AudiOn19s

Some but not all allow Motorcycle rated helmets. I'm still holding onto the fact that I may get a bike again some day so I opt towards motorcycle helmets. I did have one PCA chapter give me a little bit of a hard time about it last year though.

So the more I try to rationalize maybe the two U bends with the blend area would be better. I think of a traditional x-pipe from my V8 days like this http://s7d4.scene7.com/is/image/Turn5/48005?$s7product$ In the picture above exhaust flow is all going from right to left though. I see what GBracing is saying though. In my case with the exhaust flowing across the car the two flow paths would be effectively running into each other at opposite angles as they flow into the true x design. Maybe the U bends with a common scavange area is better Now I'm really cornfused and thinking out loud.

I plan on having something custom fabbed, it's a matter of which is the better design to use.

The center section alone is $2700 Their mufflers are $1700 The funny thing is, despite the fact that the stock exhaust is 2 1/4 diameter on a 380hp car there's maybe 15 hp MAX to be had from even the most expensive exhaust on the market for the car. It's really about shedding weight and adding noise.

aftermarket exhaust with no x-pipe aftermarket exhaust WITH x-pipe...hold onto your panties at the 1:00 mark

Scenerio: My car is extremely quiet...like can't hear it over other cars at the track quiet. It's also heavy in it's stock configuration. Problem: When you run muffler bypass pipes (common) or even loud aftermarket mufflers on the 996 cars they sound like a busted ass truck from the late 70's. You know the ones that have that horrible BLAT sound but make no power and take forever to build revs. You all know you've heard a small block that makes < 200hp with a loud exhaust for no reason and that's what the 996 cars sound like with performance mufflers on them. Not a good sound at all. Solution: The solution to making the car sound like a real 6 cylinder and to hear it scream all the way up to it's 8200rpm redline is to add an x-pipe in the exhaust system. This is where I'd like some input on design. Stock exhaust travels across the back of the car, through a muffler then out. Banks don't merge ever in the OEM system. Picture of the OEM system: http://www.porschepassion.com/996/99634engine.jpg There are a couple of companies that make x-pipes for the car, only one of them has a reasonably priced product. Problem is I'm not completely sold on the design. Below is a picture of their design. Basically 2 U-bends with an open area in the middle. To me the primary flow here is going to be doing a 180 degree turn in the middle of the exhaust path. I'll get the sound I want but I'm not sold on this design. Am I worried over nothing, will the exhaust just follow the path of least resistance and I'm overthinking this? I want the car to sound better but I don't want to give up power in the process. Picture of x-pipe in question http://www.fabspeed.com/images/996_GT3_54_1.jpg Here is what I feel is a better design. Bigger cross section area, More of a true x-pipe with cross flow characteristics instead of a big u-turn with a cross section open in the middle. Problem is this company wants a REDICULOUS amount of money for it. (Porsche tax to the extreme). http://www.gmgracing.com/products/porsche/exhaust/996/3.jpg http://www.gmgracing.com/products/porsche/exhaust/996/1.jpg So am I over thinking this. Is the first design inferior? Will they both still perform about the same? Or is the second one really better as I suspect? I think in either case I can likely find someone local to build me what I want for less money than either, but I'm curious to hear thoughts on my questions above. Thanks, Andy

I'm rocking some strap culture today too http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/SC.jpg

Haven't auto-x'd in probably 15 years but I might bring the Bug out a couple times this year for the heck of it.

like the TRD spoiler. Like the BBS mesh wheels on the blue car but honestly I think TE-37's would be hot on that car. All red tails would be my preference too.

Straps look good for initial efforts

+1. Only reason we went was to meet Jamie Easton. We waited In the bodybuilding.com line for >90 min only for her to have to leave for another appearance when we still had probably 1/4 of the line left. I could honestly care less about the free crap which is what moat were waiting for, to me it's about seeing the people that inspire you (even for a fatass like me). 2nd year in a row we've had basically the same experience too. Left disappointed.

Fwiw. Just walked outof my building down here and traffic / parking is already moderately fucked

Ha...not quite like that. The tie there is that Jamie is also a breast cancer surviror. My wife used her as inspiration and a role model to keep after herself even in the hard times. There were many days she was drained from Chemo and still found the motivation to get up and go to the gym to take care of herself.

Today, leaving work in about an hour to pick up the wife and head down. Hoping the crowds aren't too horrible. Wife really wants to meet Jamie Easton.

WERD. I'm far from a porsche purist...they actually amuse me when they go into the whole water cooled cars are not real porsche's talk. You can add a new one to the list of PITA failures. GT1 block cars (GT3's and Turbo's) have fittings on the water pump housing that are press fit and epoxy'd in place. After the cars age some and get some good heat cycles from track use on them the epoxy fails and the fittings come out of the block dumping coolant everywhere. I had one come out at >140mph last year at Mid Ohio. Best part...........have to pull the motor to get them all out (8 fittings in all for the 996 cars). I'm in the process of pulling it all down right now so that I can get Tinman to weld up the fittings as they shoudl have been from the factory.

Pretty much yes.

Wish they would have run it in the standard full course configuration that all the clubs and races are run on. Would be a better indicator plus it would have been able to really stretch it's legs on the back straight

You know the manufacturer did something good when there's THIS much passion surrounding the car. Good or bad doesn't matter, everyone has strong feelings about it which means they all took notice.

I actually like JPM however.... http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/jpm.jpg

They're making attempts to at least give it a go in the rain at the road courses lately. That's progress in my book. Too much money and effort with that many cars and that many races to have rain contengincy for every single race.

...it's still raining this morning there. Was really hoping to go to the gym on lunch and hop on a treadmill to catch some of the race. Not sure it'll happen even today at this rate.

I has a yellow one too This made me chuckle none the less Jones: Congrats on the new Ride. Love the color and the car. Enjoy!

haha...memories right there. That Wimpy motor is a 13 turn and was the shit for dirt oval racing. Had to gear it correctly but I think that was the fastest motor we had for the oval stuff. The motor 2nd from the left (can't remember the name) was also pretty stout. Don't remember that 240ST at all though which is weird. I should probably pull out my old dirt oval car and truck and see about getting rid of them too. My truck was only driven like 5 times ever.

If you don't like State Farm or All state I'm guessing you're unhappy due to service related issues not your rates. Aside from an organization like USAA nobody in the industry can touch those two for rates in most cases. Are you looking for a company that's more about the customer experience? Andy

I don't have other companies lists but I do have access to Nationwide's list of ineligable vehicles. GTR is not on this list (Yet). Acura NSX Audi R8 Aston Martin - all Bentley - all Bugatti - all Ferrari - all Ford - GT / GT40 Jaguar - XJ220 Lamborghini - all Lotus - all Maserati - all Maybach - all McLaren - all Panoz - all Porsche 911 Turbo, 911 GT3 RS, Carrera GT, 959 Rolls Royce - all Saleen - S7 Spyker - all SSC - All List with my carrier is likely similar. I had to take my GT3 to my company for them to see in person when I bought it so that they could verify it was not an RS because they will not cover the RS.