Cheap skate exhaust

First post on this forum, so pardon me if I do anything wrong. I've had my 2006 gti for about 6 months now, and it's great. The po had installed a 3" catless downpipe, and the car sounded good with the resonator and the muffler, but was a little too quiet for me. I decided to do a muffler delete. Since I'm a broke high school kid, I did it in the cheapest way possible without making the car look and sound like hell. One of my friends has a car hoist, so we lifted it up and cut the pipe right before the muffler. Removal of the muffler was straightforward and easy, but that b*tch was heavy. The same friend also has a plethora of pipe laying around his place. We scrounged up some 2.5" pipe with two 90 degree bends, which was exactly what I needed. I cut the pipe to size and welded everything together. I also made use of the factory exhaust hanger by simply welding a steel rod (also found at friends place) to the pipe. Now is where I'd like your guys' opinions. For an exhaust tip, I cut the bottom off of a 30 oz ozark trail tumbler and welded it on. The small end of the cup fit almost perfectly over the 2.5" pipe. I personally think that it looks like a legitimate exhaust tip instead of a coffee mug, and is much less expensive than a purpose built tip. The cheapest I found online was around $30 for a 4 inch tip, and the mug was $10 from Walmart. As far a sound goes, running a 3" catless dp and only the resonator, I think its just right. Has a subtle rumble at idle, is modestly loud under normal driving, and really screams when under hard acceleration. Only complaint is a slight drone from 2.5k-3k when driving highways. All in all, I spend $10 and a few hours work for what I think is a nicely done muffler delete.

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I think it looks just fine. Personal preference, I'd want it to stick out less. But great job.

Who say's American ingenuity is dead? I like the extension. Less chance of heat exhaust blow-back on the plastic bumper. Where and how does the 3" downpipe adapt to the 2 1/2" tail pipe? I am not up on the exhaust systems in our cars so tell us, how are you dealing with O2 sensors and the CEL codes that I'm imagining are produced with a mod like this?
I really like it. Simple and effective. How did you weld to that stainless case? You have mad skills!
P.S. My wife's from Dickinson.

Not bad.

I'd replace the single tip with this tip though, IMO:


It'll fill out the bumper cutout & flow with the curve of the bumper too...so you can have a better/flush fitment

3carmonte said:

Who say's American ingenuity is dead? I like the extension. Less chance of heat exhaust blow-back on the plastic bumper. Where and how does the 3" downpipe adapt to the 2 1/2" tail pipe? I am not up on the exhaust systems in our cars so tell us, how are you dealing with O2 sensors and the CEL codes that I'm imagining are produced with a mod like this?
I really like it. Simple and effective. How did you weld to that stainless case? You have mad skills!
P.S. My wife's from Dickinson.

Click to expand...

I'll post a picture of the downpipe when I have the car up on ramps later this week for an oil change. As for CEL, I unfortunately have it on all the time [emoji853] the dp has a bung for the o2 sensor, but it still throws a cat code. Any information on how to remedy that would be appreciated.

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Tune the car....no more CEL :biggrin: :headbang:

snobrdrdan said:

Not bad.

I'd replace the single tip with this tip though, IMO:

It'll fill out the bumper cutout & flow with the curve of the bumper too...so you can have a better/flush fitment

Click to expand...

Yes, a tip like this one would probably have a cleaner look, but so far as I can tell, I'm the only one who's used a knock off Yeti mug as an exhaust tip. It's unique [emoji4]

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