My take on the Prodrive WR Sport Back Box

[supermarkus]

First of all, I'd like to thank Ryan at Irvine (SPI Motorsports) for the fast, friendly service and very competitive price. I would have saved a little cash by going with Tire Rack but Irvine had one in stock and I pulled the trigger early. Sorry Luke, no disrespect to TR and Luke though. I was just too impatient.
Now on with the review:
We've all seen pics, if you haven't, do a search. I need to reorganize my web page before I can post any more pics.
Looks-
The unit itself is very nicely put together, all stainless and with a polished finish on the box and tip. The piping is raw stainless and very sturdy with a 3/8" flange. I feel like it should be supplied with longer bolts because of the thicker flange, but I can live with what I've got. The ovalized tip is very nice to look at without being gawdy like a midget shooter.
The install-
Warning: If you are going upgrade your exhaust hangers, now is the time to do it. And if you already have the Kartboy or Cusco hangers on be prepared for a fight. I feel like a chicken that got caught in a tractor's nuts. I almost regretted having the Kartboys on, but I managed to survive with my knuckles intact. But if I have to remove those hangers again I'm dragging Tom up to Washington to do it himself!
Aside from giving myself a brain hemmorage with the hangers, the install was pretty straight forward. I centered the exhaust on the hangers and bolted everything back up. Then I went back and moved the muffler around on the hangers to improve the clearance at the diff protector. With the muffler centered in the notch, I get a loud rattle from the diff protector. With it slightly to the left, I get about 1/8 clearance, which is plenty with those damned Kartboy hangers
The sound-
I don't have the means to record the sound, sorry. I'm sure a bite will pop up somewhere. But my best description of it is stock, only with more bass rumble, and slightly raspier on throttle. There is always a bassy rumble at all rpm and where the stock unit kept things pretty tame above 4k, the WR Sport lets a low WAAAAAA out in the upper rev range. Not a loud note though, more like a low note. I'd even go as far as saying that my chopped silencer overpowers the exhaust note from the driver's seat in the upper rpms. I'm not sure how it sounds to other people, I never really hear my car on throttle without me behind the wheel. It could be that from behind, the car is loud. A former neighbor of mine had a 911 targa with a custom exhaust which was pretty loud and rumbly. This reminds me of the sound, except for having lower volume. Very mean sounding.
Summary-
I like it. Not too loud, spendy, or gaudy. I don't notice any power gains and never planned on it. I've seen where some people have reset their ECUs after the install and claimed gains. I'm very skeptical about those claims. I don't believe that just adding a muffler can give me a measurable gain that would necessitate an ecu reset. Someone please prove me wrong.

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