Why so blue? Tim's Paxton Supercharged GT Journal

[Mustang_Lou]

Beautiful car and I'm envious of the PC set-up!

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[Niz55]

Baller!

 

[Jmeo]

Loving the intercooler peeking out from behind the grill!

 

[SoCalTim]

Thanks for the kind words gents! Very much appreciated

 

[jauntzz]

AWE Touring Catback Review​

So, since I had the Corsa Sport catback on the car, the question could be asked why change when the Corsa catbacks are regarded as one of the best? Well, the Corsa sounded absolutely devine when accelerating with a heavy foot, but at most normal 'relaxed' accelerations in city driving it was almost none detectable. Now, of course that does play out to be the perfect Jekyll and Hyde exhaust, but it does lead to (at least in my case) driving with a heavier foot purely to hear that Corsa sound.


Sound Review


Having had the Corsa Sport catback installed for a year, I am very used to what my car normally sounds like. Let me start by saying their is a big difference in tone between this and the Corsa.

The best way I can describe it is a deeper version of the Corsa Sport, with no rasp in the higher RPM, and an incredible V8 rumble down low. It provided EXACTLY what I had been missing in my driving experience. That presence of sound in the lower RPM that reminds you that you are driving an American Muscle car.

So does that lower, deeper exhaust note come at the expense of drone? NOPE! I've had this on the freeway, cruising at various RPM's, going up and down through the gears for the past few days and have had zero drone experienced. There is more presense of sound in the car, but is not drone...it is the lower pitch exhaust grumble letting you know its there. Very pleasing to the ears.

Overall, I couldn't be any more pleased with the quality of this exhaust terms of both sound quality and fitment quality. Anyone considering an exhaust that gives plenty of volume without being ridiculously overbearing but still loud enough to raise a smile should definitely consider this AWE Touring. Sure, its not cheap, but you do get what you pay for.

I'll try and get a video at some point, but in all honesty the AWE promotional video will do a far better job of giving you an idea of sound!
[MENTION=28774]Josh/AWE[/MENTION] Two thumbs up for an outstanding product.

​

Love your build and your car so far! I'm waiting for my 17' GT to arrive any day and I'm motivated to do some mods!

I've been trying to decide between both the Corsa and AWE catbacks. In your opinion, after having driven with both, is there any difference in overall volume at cold starts and at idle? I'm trying to pick the most neighbor-friendly system of the two. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[SoCalTim]

Love your build and your car so far! I'm waiting for my 17' GT to arrive any day and I'm motivated to do some mods!

I've been trying to decide between both the Corsa and AWE catbacks. In your opinion, after having driven with both, is there any difference in overall volume at cold starts and at idle? I'm trying to pick the most neighbor-friendly system of the two. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hey, welcome to the forum! Thanks for the kind words on my build :cheers:

Cold starts I'd say are pretty similar...both the AWE and Corsa are loud for the first 15-20 secs whilst you are on cold start first thing in the morning. However, that quickly mellows done to a very tame idle on both systems.

I'd say in general, the Corsa Sport catback is a little quieter in general driving. Under hard acceleration they are probably very similar in volume and sound equally aggressive, but under general driving at lower RPM's the AWE system is louder. This is due to the lower tone exhaust note of the AWE...has more of a rumble to it down low.

Hope that info helps in your decision! I'd say the Corsa Sport is the perfect catback for the GT in all honesty, absolutely zero drone and quiet in the cabin when you are cruising. The only reason I changed to the AWE was because I fancied a change after a year with the Corsa, and was keen to try out a lower tone exhaust sound.

 

[jauntzz]

I'll admit it's pretty frustrating to make a purchase based primarily on sound and tone and not hearing them in person.

Videos don't do enough as there are so many factors including the area being recorded, distance of microphone to the exhaust and the microphone recording quality itself.

Thanks for your in-depth response. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but am leaning towards the Corsa Sport, as it'll be slightly quieter as you mentioned. After showing my friends sound clips, half of them voted for AWE and the other half for Corsa lol.

I guess it'll come down to whether I prefer a higher tone of the Corsa vs. the deeper rumble of AWE.

 

[GT_Tommy]

Car is looking awesome Tim! So glad we're both tickled with our supercharger endeavors!

 

[SoCalTim]

Car is looking awesome Tim! So glad we're both tickled with our supercharger endeavors!

Thanks Tommy! Yes I am very pleased with how everything turned out with the supercharger mod...gives me smiles every time I have some open road to stretch her legs a little bit Not going to lie though, it can be pretty sketchy on the Nitto G2's in 2nd gear under boost...you have to be ready to catch the back end as it steps out in a hurry if you don't feed the throttle in at the right pace. I've had the supercharger on the car for a few months now, and I still get excited every time I pick up the car keys, and feeling like I have Armageddon under my right foot :lol:

Its been great to just leave the car alone for a while and just drive it as much as possible. More mods will be coming (possibly a new hood first on the agenda, and some suspension mods are overdue), but since hammering the wallet hard with the whole supercharger upgrade package in the spring (I totalled over $9000 when I factor in my OPG parts and labor, Procharger kit with upgrades, custom tune, MAK inlet upgrade, Custom Watson radiator etc) So its been nice to take a time out from using my bank card for a while and just enjoy the beast I've created haha!




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[SoCalTim]

*Update!*​

OK....so its been a little while since I've bought anything of significance for the car. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've just been driving the a$$ out of the car, and generally supporting the US gas station economy with my boost-induced antics. Lots of fun

I decided to wait until the 4th July sales to drop the hammer on the purchase...and my patience did pay off, since I scored a worthwhile discount on a package deal. I originally only planned on purchasing headers in the sales, but came across this combo deal and decided to just get a complete new set up.






