Valved Exhaust Install and Test on the Cayman

My Cayman exhaust odyssey continues... In this installment we throw in a valved exhaust and wire up the associated electronics and vacuum lines. After the install we hit the road for some testing.

[@JPR073]

When you went to remove the exhaust clamp, I was saying “Let’s see how he goes here” because I’ve heard it’s troublesome. When I heard the “Many Unbearable Hours Later”, I laughed SO hard!! I’ve been there so many times with various things. Your humour and realism is awesome! The big thing though, was the end result. Your decision to go back to the stock exhaust is enlightening, informative and a great warning. Your thoughts in advance are what mine would have been. Great to see the reality before going there myself. Thanks!!!

[@kevint.5381]

That sounds great. Nice job

[@The_Handyman_Can]

Great detailed video. By the end result, it’s a real bummer mate. But all people’s perception of cabin drum tolerance is different, and without the opportunity to sit in an auto and listen for yourself, it was worth a shot (but I would say that, being that it was easy for me to watch instead of go through the expense and time you did). Personally, I’d just open it up when you feel like getting some attention, unloaded cruising, or when the roof’s down, and leave it closed the rest of the time. Like everything though, modifications are always going to be about 90% research. You did what you could. Thanks for sharing! 👏

[@chutorosushi1925]

Love the exhaust... Wonderful .

[@bbbear1]

Awesome vid!!! Super helpful and great sounding exhaust. Unfortunate on the final outcome.

[@carlfrederick8433]

Car Ski/Go, When I ordered my Cayman R I ordered the stock exhaust rather than pay for the PSE which was too quiet when I drove a car in dealer stock. My plan was to put an aftermarket exhaust on which is what I did with my new car and bought a Fabspeed Race cat back system. My car is also PDK and the droaning was terrible between 62mph and higher in 7th gear when cruising on the highway (or at any speed in any gear under engine load between 1800 to 2900 rpm). I studied Planet 9 Forum and read the approx 25 page post started by Plainsman? when my car was new in 2012. His approach was to make the exhaust longer ( extra tubing under car) which helped somewhat but my feeling from his last posts was that he was still not satisfied. I am an engineer, but had no professional esxperience in exhaust acoustics. In any case I got a decible ap and frequency/amplitude ap on my phone and did around 17 experiments changing one thing at a time. The bottom line is 3 major changes were needed: 1. About 9 inches of house insulation over engine and front 2/3rds of the hatch area absorb the exhaust sound vibrations. 2).A plexiglass and 2 layer 1.5 inch foam panel keep the exhaust sound vibrations from reaching my ear ( same rearward visibility). 3. A 5 inch extension of the exhaust tips beyond the rear bumper fascia were needed to eliminate the exhaust vibration from being trapped by the fascia ( I presume). Doing 2 of the 3 changes does not totally eliminate the droaning, but doing all 3 is a total fix. It sounds great at all speeds now.It took 2 years of experimentation to solve the problem as a challenging weekend hobby. I have 52,000 miles of enjoyable mountain driving now on this vehicle. Also this droaning elimination change along with other changes I have made allowed 116 ils of weight reduction ( I did not look up my records but at least 35 lbs are from the droaning fix). My car weighs 2900 lbs with a complete interior in the passenger area (but reduced interior behind the foam panel with plexiglass) PDK, AC, and factory stereo and optional cupholders. Hope this can help someone else who has a Cayman with PDK.

[@lbatalha]

Would it be possible for you to make a video or some forum post with pictures of all the weight reduction stuff, along with the insulation? From what you say those are some impressive results!

[@maschinetheist]

@@lbatalha Yeah, seconding that request. OP posted a lot of valuable insight. That's what makes this community so awesome.

[@ChrisW444]

Good to hear someone being honest about things. It did sond good but if not practical no point.

[@aservclive]

Well documented

[@Somnospeed]

I have a Carnewal GT with Fabspeed X-Pipe on my 987.2. Sounds awesome, zero drone. I wouldn't mind trying the soul valved exhaust though as I'm looking for something adjustable.

