Went down to the muffler man today and spoke with the guy who'd be doing the work. Very cordial and straight-forward. They put my car up on the hoist and we looked it over, wasn't bad at all considering it's been in Alberta the past 4.5 years. Saw the point on the driver's side where the midpipe has to make a small detour (AWD). The guy echo'd much of what you've said, in that other manufacturers also do a "pipe in a pipe", which can result in the inner breaking down and causing issues. In short, he was pretty quick to suggest that doing custom is going to cost a whole lot more than to bring in something like a Tsudo, even if it's just replacing components. He said he could put the whole thing on, including modifying the mid-pipe, in about 1.5 hours.

The axle-back pipes he figures aren't even 2" so even if I go the custom component route that's still going to be there, along with the nested midpipe. Those are mighty sharp turns at the back alright, one of them being nearly 90 degrees. I see what you mean about the X-pipe -- it looks like it went into a hydraulic press! Why didn't they just use regular pipe? Anyhow, at $600 (or even $399 I've seen it listed for) the full Tsudo from what I've heard sounds pretty decent, with the added advantage of being able to try the axle-back first, then if not loud enough put on the mid, and if too loud then simply sell that piece. Have also heard a Tsudo mid with Magnaflow mufflers that sounded good.

Btw, first thing he said was to compliment the colour

 

Good luck with what ever direction you go and glad my info helped you out. Be sure and post after it is all done.

 

Not sure how much custom 2.5" mandrel would be, but considering the cost of tips as well, perhaps this is a solution for the axle-back? Could then just insert the Magnaflows:

https://www.remark-usa.com/collectio...e-for-lexus-is

Btw, there are several similar-looking resonators in the 2444x 2" series -- how'd you decide which one? Same goes for their 2.25" series, many to choose from. Are they essentially the same excepting for length and inlet/outlet size or is there something else to choose between them?

 

Yikes, no mufflers on that set up. looks nice though and kinda pricey. You can always do what I suggested and buy online, the separate bends, and a couple of 3ft pieces of stainless, and have the shop weld them on. As for the resonators, biggest difference is gonna be in/out diameter and body length/overall length. Many different options to fit in different spaces. I chose the one I suggested for you based on being the most similar to the length I already had. Just dont go shorter than mine. A few of the TL guys went with the 20inch one which lowered the tone a little more than the 17inch one. Who knows.... if you go with the longest one that will fit, you may be able to run that "no muffler" axle back setup you posted. Would be good R&D for everyone else here... lol

 

Ha yeah, no way I'm going without resonators or mufflers! Yours is as loud as I want to go. Wouldn't it be tough to find the exact spec bends of pipe and such online, would end up having to piece a bunch of segments together and be better-off just having a shop form them? Or do the shops charge bigtime for the pieces that we can otherwise get for less online?

Chopping out the cats, X, and old reso's for new pipe, X, and reso's in the midpipe shouldn't be that difficult, it was more the straw-like axle-back portion I was trying to figure out. One of the problems of being a perfectionist. Have seen a couple people selling their Tanabes, and maybe a Magnaflow ends up for sale, too, but this setup at least has a nice big mandrel pipe and ends already formed and could just add the mufflers.

So the Walker resonators are for the most part built the same (in a specific series), just differ in size? The longer they go, the more they attenuate but don't really change the tone? So many different ones but there seems to be little difference from the 24440, 24441, 24443, 24444, etc. With no secondary cats and moved X, it looks like we could put as long a resonator as we want under there but maybe there's tighter limitations in our and other cars that I couldn't see. Thing is, we know how yours sounds so I'd seek to keep as close to that as the basis, aside from maybe changing out for more 2.25" (and as $ permits).

 

Any shop that carries stainless pipe and does mandrel, is gonna charge for it. Companies that mass produce stainless bends, can sell them cheaper... example... http://www.mandrelbends.com/mandrel-...-16-gauge.html
I cant remember the exact one I ordered from before, but I built the entire 4" exhaust on my Camaro with pieces (perfect mandrel bent pieces). I think I spent like $150 total for all the pipe, and had it all assembled for like $75, plus the $75 for the 4" mufflex muffler.
Some of the resonators are listed as "race bullets", but I have no idea how similar they are to the ones listed as "muffler", but yes they are all very similar... 12" body with 2" extensions on each end, 12" body with 4"... several variations. And going longer will deepen the tone slightly more, but also takes out more "rasp", but dont know anyone that has gone extremely longer to see if there is a cutoff or not.

