A silly reason to choose turbo over supercharger?

[ghost5.0]

After years of lurking the forums and endless research, I have decided to go with forced induction for my 2015 Mustang GT (20,000 miles on it). One thing I notice is most people do NOT run catalytic converters with their supercharged S550. This obviously makes the car very loud, which I am not a fan of. I understand some people run superchargers with cats, however I do not want to risk engine damage secondary to a clogged cat. Naturally this led me to the option of going twin turbo; which would not require the added cost of aftermarket headers and would be much quieter than a SC setup.


I have the corsa sport catback on the car now and love the sound, and think they have the best looking exhaust tips on the market (black chrome). I do not wish to change this exhaust, with any FI setup I decide on.


At first, I thought the budget would end up roughly the same (supercharger PLUS headers vs twin turbo system). However, after calling shops for install quotes I can see the TT kit I want (with necessary counterparts) is substantially more expensive. Frustratingly, the cost for a supercharger install is very doable.


Thus, due to price restrictions I have circled back to considering a SC setup. What I’m asking here is if anyone has a solution to run catless headers and a supercharger on a mustang that has a corsa sport catback exhaust, WITHOUT IT BEING A NASCAR LOUD DAILY DRIVER??


Did anyone here choose turbos over supercharger just solely because they didn’t want it obnoxiously loud??


TL;DR:

Want to go FI, however:

1) Don’t want to be obnoxiously loud with catless headers (supercharger)
2) Don’t want to pay 14-17k for install (twin turbo), but I might if there isn’t a solution to #1


What would you do in this scenario? Any input is appreciated, even criticism.

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[rebellovw]

You can always install resonators/glass packs to quiet it down. I’ve done that on a loud exhaust with headers. Not a Mustang though.

 

[sigintel]

Order a Whipple and self install. Catted exhaust is fine below 720ish.
Ride a scooter or motorcycle for 4 weeks while working on the car and buying harbor freight tools as needed.

You will thank us later, Ask anyone who has installed their own FI.

After you run the Whipple for 12 months and get bored (not really possible but for sake of argument), call @beefcake and get either hellion or any other turbo kit he has sorted out. You can sell the Whipple kit 1.5-2.5k less than you paid.

...Or... just schedule to drop your car off with beefcake for a turbo setup.

WhoTF quoted you 17k for turbo install?

 

[Ruiner46]

The whole clogged cat thing is seriously overblown. I have yet to see engine damage on this forum that could be definitively blamed on a failed cat. Yes, there have been several examples of aftermarket cats failing, but no engine damage that I've seen aside from the one guy who blamed his blown motor on a cat. Then he went and blew up another one or two engines without cats, so I think it was his crappy tune.

I also haven't seen any stock cats fail unless plugs were gapped incorrectly or the tune was way off. I personally have 40k miles on my stock cats and 25k with a Whipple. For a street driven car with cat protection and a good tune, they should last a long time. Roush doesn't change anything on the cats, and there are plenty of high horsepower factory cars with cats that don't fail.

Aside from the whole cat debate, you should keep in mind that if you go turbo, your Corsa Sport will not sound the same. Turbos change the dynamics of the exhaust and it just won't sound at all like it did. I previously had a twin turbo Fox body and I kinda always hated how it sounded, and I messed around with the exhaust a lot until I got something decent sounding. I would have still went twins again since turbos are amazing, but I live in a state with strict emissions laws, and didn't want to deal with that mess.

 

[beefcake]

cats do fail, this happened on our whipple f150 car. it does happen.

we now have kooks lt's with the green catted headers, if your going to run cats, these are the ones to have.. they flow more and take more heat, and are 49state legal

with having the sports, you won't be obnoxious as far as sound, imo, but you'll def hear it

feel free to give me a ring to discuss, goals, wants, needs, etc.. and we'll get you dialed in
beef
513-478-1965
www.teambeefcakeracing.com
#theforcedinductionspecialists

 

[bf93535]

I have a 15 with a paxton and 1/78 arh with cats I added a borla resonator mated to my stock mufflers for now and it literally sounds stock I'm also not a fan of all that raspy noise lmk if you want a sound clip thanks

 

[engineermike]

If you want to run cats and are concerned about clogging, you could always add a exhaust pressure gauge to keep an eye on it. Even if they never clog it would be interesting data to have.

