2.5i Muffler Delete

[JMF]

First post. I've been lurking since October 2010 when we bought our Outback and have enjoyed reading the forum. We've been very happy with the Outback (wife's ride) to date and have about 7000 miles on it. I ran across a thread a while back where it talked about taking the muffler off a 2.5i to see what it would sound like. I am one who likes to hear the exhaust note when I drive so..... I took it off. I removed the two exhaust flange bolts then slid the muffler hangers out of the rubber isolators and went for a drive. The exhaust tone was a little loud, probably too loud for my wife's liking, but not as loud as I thought it might be. Obviously you wouldn't want to leave it off for any period of time because the exhaust pipe the muffler bolts to turns up underneath the car and you wouldn't want to take any chances with exhaust gases getting inside the car. So now I'm on a mission to see what was out there for an aftermarket muffler. As I've seen commented here, there's really not anything available. I then took a closer look under the car at the midpipe and there are a couple of exhaust "boxes", resonators of some sort I guess, under there. I figured these "boxes" might muffle the exhaust enough and I could install just pipe out the back. What I wound up doing was buying an exhaust flange and some mandrel bends of 2" aluminized steel pipe and fittings. After a lot of measuring and cutting to get the right fit, I welded up the pipe along with the exhaust flange. I then bought a 3" stainless tip, clamped it on, and installed the pipe with some universal hangers. I have to say that I think it sounds great and so does my wife. You get a nice exhaust note when the engine is pulling about 1500 rpm. At 3000 and 4000 rpm you can definitely tell there's something going on out back. To my surprise, I don't think it sounds ricey and your not going to wake the dead. At idle, when you stand outside and listen at the tail pipe it's got a nice burble. At hiway speed with the radio down you can just hear it if you listen close. So, here are some pictures if I can figure out how to post them. The OEM muffler weighs about 15# and the setup with the universal hangers weighs about half that. I'll also put a picture of the pipe without the universal hangers as what I plan on doing is welding some round rod to the pipe so it can hang like it was from the factory. I'll probably send the unit to pipe bender and see if they can make mandrel bends out of one piece of pipe and replace this prototype with a more professional piece. I may even get them to bend one out of SST. What do you think?

[combatmedic870]

I dont know...."What ever creams your tinkle" is what I always say! If you like I say keep it!

[Strawman]

I think you need to buy a Mustang.

[FLHRSI]

Can you post an audio clip?

[sph3re]

Noted you have a PZEV. I would worry that this type of modification might undo some of the design which helps the Outback PZEV models achieve the PZEV certification. Could be wrong about this, but it's just something that struck me.

Still, would like to hear an audio clip!

['05 Outback 2.5i]

Originally Posted by Strawman

I think you need to buy a Mustang.

I'm pretty sure he already has one.. Car guys are car guys, we can't leave anything along, even the family hauler..

[immortal_suby]

Originally Posted by FLHRSI

Can you post an audio clip?

I'd like to hear it as well. Always wondered what these newer 2.5's sounded like unmuffled.

[Mtn_man]

Awesome post, thanks for the pictures as well, getting a pipe bent at a shop should be super cheap, less then 50 bones I think... just a heads up.

[JMF]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try and figure out how to post an audio chip this weekend.

[SpikeMike]

does it feel like it has any more power?