Well I took the plunge today and changed my exhuast cat-back.

Parts were from a brand new 2004 aero who immediately upgraded his exhuast to a hirsch cat back. Unfortunately for him, the center piping did not fit his 2004 model so he had to retain the stock center pipe.

As for my car, I bought over his aero's center resonator, and rear muffler, together with his 2.5" hircsh center pipe. Wielded it all together and waahlah....btw this was all done for a very nominal fee.... much less than Saab charges for just the rear sport muffler.

Haha and i don't even have a body kit to go along :oops:

Of course I kept my stock exhaust just in case!

So far so good. :cheesy:

http://img64.photobucket.com/albums/v194/gfyyim/Saab%209-3/IMG_0208a.jpg
http://img64.photobucket.com/albums/v194/gfyyim/Saab%209-3/Exhuast.jpg
http://img64.photobucket.com/albums/v194/gfyyim/Saab%209-3/IMG_0203a.jpg

Looks good!

how does it sound?

I think the stock centre pipe is the restricting part. Your gain his loss. Although I think you will have a few 2.25" restricting parts in yours (Muffler joins) so you won't get the full benefit of the 2.5". But still, good score.

Saabie! You took the plunge. Very nice! Got to see your car when we meet next. How does it feel now?

So it fits on an '03, but not an '04?

So far so good, the car seems more responsive but it might very well be all in the head!! :cheesy: To be realistic, I wouldn't say that there was a vast performance improvement ....
:cry:
Sound wise, very quiet, only a little louder than the stock setup. Actually I am buying this more for the look rather than expecting any huge bhp gains...

His Hirsch cat back was actually meant for a 2003 linear but he when he upgraded to a 2004 aero, there is some differences in the fuel tank configuration and therefore the middle center pipe.

Nice find!, I would say the sound won't be that much greater - the OEM end mufflers are very quiet, swapping that out will give you the greatest difference in sound (having been through a couple of exhausts and now with a cat-back, that's what I found anyway).

So it fits on an '03, but not an '04?

03 has a differnet fuel tank than 04s. 62 L for 03 and 58 for 04. To cut costs, saab had to use a GM stock part instead (58L) and this required a different exhaust system.