^This, yep I did exactly the same thing, bought the STI axle back for the look and sound and agree it adds to the experience of driving. The car feels a bit angrier if that makes sense, it’s a personal thing. A catback exhaust does sweet FA powerwise.

What you’re both describing is the placebo effect.

No it's not. A placebo by definition is designed to have no measurable effect by itself, with any actual physical effect coming from suggestion rather than through physical means.

My exhaust is measurably louder and has an objectively different tone. Unlike a placebo, it's designed to have a physical effect on the driver's eardrums. The accompanying psychological effect comes through a direct physical manipulation. We're not imagining that difference in sound from a suggestion that it sounded different.

A placebo effect would arise from having someone replace your stock exhaust with another stock exhaust exactly like it and believing it made your car faster. We don't believe our cars are faster. We know they aren't. It can't be a placebo effect if we don't believe it's working.

Even if we did, it still wouldn't be placebo. It would be confirmation bias. But that's not happening here either.

I've never heard a good sounding twin on the street, autox, or track.

The engine/exhaust sounds like it's struggling and unwilling.

But I do agree, a good sounding exhaust note plays a big part of enjoying the car.

Confirmation bias is rampant on this forum.
We see it all the time.



Subjective. I do not hear any such sounds. I hear that odd boxer exhaust note. I love the boxer noise. I can not stand the sound of an inline 4 that so may love and want to get. They all sound anemic and whinny compared to a boxer.

Depends on the inline 4. Our MGs had a decidedly different sound from the buzzy Japanese straight fours.

My favorite engine sound is a straight 8. If you turned the band Ednaswap into an engine, it would be a Packard 8 cylinder. Such a trashy sexy sound.

Agreed. I should have specified Japanese 4s. Hondas, to be specific.


Pretty much any old flathead engine makes a sound that has to be heard in real life to be believed and understood!

I had a hard time when a WRX started to sound like a Honda (EL headers).
I'll admit there are some nice sounding EL setups.

However, I happen to love UEL headers, especially on this motor.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJGW3bBeEM0[/ame]

I have this conversation periodically with Jeeples. The Jeep XJ community is notoriously cheap, with no concept of the differences in types of headers. They'll buy $85 EL headers off Ebay, then in between complaints about the collectors cracking they'll whine that it's impossible to get a Jeep 4.0L inline six to sound good.

Then they'll hear my Torque Tubes, which curl back on themselves to fit unequal pipes in a relatively cramped space. "Hey man, how'd you get your Jeep to sound like that?"

"$1300 in the exhaust from header to tailpipe. Banks Torque Tubes, Magnaflow cat, Gibson muffler and ceramic coating at Swain." (Cheap by our Subaru standards, right?)

"Fuck that! I got my header off Ebay for $100 and my Flowmaster for $80. You just wasted a shitload of money!"

And your Jeep sounds like a lawnmower. Enjoy that drone.

https://shopspeedhouse.com/media/cat...01_af47ae9.jpg

I agree, the old MGs in-line 4 had a good sound, even with the stock muffler.


humfrz

Yep, an old Ford or Mercury flathead V-8, with duel exhaust and glass packed mufflers, made a real "smooth" sound.

:thumbsup:


humfrz

My Japanese 4cyl (gray car) from a past life sounded pretty good IMO (biased).

[ame]http://youtu.be/82kenDH8Ju0?t=508[/ame]

I love the intake noise on certain 4 cyl Honda's, namely the K20 and F20. Sounds great stock from the driver seat with the intake and exhaust noise in balance. It's too bad so many people overpower it with buzzy aftermarket exhaust noise.

The UEL exhaust rumble is pretty easy on the ears too, even when cranked up. I constantly got compliments at the track with a UEL header setup.

I blocked the noise generator tube and installed stiff engine mounts as this makes the car more civilised...