bluestyle55,
Actually, I'm starting to get used to the sound now. I almost went back to the shop today to have the stock cats put back on but I think I'm going to give it a little more time. At idle the car sounds almost stock. At cruise with little or no load it is barely louder than stock.
When you accelerate gradually it sounds FANTASTIC! When you accelerate hard it sounds booming in the cockpit, even with the windows up.
My only other concern is the CEL. It came on after about 97 miles. I had them stuff steel wool into the extended bungs but I guess it wasn't enough. I'm going to contact Uprev on monday because I'm of the understanding that when they flash the ECU during tuning, that they can disable the rear O2 sensor. If I can confirm that this will eliminate the CEL permanently AND still allow the car to pass inspection here in Texas, then I will probably keep the setup the way that it is. For the moment, we don't have a tailpipe emission test here in San Antonio.
After driving it for about 175 miles now, it seems that either I'm getting more used to the tone, or it is mellowing just a little. I can honestly say that this thing is not as loud as my Evo IX was with bigger turbo, ported manifold and full 3" exhaust. I guess I just had been away from the car scene (2 years..) that my ears had gotten a little sensitive....
So, to answer your question, NO, the car is only really loud at WOT. Normal, conservative driving yields very reasonable volume and tone with the test pipes and the catback.
Hope that helps!
Tony
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