FTO AUSTRALIA

Dan25 wrote:Ok, so my car is going in on Thursday and I don't know whether to get mandrel bending or not!

The guy who I'm going to said it will cost me double to have mandrel bends and he insists that the cost doesn't justify the power gains on an FTO.

I need some honest opinions here... Should I go the whole way and pay $800 for the "superior" exhaust or should I just save my money and spend it elsewhere, like on my pain in the ass oil leak?

Fix the oil leaks 1st ofcos! then start modding. You gona start trasking after the mods thus making the leaks even worse.

Fix the oil leaks 1st ofcos! then start modding.

Well the exhaust has rust-holes, so it has to be replaced anyway, whether I choose press or mandrel.

Simple question for you Dan, sound or "performance"?

Sorry bushido, I don't understand the question. Are you saying that press bent will achieve a different sound to mandrel?

Dan25 wrote:

Simple question for you Dan, sound or "performance"?

Sorry bushido, I don't understand the question. Are you saying that press bent will achieve a different sound to mandrel?

Correct.

They will also give minor differences in performance to.

Yeah Ive seen conflicting evidence on the press vs mandrel bends and it seems that press can actually give more gains on ocasion.

However on the FTO I still believe that mandrel is the way to go.

I was asking whether you want a sound improvement (dont we all) or "performance" (which is relative and mandrel will be better than press). I have seen some pretty bad "bargain" press bent pipes.

It also seems that most people on here say mandrel (I agree with them) and this exhaust shop guy is telling you mandrel isnt necessary. I mean no offence but maybe youve developed tunnel vision from all the things this guys is telling you. But at the end of the day its your money.

Best of luck with your choice.

bushido wrote:I have seen some pretty bad "bargain" press bent pipes..

So have I, some absolute shockers including my old one.

press bends can get inconsistent and one can differ from the another

im just getting the mandrel - you know a straight section in the pipe can have the same diameter with the bends.

anyhow, im pretty much all set and getting my varex catback done on monday or sometime this week at performance exhaust centre northmead if extra time pops up for me ...

EDIT: they're actually open this sat so im getting the job done that day wooo

Well I've decided to go with press bends.

I appreciate and have taken into account everyone's advice, but because my car is pretty much totally stock, I can't justify the need to double the price for little performance gains.

This way, if I choose to turbo my car down the track, I won't feel so bad about upgrading it to 3", and if I end up selling it, then I will be happy I saved the money

Besides, the money I've saved from mandrel bending has gone straight towards a pod filter and custom stainless intake, which will provide more power anyway

Tomorrow, yay!

would like to see pics of the press bend if possible for curiosities sake once you finish Dan25

just thought id contribute to this thread with my exhaust note... thanks to 'gholdwayne' for uploading them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcv7y-FmHvY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtCTdrRXfA

yeah, i havnt heard any fto or any car with that note. and character

Ok, so I got my car back

I absolutely love the note from the exhaust. It's what I wanted to a tee. The guys were worried that it might be a little raspy, but it turned out fine. One of them even commented that it sounded like an F1 car haha.

So below is a pic of one of the bends for whoever cares ie. koolio. Sorry it's a little dodgy, I couldn't get under the car very easily, but I will get a better one in a few days.

I can see that it would be a little restrictive, but to be honest, I'm not bothered anymore.



And here's a pic of the all-expensive dual tips, which I LOVE



And this is the CAI, which ended up costing me a total of $200 installed with the shroud etc. (ignore my filthy engine bay - it will be getting a clean up very shortly)



So what do you guys think?

veyr veyr nice intake pipe. pipe bend looks a bit funny

Well, I would have gone mandrel bent, but hey, it looks good

That intake is tidy too. Love the way they've utilised the battery bracket to hold it up.

A new exhaust will always sound raspy to start with. Its not until you do a couple of hundred kms, will it 'soot up' as I like to call it, then will begin to give a deeper & deeper note.

actually that bend doesnt look to bad...

but im still getting the mandrel bends as theres not much you can do for the fto n/a power gains, might as well go hard out with what i can

Ok so now i got my catback done from performance exhaust centre in northmead by hakan, awesome work!

Heres a quick video of just a normal take off and running through the gears..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaR_sxC2woo

But im taking one of the two resonators as it sounds too boomy for me right now, i want to add a bit of raspiness to balance out the tone a bit.

Was that in loud mode?

IMO it will be epic if you take off the large resonator. Maybe wait till the carbon has built up and youve done a oil change>?

bushido wrote:Was that in loud mode?

IMO it will be epic if you take off the large resonator. Maybe wait till the carbon has built up and youve done a oil change>?

Yeah that was in loud mode, and my oil has been changed about a week ago, i think the resonators looked like they were the same size except one had different ends to the other one.

Thats pretty loud as it is, if you took resonator off it might make it borderline unbearable, sounds great though and it'll only get better once you get that carbon buildup.

koolio1234 wrote:Thats pretty loud as it is, if you took resonator off it might make it borderline unbearable, sounds great though and it'll only get better once you get that carbon buildup.

Ah thanks koolio! but i wanna know what kind of better the tone is gna get, coz i think that when the carbon builds up, the sound gets deeper, and i dont know how 'deeper' will affect this boomy sound. I mean, i like the sound of the back off, and J told me (but unsure) that his apexi catback only had 1 resonator, and was not unbearable at all - in fact, i loved it, then again its covered in carbon

And with taking off a resonator, does it matter tonewise which resonator you remove ? aka the one next to the cat or the one closest to the rear wheel ? if so, how ?