on, even after I did a hard reset and drove it like i stole it for 1.5 miles. Ugh, if this light does not go away, I will definitely be going back to stock.

 

If you rip apart the stock resonator you'll see the cross over point. It's hidden by the baffling. I had it ripped apart, it's there. Without it the exhaust note would terminate with a "Braap" reverberating sound. Your cat still has either a leak or O2 sensor issue (wires, sensor, or both). Place a pair of 14"- 18" flow through resonators before the rear axle. This'll definitely solve the excessive noise, smoothing her out. Or you can remove the x-pipe and place Magnaflows dual inlet/outlet x-pipe-muffler. A few of our forum members performed this and love that they don't need dual resonators berore the rear axle and it's slight bark with eventual mellow cruise note.

 

Having a performance exhaust is not the cause of the engine light. The code needs to be taken care of. As the computer relearns its parameters the exhaust tone should change slightly due to slight changes in fuel and timing.

 

Having codes thrown sucks. That is the primary reason I haven't touched my cats yet - read too many posts on here of people changing the cats out only to have codes thrown. Good luck to you in getting it figured out.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, you only have cats and a x-pipe installed on the car. If that is the case, I think Seth's recommendation above would smooth out the sound you currently have, without muffling it too much or incurring too much more added cost.

Tomorrow I have my 2.25" dual in/out Borla muffler installed in place of my resonator, with 2.25" straight piping in place of the two rear boxes. I will be sure to post as soon as I can in regards to sound quality/drone/etc.

 

It's not the cats as way to many of us run this combo without any issues. I was suspicious of the extremely low price quoted for the work, hence the bad leaks.

 

imo it dont sound to bad wat size piping is it..

 

I got under the car again and found a leak on the passenger side coming from the upstream O2. However the car is now throwing both P0171 and P0174, where it threw just P0171 before. I would think that if there was only one leak that it would throw the respective lean code on that side, but this does not seem to be the case.

Even after a hard restart, the light still comes on right away which I find interesting.

I don't mind paying to have this corrected by putting the stock cats back on, but since no one else has this issue I am at a loss.

The O2's are one inch upstream and one inch downstream, which I believe is correct. I am wondering if the distance the O2 sits inside the pipe might affect everything as well.

Finally, when I started the car my GF said a puff of smoke came out and then dissipated. I also noticed a lot of black soot around the bottom of the tail pipes. Maybe the cats have to be broken in and fouled the O2's somehow?