 

EJ, since you've had the opportunity to examine the OEM exhaust parts, can you confirm:

1. The piping is all or primarily 2" inside diameter?
2. The secondary cats are 2" in/out, and appear somewhat restrictive?
3. The resonators are 2" in/out, and are basically straight-through and not restrictive, like most resonators?
4. The pipe from collectors to cats -- is it pipe-in-pipe, and the inside diameter also 2"?
5. The x-pipe, is it even more restrictive than 2"?
6. And did you put your new X further up, where the cats were?

I'd figured the secondary cats wouldn't have much effect, whether in sound or performance, but then came across this:


This definitely sounds deeper and louder than the Tsudo axleback alone.

 

 

Ah thanks, so you did the exact same thing, no other parts changed, and it sounds like that? How much louder is it than Tsudo-only and how does it sound when revved higher and under load -- does it maintain the smoothness of the axle-back, doesn't rasp or "braaaaat-out"? I think the key factor is the OEM resonator -- as long as that remains in, the sound stays nicely tailored. Most of the aftermarket midpipes tend to lose that smoothness, especially ones with short resonators, no matter what is put in at the axle.

 

Yup, it does sound like what they have in the video you posted (the same video is actually what got me to do the cat delete lol). However...seems like the factory resonators can't hold the extra pressure from the cat delete, so it rattles like you're blowing into a soda can revving it up sometimes...I ended up adding a X-pipe, deleting the factory tiny H-pipe, and replaced the resonators with some vibrant ultra quiet. Now it sounds smooth (not drony and raspy, no difference than having just the axleback), deep, and it pops sometimes downshifting.

 

Yes, just found it -- and looks like you found the guy who made the clip!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ts-delete.html

Do you also get some rasp then, but only at high revs? The full Tsudo has some, but I hear it more as the br-a-a-a-a-t sound and would prefer not to go that loud either:


Is this similar to yours now, or with the Vibrants you're back to about the same as with the stock OEM resonators, just without rattle? Or perhaps even a better tone than OEM? I'm considering getting the full Tsudo but keeping the OEM resonators (cutting out the small Tsudo ones) although not sure how the 2.5" piping would affect them, considering what you encountered. I'm figuring the tone shouldn't really change much, as just the piping and X would be bigger, opening the flow and maybe a bit more volume. Do you think the rattling was actually internal in the resonators?

The exhaust place here mentioned changing to the Vibrant OEM-like bottle resonators, but I haven't really found any Lexus's with them to compare.

Bottle Style Resonator, 2.25" inlet/outlet x 18" long

The ultra-quiet seems like a good alternative and is probably quieter although fatter -- did you have no problems fitting it where the stock ones go?

 

The guy I worked with at the muffler shop tried pretty much everything (first thought it's the factory h-pipe being too small in diameter, or some heatshield) and the resonators was the last part I replaced that fixed the rattling, so I'm pretty sure that's where it came from. Aftermarket midpipes are too raspy to my liking plus not many of them have AWD versions. The Vibrant ultra-quiet may be a little bigger in size comparing to the original, but we managed to fit it with a slight tilt. If you want the video of me taking off after everything was done, I can send it over via Instagram

 

I think I've found the full Tsudo for $399 shipped -- it's like getting the axle-back for free so I think I need to pounce on it. And yeah, I'll need to get one of the pipes modified for AWD but it's not a big deal.

I agree about the aftermarket pipes, as I don't want to get too loud (let alone raspy) either. Lexus gotta stay classy! Do you figure yours now is comparable in tone and loudness to before the OEMs minus cats, just without the rattle? Did it change the upper-rev rasp with OEMs? And by all means, please do post the clip! I don't have an Instagram account though...

Found the 1141 (2.5") Ultra-quiet on Amazon for $87 shipped, but I suppose you had your local shop source them. The other guy didn't seem to mention having the rattle problem though, so maybe I should try with the OEM resonators first, then have those as the backup plan.

 

$399 is a great deal for the catback, I bought my axleback for $300 lol

And you're right! Exactly what I'm thinking, staying classy...For the tone, Vibrant Ultra-quiets reduced rasp and drone(I would post a clip here, it won't allow because the file is too big), not much drone daily cruising and deep sound comes when you step on it. I bought them on Amazon as well and price sounds familiar, so you should be looking at the same listing as where I bought it.

I think the OP changed his resonators as well if I read it right. In the end, I would say let's try to keep the factory resonators, to see if you run into the same rattling issue I ran into and if you like the sound. (I have to say changing the resonators on the midpipe sounds better IMO...to which one you may ask? your choice lol.)

 

Sounds good, so you figure the Vibrants were an upgrade sound-wise on the OEM? Considering they're another $200 and the retrofit would be similar to using OEM instead of Tsudo cats (they look about the same length) I think you're right and I'll try with the OEM first. Will do some research, but pretty sure those bottle ones will be louder than the Ultras, and I don't want to go any louder than his in his clip.

How big is your clip? Maybe could just do it by email?