Straight from the think backward department comes the news that when it comes to getting more fuel and sir into the engine, the most efficient and cost effective route is to make a bigger path available for spent exhaust to get out of the engine. The faster the exhaust can get out the way, the more air and fuel the engine can take in. The more air and fuel the engine can take in the more power it can make. And so on. This news is especially true for a turbo quipped ride. When considering an exhaust upgrade the entire exhaust path all at once. Improvements from the exhaust port on the head all the Way to the tip on the muffler will clear the path to performance. To take advantage of the new and improved exhaust path out of the engine some steps should be taken to improve intake flow as well. While a muffler upgrade on its own may not yield any noticeable horsepower improvement, a manifold or cat-back system can bring noticeable results from the old butt dyno, along with the sweet sound of engine music to your ears. The best kind of exhaust upgrade is the one you can feel and hear when you mash the loud pedal.

Pop the Cork

In the case of the Mitsubishi Starion, aka Battlecar Galactic, the facts were that the stock system was acting as a cork to deep engine breathing. A trip down to the MagnaflowR&D center and a baseline stock dyno pull revealed there was indeed room to breathe. A rattling muffler and some clogged cats were the most likely culprits. Since the Starion's 2.6L four huffs in fuel and air with a little help from an intercooler TD05-12a hair dryer, the ideal exhaust would be no exhaust at all. After the exhaust gets past the hot side of the turbo it has no better place to go then away-and the quicker, the better. While a two-foot length of 3-inch pipe after the turbine wheel is all fine and good for the drag strip, on the it would no doubt prompt unwanted conversation with local and state authorities, and besides the noise would drown out the tunes. Asphyxiation from fumes also becomes a concecern. With this in mind a more sensible approach was devised. The plan called for a mild cleanup of a new stock exhaust manifold, a down pipe, a hi-flow catalytic converter, and a cat-back 2.5 inch mandrel bent system with a finished off with a MaganaFlow straight though design muffler. The down pipe was scored used from Ebay Motors, the intermediate B-pipe was sourced new from Starion specialists Top End Performance, and the rest of the system was custom fabricated at the MagnaFlow R&D center. The one guy in Japan the made bolt on cat-back Starion systems seems to have turned off his welder and retired.

The Nuts and Bolts of it All

The first step was to clean up the exhaust manifold and install it with a new multilayer steel gasket, studs and new copperpinch nuts. To let in more air in a K&N replacement filter was also added into the mix. Next came the downpipe and b-pipe, and the rest of the system out to the dual chrome exhaust tip. The crux of our plan was to make flow improvements throughout the entire exhaust path without changing any other aspect of the stock setup. The goal was to bring noticeable improvement overall in both horsepower and torque along with a smooth and mellow sound that would keep the authorities at bay. With the baseline numbers recorded and the exhaust and muffler dialed in, MagnaFlow strapped the Starion down to the dyno once again for the final results Our work payed off. An almost 15hp gain in wheel horsepower and five foot pounds of torque with absolutely no change to anything else on the system. From the icing on the caked department came the sweet tune of exhaust that looked stock but better, and flows like the open floodgates of the Hoover dam. Fabrication and testing is the name of the game down at MagnaFlow, with the Starion just one of many vehicles into and out of the R&D center everyday. With the exhaust in place and superior flow established, it's time to add more fuel and air by way of a hi-volume fuel pump, bigger turbo, and kicking up the boost for even more horsepower.