[@JoshHway]

I just put a Valvetronic Designs system on my car. Headers, full exhaust, no cats. 6MT. Drones a little bit at low, but the RPM range that it drones at is very small so its easy to just choose a slightly different speed to avoid it. With valves open, mine is wildly loud. Still working on some videos about it.

[@gman3280]

I’ve had the same issue with my Pdk S! Tried fabspeed first, open or closed. Drone was literally painful. Now I have the Carnewal. Nice but would like it a little louder. No drone though. Think pse all the time.

[@renesanchez5333]

Very nice

[@sho92]

That really sucks that the exhaust didn't work out. It sounded fantastic in the video! Sweet Dyno at the end of the video too. I have one just like it!

[@120badbubba]

2006 Boxster S, 6 speed manual. 987.1. Fabspeed Tracktec with longtube headers. Dumps open under hard acceleration, due to less vacuum. Fortunately no drone cruising.

[@DavidKnapp-ou8xs]

I have a RUF 3800S boxster with a 3.8 911 engine. Also a GT4 transmission which revs to 3000 rpm at 70 MPH. Not going to pay 3500 for a Fabspeed or , gulp, 5K for a capristo. Contemplating giving this a shot. Quality looks good. Tommy L Garage has a video showing exact placement of vacuum and electrical lines for a different valved system.

[@Poorschedriver]

I just installed the same TG exhaust on my 987 boxster last month. Such a great quality product at an affordable price. I'm amazed at how different yours sounds though, which I'm assuming is the difference between the 3.2 and the 3.4 Mine almost has more of an air cooled snarl to it (vids on my channel), but yours sounds damn good too.

[@meiniparnes8488]

Would it be possible for me to have the installation manual? Esp for the electrical part haha.

[@aisu8481]

Which Boxster? I have a 987 spyder pdk.. wondering if you found the drone that bad

[@sumone6213]

@carskigo did you end up keeping this exhaust? Do you like it?

[@stone8597]

I think what you're calling "heat shields" are actually debris shield. They look like they're going to keep rocks and road debris from damaging the exhaust. Great, honest video, thanks.

[@yourdidit782]

No, they are heat and drone shielding. He installed the exhaust upside down. No wonder he had to take it off.

[@DavidKnapp-ou8xs]

DOH !@@yourdidit782

[@TheBestWanted112]

Did the drone change with valves closed? I have a remus exhaust on my 987.1 S and the drone is avoidable, but still annoying.

[@DWraysGarage]

Man- what a run of luck on this aspect of your 987.1! I know you've likely wrestled with the cost but SOUL really has their solution dialed in nicely. Might be worth reaching out to them and see if they'll take pity on you and help you get one of their modules on there...

[@132ksg]

Hey D Wray, Thanks for the suggestion. I've watched your videos in researching exhausts. The exhaust featured in this video has an extremely similar construction to the SOUL exhaust. I would expect similar drone levels with the SOUL valved exhaust and the PDK. The common consensus on the forums seems to agree. Unfortunately the PDK just seems to land the RPMs in just the wrong spot for highway drone with most aftermarket exhausts.

[@DWraysGarage]

@@132ksg could you perhaps tune it out - either the PDK TCU or the ECU?

[@danbourne11]

This is the same as a soul. I have this exhaust on the same car, but manual, even then, I don’t notice the drone! Real shame about the pdk causing it

[@visturalvarez]

@CarSkiGo good video!! @@danbourne11 Hello! I am thinking of purchasing the Top Gear Exhaust for my 987.1 Cayman S 3.4 manual transmission. You comment that with manual and this exhaust does not show drone? I would appreciate your opinion. Did you only mount catback with valves or also manifolds? Thank you!

[@danbourne11]

Victor I think the 987.1 versions are slightly different, the standard silencers also have a 400 cell cat in the so will possibly be even louder than the 987.2? I couldn’t honestly say. But, I think you would be ok with the valves!