 

[SheepDog]

I Second the Kooks green cats and headers. 12psi and E85 for 10,000 miles and no issues at all.

 

[Bartly]

17k miles @9psi with stock cats on mine. WOT to redline several times daily without issue, knock on wood.

 

[Grimace427]

...Naturally this led me to the option of going twin turbo; which would not require the added cost of aftermarket headers....

Not sure if this is a misunderstanding but a turbo installation requires the replacement of the factory headers and cats.

 

[ghost5.0]

17k miles @9psi with stock cats on mine. WOT to redline several times daily without issue, knock on wood.

I'm starting to consider going with a Whipple and running stock cats. I just hope there would be evidence of cat failure before it leads to any engine issues. I don't really care as much if the cats fail, I'll just accept having a loud car. However if they fail and go unnoticed for a while, that's what I'm worried about.

 

[ghost5.0]

Not sure if this is a misunderstanding but a turbo installation requires the replacement of the factory headers and cats.

You're correct, it does require replacing the factory cats however the turbo headers are included in the turbo kit. I don't mind not having cats, but I do care about the volume. Turbo without cats will always be quieter than SC without cats as far as I'm concerned

 

[turbofiveoh]

My buddy lost a piston to a clogged cat at 9psi. It didn't happen overnight but it did eventually happen...it's a roll of the dice. His melted piston motivated me to put longtubes on my car. Like you, I didn't want a loud car and after reading about folks that have had green cats fail I opted to go catless. I originally had an x pipe catback and I really liked the sound. After I installed the long tubes the car was unbearably loud. I ended up installing a Borla Touring resonator (PN 60651) and welding in these resonators https://vibrantperformance.com/cata...d=292&osCsid=ad660f1a4fdc892bfed1f109d6e60781
My car has a Gen 3 Whipple and is making about 9psi and I am very pleased with the exhaust note. It's slightly louder than the stock exhaust with a catback and there isn't a perceptible drone. PM me if you want any additional details.

 

[ghost5.0]

My buddy lost a piston to a clogged cat at 9psi. It didn't happen overnight but it did eventually happen, it's a roll of the dice. His melted piston motivated me to put longtubes on the car. Like you, I didn't want a loud car and after reading about folks that have had green cats fail I opted to go catless. I ended up running a Borla Touring (PN 60651) resonator and welding in these resonators https://vibrantperformance.com/cata...d=292&osCsid=ad660f1a4fdc892bfed1f109d6e60781
I am very pleased with the exhaust note. It's slightly louder than the stock exhaust with a catback and there is no drone at all. PM me if you want any additional details.

I just got done reading about green cat failure as well... This is good info. I don't mind a little bit louder, I just don't want embarrassingly loud cold starts in the morning because I have close neighbors. How is the exhaust smell without cats? Do people ever comment about it when behind the car? Do you have any videos of how this setup sounds? Thanks

 

[Bigswollnasty]

I'm starting to consider going with a Whipple and running stock cats. I just hope there would be evidence of cat failure before it leads to any engine issues. I don't really care as much if the cats fail, I'll just accept having a loud car. However if they fail and go unnoticed for a while, that's what I'm worried about.

I talked to whipple on the phone about this and they told me if I stick with the stage 1 system then I won't have issues. If I go with the stage 2 then I should look at removing the cats. However, they don't tune for removed cats. Keep in mind this was in regard to my gen 5 whipple on my 2018 mustang gt. Not sure how much of a difference if at all that makes. As far as the sounds goes, I don't want it to be loud like my previous headers and full exhaust with no cats mustang. In order to do this I am going with a MAK cat delete and keeping everything else stock, from headers to axle back. The 2018 stock exhaust sounds better than the 2015-17(it's louder) so I'd think you could just keep all your stock exhaust like myself and get a cat delete and after market tune then you'd be safe and relatively quiet. I'm am getting PBD's "stage 2" package upgraded for my whipple in a few weeks.

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