Is a 3' exhaust system worth the money

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

This member on this thread (HAD A TURBO KZ):http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-quot-Exhausts
had tried all set ups.

Hey Guys, I'm a longtime lurker and feel it's probably time to give something back.
My experience with the 1kz is first I changed the muffler with no noticeable difference I then tried 2.75" mandrel bent, plus dump pipe, with an improvement but nothing spectacular. I have recently changed to a 3'' mandrel bent (no name - it was cheap) and new dump pipe and it is a noticeable improvement. All 'seat of the pants' but no noticeable loss of torque, more free revving and with egt gauge fitted it seems to be running cooler with a definite improvement in run down cool time.

I heard the standard exhausts on the D4D's were good but if you want to throw money at extra performance..chips etc then go for it! I was told 3% better fuel econmony and @7% better performance on my old KZ. Just bought for the extra pick up!

[Dueler120 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dueler120]

So you found with the chip and exhaust there was no need for the sprintbooster? Did the exhaust/chip combo outweigh the sprintbooster only benefits?

I installed the exhaust first and then a while alter the chip so I could see the change. Both had noticeable but mild performance increases based through a seat of your pants difference. The turbo spools up faster, economy is about the same but the pull/ acceleration I felt I lost especially in 3rd gear with all the weight/ mods had returned. The exhaust is only heard when under heavy load and there is no drone at light throttle or cruise. You only hear it if your hunting for it as when the radio is on etc you don't even realise once your use to your car. To be honest I think the loudest addition would have been the bigger tyres. My EGT probe is after the turbo and I get readings of between 400 and 500* with it sitting at a consistent 450* at 100km, cruise and 6th gear. The chip is set at about 2:30/ 3:00 on the blue dial. You can obviously get higher temps if you give it a real hard time.

The Sprintbooster was added, for a short time, a while later and made the throttle allot more aggressive. It did make take offs faster and it pulled harder through all the gears. My personal opinion was that it was too aggressive for my vehicle setup with its weight and running conditions taken into account. My fuel economy went out the window as even with the lowest setting you were always running at high throttle input and naturally you start the bury the foot and pull through each gear a bit more. But again that's just me. I also found that it affected my cruise control by basically turning it off at random times. It was a pain in the proverbial when you do long distance driving, with no cruise and a throttle like a hair trigger ready to go off with any slight movement. It might be what some people are looking for but I had to remind myself that im driving a 4WD and not a commodore anymore.

Cheers,