Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 17:32:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ivan Chou 
To: se-r@deskmedia.com
Subject: Finally, exhaust is on(long)

Boy, I can't tell you guys how much "stress" the ongoing exhaust system
discussions have been messing with my decision.  Well, after deciding to
go with a Borla after I called a local speed shop and being quoted $119
for a universal 2 1/4" dia. can, I went in to lay down my deposit so the
shop could order it.  Sitting on the counter is something interesting, a
nice, black muffler, with large dual tailpipes.  A Stromung?  No, a
Brullen!  The counter guy saw me looking and said, "hey if you want
that, I'll let it go for cost[$200], we're not carrying that brand
anymore, they're too heavy[14 lbs, I weighed it]".  For what seemed like
an hour, id battled with superego as I wrestled with my "final" decision.
In all practicality, the Borla wins hands down, million mile warranty,
lighter, respected, and verified to be a pretty good performer for SE-Rs.  

The Brullen had few things going for it, exclusivity(how damn vain),
good looks(how damn vain).  It's a straight-through, and I knew it was
going to be loud.  No surprise here, my id won, stupid stupid stupid!
But boy does it look nice.  So for $81 more, I took the Brullen home.
Went to Meineke today per recommendation of the speed shop guys and had
them put on my Stromung, the Brullen, and the small length of pipe +
flange going from the end of the b-pipe to the muffler($85 parts+labor).

As for the sound, LOUD!  As I expected, but at least when keeping the car
at a steady speed, the droning is minimal.  Regular traffic light
acceleration from a stop is loud, I'd better stick to highway
driving--speaking of this, performance-wise I've seemed to have lost my
low-end torque, no back-against-the-seat push.  At higher RPMs my
butt-dyno tells me I've gained nothing, but looking at the speedo it seems
to go from 40-80 fairly quickly(placebo? :( )  Hopefully it's just
that the ECU is wondering where all the backpressure went and will
compensate soon.  I'm still wondering about this, the Stromung is a 2 1/8"
mandrel-bent pipe, the Brullen a ~2 in. straight-through--as opposed to my
previous stock system, with intake and header.  Probably a big decrease in
backpressure, but pipe diameter is reasonable.  Oh, the quality of
sound--sounds a little like a Mustang w/ Flowmasters at 1.5k-3k RPMs
(not really) depending on how much throttle I give it (yuck), and blatty 
at other times, a bit like some Civics I've heard around here.  Hit it at 
WOT at 4.5k RPM though, and it sounds absolutely beautiful(only to sick, 
sick people like myself) all the way to redline.  

Do I recommend something like this?  Not sure, the total cost spent for me
on parts was $160(b-pipe) + $200(muffler) + $50 (pipe+flange) = $410.  You
could get an HKS Sport Exhaust for the SE-R for a little more.  Then
again, I didn't plan to spend that much...stupid stupid stupid!  I'll
update in the future if there's interest.  I think I'll get used to the
loudness, but performance increase is a must for what I've spent ;)
Whoever's going to the NASA school on Sat. at Summit Point can see+hear
it.  Click here to see pic (sorry not a close-up)

Ivan