I know what you are thinking (for those who have followed my build), "but you just got the AWE Touring catback a few months ago?" Well... yea... slight change of plans....that is going to be switched out to the Corsa Sport catback, since I think the Corsa will be a better match for catless headers :lol:

I absolutely love the sound of the AWE, its everything I hoped it would be, but since the sound level is right at the top of what I'm comfortable with as a daily driver, I think adding catless headers is going to put it out of the realm of what I'm comfortable living with. I don't want the AWE any louder than it already is. That would be too much for my taste. Don't get me wrong, the AWE is definitely not a super loud exhaust, its just louder than the Corsa Sports, so I think a good compromise with my switch to catless headers is to go back to a quieter catback. If only I'd decided to pull the trigger on headers months ago, I would have saved myself the hassle of switching up catbacks again. But its all good, I have fun ordering parts :headbonk:

Having had the Corsa Sport previously installed on my car for over a year, I know it well, and I'm confident the sound is going to right on the money with what I'm aiming for. Remains to be seen of course, but I'm pretty confident in this move. I've seen some videos from Hypermotive running the Corsa Sport with the ARH catless headers, and it sounds :love: So I'll be right there in terms of sound quality.

I wasn't sure whether to go with green cats or catless, Corsa Sport or Corsa Xtreme. Deciding the headers then determined the Corsa choice. I didn't want to go with Xtremes and Catless headers. That would be way too aggressive for me. It boiled down to these combos:

-Kooks with Green Cats Paired with Corsa Xtremes
-Kooks with no cats paired with Corsa Sports

I came *this close* to purchasing a used Corsa Xtreme catback from a forum member, but spoke to the guys at Maryland Speed this afternoon regarding purchasing some headers whilst the 4th July sales were on, and unexpectedly landed a deal for a Corsa Sport and Kooks Catless combo. I just couldn't say no to the pricing. They advised catless would the smartest choice for me, given that my car is supercharged, and given the extra $$$ of the green cats, it just made sense.

It'll be a couple weeks before I have all parts on my doorstep (Corsa will be here quick, but the headers may take 2-3 weeks). I'll be getting out the Visa card to pay for the header install, I just don't have the inclination to spend the better part of a weekend cutting my hands up and shouting swear words getting the headers on. I'd rather pay a shop that knows the install proceedure and will make easy work of it.


Updates to come as the parts come in. Happy 4th July! :cheers:

 

[jabrax]

Hey Tim, I helped the guy (forum member you speak of) turn his car back to stock yesterday. Swapped the Corsa back to stock. Yuck!!!

Curious why Maryland speed recommended catless if you are concerned about volume. Like your AWE situation, I really like my Solo Mach IV sound, added MAK cat deletes, and it takes the volume to a bit out of my comfort zone. Starting to think about a frankenstein approach and adding Corsa axle backs to the Solo midpipe for giggles

Change to catless is not subtle.

 

[SoCalTim]

Hey Tim, I helped the guy (forum member you speak of) turn his car back to stock yesterday. Swapped the Corsa back to stock. Yuck!!!

Curious why Maryland speed recommended catless if you are concerned about volume. Like your AWE situation, I really like my Solo Mach IV sound, added MAK cat deletes, and it takes the volume to a bit out of my comfort zone. Starting to think about a frankenstein approach and adding Corsa axle backs to the Solo midpipe for giggles

Change to catless is not subtle.

Remains to be seen how loud the combo is...I'm hoping the Corsa keeps it somewhat tame unless I'm accelerating hard.

Whats the worst case scenario? I have to buy a pair of the catted lead pipes a couple months down the line. I'm OK with that...I'd rather try the catless first and see if I can live with it. I'm curious to hear it in person...like I said, the Hypermotive video required me to get new underwear, so I'm hopeful

With regards to the recommendation from Maryland, heres the reasoning:

-The Green Cats are 48 state legal, Not CARB compliant, whichever route I chose is illegal
-Some owners still get a CEL so no guarantees.
-I'm boosted, so catless is the best choice for maximizing power.
-With the Corsa Sports it should be manageable and not too crazy.


If I do find it way too loud, another option would be to have a custom mid-pipe made to replace the double-x with a resonator. There are ways to tame the beast if needed...

 

[JuRuKi]

Good move on the Sports + kooks tim. I recently got my Pypes catted headers and holy crap they are loud! Around town below 3.5k rpms they arent as bad but anything higher and they are WTF loud. I love them but im sure other cars driving with their windows open hate me
I was pleasantly surprised when i first drove my car with headers. It was a lot crazier sounding than I was expecting.

 

[SoCalTim]

OK...so I did some research today. Buying the green catted lead pipes as a separate part rather than as part of the complete header kit is wayyy more expensive. So after much thought today, I caved and ordered the Kooks 1 7/8" green catted header kit instead :lol:

I decided perhaps it was the sensible option, and air on the side of caution rather than get the catless and then risk having to pony up the cash for the green cats later down the road and pay $$$. I'd be kicking myself.

Had to get the order in quick before my order was locked in with Kooks, so I made a quick move to change up my order today.

[MENTION=19281]jabrax[/MENTION] Thanks for the input, hearing other peoples input is certainly appreciated! :cheers:

Remains to be seen if I will get a CEL with the green cats, but no biggie if the 02's need tuning out. I'm only really getting the green cats to keep the volume under control, so if it behaves itself and doesn't throw any CEL's then thats a bonus. All in all, I'm feeling very positive about the set up and can't wait to get this all installed once it arrives!



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[Jmeo]

You made the right choice imho Tim. I've had green cats for 10,000 boosted miles and have never seen a CEL once. That and your car would be obnoxiously loud without them.

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