AU Fairlane exhausts

[Fairlane Al]

Forgive me if I'm treading over well worn ground here, I've already tried a few searches but came up with nothing useful.

I'm strongly interested in upgrading the exhaust on my Fairlane to give more power and a nicer sound. Does anyone make an off the shelf exhaust for the Fairlane or will I have to go custom made? I've not been able to find anyone who says they make one for a Fairlane and I daresay being long wheelbase a regular exhaust won't fit?

On that note is there any real consensus as to what the best style of exhaust to go with is? I'm looking for a moderately loud note, with minimal droning, something that sounds good without waking the neighbours when I go to work early in the morning or come home late at night. Basically I'm after a good note when cruising around not a hear it from 3 suburbs away type sound. I can not overstate how much I detest droney exhausts.

Does anyone have any ideas on what sort of exhaust setup would best meet my parameters?

Also while I'm doing this is it worthwhile getting extractors put on and if so what type? Would I be worth my while looking at a fully custom system of some type?

Thanks, Alex.

[mcfly94]

No off the shelf that im aware, so full custom system, pacemakers are good and cheap and i nice 100 cell cat is cheap too.
Probably looking at a 1200-1500
Id be leaning towards a single 2.5 with muffler and resonator and 4480 pacemakers and 100 cell cat

[Fairlane Al]

I was thinking something along the lines of a 2 1/2 inch system would be where it's at, either that or slightly bigger. My brother's got a 3 inch system on his ute which sounds pretty nice except it's loud and it drones at cruising rpm. But then again I'm not sure how many mufflers or what type he has on it, so I can't really take too much from that. I do think that 3 inch is probably going to be a tiny bit too big for my liking though.
Does anyone have any recommendations between Pacemaker 4480s and 4499s, I've noticed 4499s are a fair bit cheaper, on a car that won't be modified overboard, will 4499s be good enough or is it worth the extra dough for the 4480's?

Do any of our Sydney based members have any recommendations on where a good place is to go to to get this sort of work done? I'm not looking for the cheapest price only, I'm happy to pay for quality work but having said that I'm not after gold plated top top shelf stuff. I'm mainly after something to just bring out a bit of shine in the old beast.

[MrEL]

Windsor Exhaust at Richmond would be my choice.

[twodogs 260]

Hi i too have a s2 5ltr failane in my search for a twin system to suit it i could only find 1 place here in perth that had the LEFT hand side of that system.Nobody seems to do a sysem for a fairlane . What i have fitted to my car was a factory twin system of an AU XR8 that had to be lenghtened by about 4/5 inches to place it in the correct location , the rear section would need the ends lenghtened by 3 inches to place it out be back correctly ( mine is as is and sits back a little under the bumper , no chance of buring your leg on it . he he) But the best mod i have done to date was fitting some XR8 S2/3 factory extractors , big improvement over the STUPID FACTORY exhaust manifolds and removing the centre mufflers for a couple of hotdags whilst leaving the rear muffler as is. Now has a deep note thats not in your face and dosent upset the neighbours (yet ) . I think an aftermarket setup like pacemakers and a twin system would be the go if you have the coin to do , mines been done on a shoestring buget so far but it has worked for me as it's just a nice family cruiser that goes a little harder than before .

[Fairlane Al]

Interesting insight. Mines a 6 so I'm not sure I can take everything from what you've said but it looks like if suitabily lengthened in the right places, an off the shelf exhaust can fit a Fairlane.

Today I'm basically tossing up between Pacemaker 4480 VS 4499s, keeping the current cat or putting a high flow in and having a fully custom made system done or doing a cut and shut on an off the shelf exhaust system.

All things considered I'm looking at going Pacemaker 4499s, modifying the current cat to have 2 1/2 inch flanges, and then having an off the shelf exhaust installed. I know this won't be as perfect as a full custom system but it also will likely be cheaper, and I don't want to overcapitalise on exhausts at the expense of other areas.

I'll likely go to Windsor Exhausts seeing as they're just down the road from me, unless anyone has any other recommendations as to where to go?

[Jack91]

Extractors + high flow cat/no cat + 2.5" = a bit of drone and sounds like a wet fart through a megaphone
The best thing is a normal 2.5" cat back ONLY.
But, if you must run extractors, 4499's are better as they dont look so out of place and the heatshield can be bent to fit over and go back on. 4480's stick pretty far out and get a bit nearer to your plastic brake booster and youll need a custom shield or cut the normal one up. Dont bother with the power comparos between 4480's and 4499's. Its only relative if you have a cam, tune and cai to actually warrant it, otherwise you wont feel the difference. Second hand 4499's will run around $120-$150. Ive had a few different types custom made, but the normal (2 muffler) 2.5" cat back system (redback copy) cost me $250ish at my local. Sounds nice and didnt draw attention. However, with the VCT motor, no cat, 4499's and a 1 muffler 2.5" the thing was bordering unbearable.
Trust me, just get the 2.5inch cat back.

[twodogs 260]

oh ok didn't realize you had a 6cyl , plenty of systems to suit the 6 are available that bolt straight on no mods required . on another Au at my place it's running a 2 muffler middle section and No rear muffler as they always rust out and it's got a nice deepish note and dosen't drone , cops don't even look at it . Think its 2 1/4 " and fuel consumtion is still exellent.

[Fyrestorm]

Castle hill exhaust might be able to help. My cat snapped at the welds and they knocked me up a new cat for $250 (had to make new flanges as mine weren't usable) still have it living around somewhere. (Swapped it out earlier this year with a high flow that came with my lukey extractors.)

[Fairlane Al]

I've been told I'm looking at around $1300 for a 2 1/2 inch system, Wildcat Headers, a high flow cat and 2 mufflers. Take $200 off to keep the stock cat.

The exhaust shop reckons that upgrading the cat is worthwhile, but I've also heardthat the stock cat doesn't flow too bad. I wasn't originally considering replacing the cat but if there is a worthwhile gain to be had I'll do it. I'm also considering sound here, would changing the cat make much of a difference to the sound the whole system makes?

At the end of the day am I worth doing the cat or am I worth saving $200 to put towards the next mod?

[Jack91]

That's ridiculously expensive. Also, keep your cat.