but much to my surprise this was only the beginning. I dropped the download to put together a plate on which Y found this
I don’t know how this happened, or how it went unnoticed for so long, but needless to say I was shocked and immediately started looking for other (cheap) options. Searching craigslist turned up lots of cheap, brand new, complete STI exhaust systems from people who bought their cars and upgraded their exhaust right away. Within an hour I got what I think is cat exhaust from a ’12 impreza sti for $200. The guy said it had ~1000 miles on it, and I believe him based on how it looked. If I wasn’t on a time crunch, I definitely could have gotten one even cheaper.
Getting fit in my OB was really a breeze. The hangers were all in the right places but at the wrong heights, so I heated them with a MAPP gas torch and bent them to fit. The length was also wrong, with the new exhaust being about 3″ too short up front. A cheap extension from autozone and my extremely corrective welding skills fixed that.
Honestly, I’m very happy with the fit and the look. The sound is though, I mean it sounds very similar to a WRX/STI to me, which is cool? The low idle is fun and I’m very pleased that it’s not loud on highways or at higher rpms. It also definitely hangs a little lower than stock in the middle, but it’s maybe only an inch. At the end of the day, I went from a degraded exhaust system to a new system in a weekend for about $250, so I’m happy.
