Top Speed Pro-1 Catback -- Review

[raven1231]

have the manzo which is the same exhaust. I agree sound is great fitment is very poor. Mine is lopsided as well. Having a rear diffuser helped hide it a little lol

[h4nh]

Originally Posted by kberkel

Is he the one with the turbo BRZ? His fitment looked terrific

Thanks. I had absolutely no issue with any of their exhaust. I know they changed up the design from the old one I had which was all 1 piece. Now it's split off in two pieces for shipping.

I'll show the owner the thread so he can send to the manufacture if it is a big issue. You can call them and send them pics of why your exhaust isn't fitting correctly and they'll take care of it.

On a side note, I've had guys message me reporting poor fitment and after driving the car the exhaust worked its way into place.

Regarding the bolts, I used bolts that came with the kit or the stock ones.

[h4nh]

Originally Posted by kberkel

Issue 1: The stock spring bolts near the cat do not fit through the Top Speed midpipe flange.

I did not reuse the springs if I remember correctly. I installed this a year ago. Maybe that's part of your issue is it doesn't need the spring.

Everything I got with the bolt kit they provided worked for me.

[kberkel]

Originally Posted by h4nh

I did not reuse the springs if I remember correctly. I installed this a year ago. Maybe that's part of your issue is it doesn't need the spring.

Everything I got with the bolt kit they provided worked for me.

Thanks for the post!

That really wasn't the main issue.. regular bolts would have sufficed, it was just annoying to raise the car up, unbolt the catback, and not have hardware that fit. I bought skinnier bolts to fit the Top Speed flange.

I was upset when I bolted it on, but for the price, I got over it in a few weeks.

The main issue is, the left tip sticks out further than the right, and the hangers do not work well out of the box. Maybe it's normal to need to bend hangers a little bit to get the exhaust to hang right?

Right now I'm only using one hanger on my right side, and it's slightly higher than the left. Originally with all 4 hangers connected, the right tip was almost touching the valance and the left was an inch or two downward.

[h4nh]

Originally Posted by kberkel

Thanks for the post!

That really wasn't the main issue.. regular bolts would have sufficed, it was just annoying to raise the car up, unbolt the catback, and not have hardware that fit. I bought skinnier bolts to fit the Top Speed flange.

I was upset when I bolted it on, but for the price, I got over it in a few weeks.

The main issue is, the left tip sticks out further than the right, and the hangers do not work well out of the box. Maybe it's normal to need to bend hangers a little bit to get the exhaust to hang right?

Right now I'm only using one hanger on my right side, and it's slightly higher than the left. Originally with all 4 hangers connected, the right tip was almost touching the valance and the left was an inch or two downward.

I would mock up all the bolts/nuts, attach the muffler to the hangers, then align it and then tighten it down. People usually just tighten one section at a time and it ends up misaligned.

I know how it is to feel frustrated when something doesn't come out right. We went back and forth trying to figure this clunking noise which I thought the exhaust was hitting the subframe. It turned out that it was actually my kw nut stripped out from the coilovers. Totally not related to the exhaust.

[Lunatic]

I bought the Top Speed EL Header a while back. It was very well made, clean welds, fir prefect, and so far no issues. Along with my Perrin 3" resonated exhaust it sounds great and you can't beat the price.

[kberkel]

Originally Posted by h4nh

I would mock up all the bolts/nuts, attach the muffler to the hangers, then align it and then tighten it down. People usually just tighten one section at a time and it ends up misaligned.

I know how it is to feel frustrated when something doesn't come out right. We went back and forth trying to figure this clunking noise which I thought the exhaust was hitting the subframe. It turned out that it was actually my kw nut stripped out from the coilovers. Totally not related to the exhaust.

Originally we hung the axleback, then bolted the midpipe on. We couldn't get the flange of the axleback flush with the midpipe (about a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the flange, probably due to hangers pulling upwards). The exhaust was twisted counter-clockwise, right tip almost touching the valence.

So we took it off the hangers.. tightened the flange until flush, then hung the exhaust before fully tightening. I had my friend pulling the exhaust as hard as he could (down and clockwise) while I tightened. Much better than before, but it ended up like you see in the pic.

There's two issues.

1. The exhaust needs to be about 0.5-1" lower where the silicone spacer is. It was so tight against the subframe that it torqued the exhaust counterclockwise. You can see in the pic. Eventually after enough vibration, the silicone spacer wore away and fell off. Now I have minor vibration at start up, but the exhaust looks a tad better now.

2. Left tip sticks out about 3/4 - 1" more than the right. I can't think of any easy way to fix that while keeping the tips centered.

Top Speed was courteous on the phone and returned my calls. Maybe I just got a bad kit? I wish someone familiar with Top Speed could take a look under the car, though I'm in Michigan

----- Cliffs, it just won't fit without modification

[h4nh]

Originally Posted by Lunatic

I bought the Top Speed EL Header a while back. It was very well made, clean welds, fir prefect, and so far no issues. Along with my Perrin 3" resonated exhaust it sounds great and you can't beat the price.

Thanks for your feedback.

Originally Posted by kberkel

Originally we hung the axleback, then bolted the midpipe on. We couldn't get the flange of the axleback flush with the midpipe (about a 1/2" gap at the bottom of the flange, probably due to hangers pulling upwards). The exhaust was twisted counter-clockwise, right tip almost touching the valence.

So we took it off the hangers.. tightened the flange until flush, then hung the exhaust before fully tightening. I had my friend pulling the exhaust as hard as he could (down and clockwise) while I tightened. Much better than before, but it ended up like you see in the pic.

There's two issues.

1. The exhaust needs to be about 0.5-1" lower where the silicone spacer is. It was so tight against the subframe that it torqued the exhaust counterclockwise. You can see in the pic. Eventually after enough vibration, the silicone spacer wore away and fell off. Now I have minor vibration at start up, but the exhaust looks a tad better now.

2. Left tip sticks out about 3/4 - 1" more than the right. I can't think of any easy way to fix that while keeping the tips centered.

Top Speed was courteous on the phone and returned my calls. Maybe I just got a bad kit? I wish someone familiar with Top Speed could take a look under the car, though I'm in Michigan

----- Cliffs, it just won't fit without modification

It could be. Like I said, I had a guy message me for days sending me pics back and forth and I tried to help him. (I don't work for Top Speed by the way) Anyways, the next day he drove it and it just aligned in place. lol