[@amyskal]

981 Boxster S manual transmission. Fabspeed Tracktec exhaust. Drone cruising at 2000rpm. Sold it. Thought PDK didn't have it. Going to PSE.

[@DoubleD2203]

Hey buddy, I just purchased this exhaust and I’m about to install it tomorrow. Can you send me a video slowed down of how you wired the vacuum system. I can’t find any instructions on this part of the install. Thanks!

[@priyapatel6619]

That’s pretty fast

[@QuizzyV]

I might’ve missed it but was the drone exclusive to one setting or was this with the valves both open and closed?

[@jacksonf_]

Might’ve been both, bc he did mention that it would work better in a manual then a pdk/auto, I assume that’s bc manuals are easier to control the rpms in then auto👍

[@yourdidit782]

You put it in upside down. Why shield the street from your exhaust heat?

[@joejoe188]

Great video! Good job man🙌🙌🙌. Instagram page?

[@djwessley1]

hi can you send me a link where you buy this thk u

[@user-gj8yx5cy6x]

So the drone was both valves closed and open? Better/worse one way other the other?

[@132ksg]

Drone was both. Open was very loud in general in the cabin but still had that extra resonance

[@minhsworld]

Where did you buy the exhaust from? Were you able to return it?

[@132ksg]

Do a search for Topgear UK Exhaust. I ended up selling the exhaust.

[@shawnledwez6308]

Question... so was your original sport exhaust not valved?

[@132ksg]

Original exhuast was not valved

[@slimfit4295]

Great vid, thanks for sharing! I had this same exhaust on my 987.1 Boxster (imagine how bad the drone was through a soft top 😭). I now have a manual 987.2 cayman and I’m just about to order one of these... can I ask where you chose to splice the wiring? This will be a fun project while we’re on lockdown.

[@ForgetfulFoot]

How did you go with the 987.2 exhaust. I am also thinking of getting the top gear exhaust. But am very concerned about the drone noise even with the valves closed.

[@slimfit4295]

@@ForgetfulFoot I sent mine back 😂 it seems like the only options that don’t drone are in the £1500+ category 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ForgetfulFoot]

@@slimfit4295 Yeah not good. I definitely wont order one then. The postage to return it from Australia will be too pricey. Not worth the risk, Carnewal Mod etc seems like the only reasonable solution

[@borinvlogs]

Sounds fantastic. Does anyone have experience with Remus full catback exhaust and Carnewal exhaust? Remus is local and easy to get fitted here in UK, but it is nearly 2x more expensive and i am not even sure how it sounds.

[@132ksg]

Check my other vids as I ended up getting a Carnewal exhaust and keeping it

[@borinvlogs]

@@132ksg hello thank you. i contacted carnewal but they can't use my exhausts as it has a tiny crack luckily they found it on picture i sent. so i got myself top gear non valved exhuasts similar price but got new. happy with it.

[@JUNJUN-lw2vr]

Did you end up selling it?

[@luismanrique5373]

a lot of ppl use the SOUL PERFORMANCE exhaust, lmk how that goes.

[@Avlimusic]

I Wonder if he tried installing the soul performance valve exhust system

[@bklaus27]

Dude Just put an electric cutout on it. Go from stock to wide open at your convenience.

[@johnmarsh9338]

what did you splice into at 12:00?

[@132ksg]

Hey John, the best I can remember is that there is a vacuum line in that area that I used to provide vac to the exhaust valve controller

[@pauloalves8177]

Do you have the link ok this exhaust?

[@132ksg]

www.topgear.co.uk/by-manufacturers/porsche/porsche-987-2-cayman-and-boxster-valved-cat-back?mfp=15-model[Cayman],27-variant[987],22-engine-size[3.4]

[@dennyl9914]

What engine is in this car?

[@132ksg]

3.4L 9A1 direct injection

[@cookefamily3255]

Wow unfortunate, I thought it sounded great from the outside