legacycentral bbs

Hey folks, I'm brand spankin' new to the forum. Anyway, I have a 93 Legacy Sedan, Automatic Tranny, and a non-turbo. It's completely stock performance wise and I need to change that. However, I'm not really planning to throw in a turbo anytime soon, if ever.

I noticed last night that my muffler is starting to go and I can hear that 'bad' muffler sound now. Instead of just replacing it with something stock, I'd like to get a small performance boost. I don't know a whole lot about exhaust modifications and some of the terms that are being thrown around on the forum is confusing.

What is a straight pipe? A downpipe? What's a glasspack? Is there a difference in muffler performance based on oval vs. round shape or the 2 vs. 1 outputs?

If i'm going for a new, shinier performance muffler, I'm guessing I won't notice much without doing a cat-back (which means exhaust back to the catalytic convertor, right??) Are there recommendations for modestly priced mufflers (100-200) that aren't going to be obnoxiously loud or too "ricey"? I'm not big on the fart cannon sound, or something that's gonna make my subbie sound like a souped up weed whacker. I'm not looking to tweak my car into a monster but I'd like to give it a little extra boost and figured that since my muffler is going the way of the dodo, this would be a good place to start. Is this wrong? Should I just get a stock muffler now and save up to do a complete exhaust overhaul (headers, the "plumbing" converter, and muffler)? I've been reading a lot of the posts on here and found some pretty helpful info so far.

Welcome to the forum.

A straight pipe is exactly what it says, a straight piece of exhaust piping to replace the muffler. I wouldn't recommend this on a daily driver.

Down pipe is the exhaust piping coming down from the turbo. Since you don't have a turbo, you don't have one.

A glass pack is a type performance muffler. I use the term muffler very loosely. They are typically pretty loud. Probably not as loud as a straight pipe, but loud.

I don't know if there's much difference based on muffler shape. The internal muffler baffles have more to do with their performance or back pressure. A free flowing or straight through muffler will provide the best flow, but may not quiet the exhaust noise as well. I don't think you'll see any difference between the 2 vs. 1 outlet.

Cat back means replacing the exhaust from the catalytic converter back, and typically doesn't include the catalytic converter.

Subaru engines typically do not produce exhaust notes that are ricey or weed whackerish. The boxer motors produce a more deep rumble.

What I'd recommend is getting a general fitting magna flow muffler, and have an exhaust shop fit it to your car. That should be able to be done for the budget you want to spend. The car will be louder, but should be tasteful. Hopefully some other members who have done this can chime in.

The non-turbo motors tend to be a little louder then the turbo motors due to the turbo acting kind of like a muffler.

You may see some improvement from the butt dyno, but I wouldn't expect anything drastic.

Non-turbo engines react the most from equal length headers. MRT used to make an equal length header exhaust for the non-turbo cars that was said to make a notable increase in performance.

welcome aboard! you are going to love it here!

butt dyno refers to seat of the pants gauge of performance

Josh was very kind and gave lots of info, get used to that and also to searching loads, which it seems like you have done already. good work!

I have heard a very positive review about Flowmaster muffler. not sure what they cost or their exact volume level, but nice tones are definitely coming from the motor, don't be too shy.

i don't really know anything about replacing headers, but I have heard an equal length set-up diminishes the boxer sound, so be carefuls!

I don't remember where I saw them (ebay, perhaps), but there are stock-style stainless mufflers that should look really good (twin outlet like stock, but with larger pipes the size of the stock chrome tips in either square or round).

I wouldn't expect to see any real performance gain, though a little noise or optimism may make it seem better.