[jmkcc]

What's the difference between a 2001 93 exhaust and the 2003+ 93 exhaust? Are any of the pipes or muffler after the downpipe/flex pipe from 2003+ compatible or close enough to work with? I was surfing the net and saw a stainless catback exhaust for 2003-2011 with pipes over the axle that looked very similar to the OG93.

 

[Mimmi]

What's the difference between a 2001 93 exhaust and the 2003+ 93 exhaust?

All...

 

[jmkcc]

Well that sucks. I've never been under a "new" 93 and had hoped the pics showing pipe bends meant they went up and over the axle like the og93. I Googled some images and it looks like it has horizontal bends but no vertical up and over.

I just ordered a china down-pipe for my viggen and I already have an NG900 stainless sport muffler. I've been looking for a stainless replacement for the center silencer & pipe to the muffler. I checked local shops a year or so ago and they wanted several hundred to fabricate a stainless pipe to fit which I thought was outrageous. I can get a simon catback for a little over $400 from the Netherlands but I like the sound of the Saab sport muffler (it's on my NG900 right now) and hoped I could source workable stainless mid-pipes on the cheap.

Don't suggest connecting the sport muffler and downpipe to any stock OEM aftermarket parts. I just replaced the third intermdiate pipe on my son's 93 in under 5 years. I've used walker, starlight and whatever else picked up from EEuro, Rock auto and advanced auto. I don;t have high hopes for this last one - the welds around the flex section literally looked like they were made by hand by a two year old. I should have taken a picture - it bordered on ridiculous. But we needed the car on the road and had no time to return it and source another.

 

[jvanabra]

The 9-3SS is a totally different car with a totally different engine. There is literally no compatibility anywhere between the two models, nothing is shared.


It's hard to envision exactly what your "several hundred dollar" quote actually entailed, but bear in mind that mass-produced exhausts are largely built by machine... taking human labor out of the equation drops pricing dramatically. I just had a turbo to tailpipe exhaust build for my SPG and the total was $1200.... that seemed pretty reasonable to me based on past experience. I would certainly expect to pay several hundred for a hand-made section of exhaust, especially in stainless (more expensive material, more expensive welding).

 

[BobSaabit]

...- the welds around the flex section literally looked like they were made by hand by a two year old...

Walker? I've seen that before on another vehicle exhaust from them. I'll post a photo reference later.

 

[jakejm79]

Why not one of the BSR exhausts from GS?

 

[jmkcc]

I am resigning myself to purchasing a catback kit like BSR or Jetex. I'm not looking for big performance boost - just want a stainless exhaust that does not have one pipe or another fail every two years.

I like the sound of the Saab sport muffler but I'm cheap and it bothers me to spend almost as much on a 5-6ft section of pipe as it costs for a full cat-back. I hear jvanabra's argument about hand crafted quality, but none of the local shops I've gotten prices from were overly impressive. Given their quotes I didn't even bother looking at performance shops!

 

[jvanabra]

I would try a performance shop.


In the past, I've had virtually the same pricing from corner muffler shops as legit fabrication outfits. Those corner shops don't have an easier time of doing the work, and they're less well suited to doing it. Often times they quote penalty pricing for asking them to do work outside the norm.


The quote on that SPG from the corner shop was $800, built with aluminized steel and crush bends. The place that did the work was $1000 using mandrel bends and a stainless downpipe section. I *guarantee* the welds from the fab shop were of much higher quality, too. Both quoted the same Magnaflow muffler and cat (that I specified). The $200 remaining was an ATP Turbo part that I supplied.


(FWIW, I use that corner shop a lot - they've done probably two dozen cars for me over the last 20 years or so. They do good work, they just aren't equipped to do the weird stuff. )

 

[jmkcc]

I pulled the trigger on a maptun cat back ordered direct from their Swedish parts store. First ever order from Sweden for me so we'll see if it works out. I believe it'll connect direct to the down pipe which arrived Friday. I ordered two down pipes thinking I would sell one, but I think I'll drop it in my son's 93 along with the sport muffler I planned on using for mine. I'll worry about that adapter later. I wish they made a 2.5" male/male coupler which would allow me to connect his stock silencer to the sport muffler. I busted my budget on the maptun & down pipes so no stainless mid-section for him right now.

 

[jvanabra]

Discuss this "male to male coupler" you're looking for... Are you using slip joints or something else? Would something like this work?


https://vibrantperformance.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1527_1534_1132

 

[jmkcc]

The stock middle silencer pipe has a female ball/socket/clam-shell end where it attaches to the muffler and the stock muffler has a male ball/socket/clam-shell end that fits into the silencer pipe. For whatever reason, the sport exhaust is the opposite - the sport middle pipe has a male end in the rear and the sport muffler has a female end at the entrance. Unfortunately the sport middle pipes which would solve this problem seem to be extinct.

So the stock silencer pipe has a female end and the sport muffler has a female end. I was thinking it would be great if there was a 2.5" male/male coupling or bushing that would sit betwixt the two female pipe ends and ideally be thin enough so that the oem clamp or a wider clamp could hold them together. If it was a different location you could probably connect to 2.5" pipe to male ball/clam-shell adapters together so the form a M/M coupling - but I don;t think there is room for that.

I'd prefer not to cut the pipe ends (especially the sport exhaust) to use a butt clamp. I'm not sure there is a long enough section of straight pipe if you did try that - or if there is room where the connections is. The muffler and silencer pipe connect where the exhaust goes over the axle, curves downward and then curves back to horizontal out the muffler. I will probably pull the silencer/muffler today or tomorrow to see what the angles are and how much room there is where they meet.

Phew. Can't tell you how difficult it was to post this without lacing it with really immature sexual innuendo.

 

[jvanabra]

Ah, I get what you're saying. I didn't understand you had and were trying to retain the ball/socket configuration.


I would personally get to hacking stuff up. You're going to run into this challenge again if you ever transplant the exhaust, so why not fix it once so you can more easily move it next time?

 

[jmkcc]

I'm not crazy about butt clamps although I did use a long strong one in my NG900 exhaust to join a straight section bypassing the middle silencer. I think the ball/socket in this section will be stronger and less likely to leak. Knock on wood, I hope to never touch the exhaust again after going stainless so I'm not going to think about the ease of disassembly in the future.

I snipped this pic from platanoff to show my concern about the location and how straight each end is where they connect. This pic is the complete sport exhaust so it does not show the problem I have with female/female socket ends. But it does show the pipes and location. I'm not certain if one or both of the pipe ends are slightly curved near the end. If they are straight, how long of a butt clamp can be used? Longer is better but might not work in this particular spot given the tight clearance around the axle.

 

[jvanabra]

Ain't no pic, but I'm not sure it'd help me. I have never really paid attention under there. I'll bet someone knows the answer though!