Drone box - which is best / least worst?

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, McDonald said:

I'm advised by Precision Porsche that I can get the whole thing replaced for £2,300. I'll be doing that this summer.

Is that with manifolds too?  Getting those bolts out of the block can be a big challenge and I know at least one of mine has pretty much rusted away already so will need drilling out!

[McDonald]

41 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Is that with manifolds too?  Getting those bolts out of the block can be a big challenge and I know at least one of mine has pretty much rusted away already so will need drilling out!

Front to back, complete exhaust - Dansk 2.3K.

The Porsche supplied exhaust is quoted at 5K.

I want no extra noise. I'm assured that the Dansk system answers the brief. 

I'm happy to let Precision Porsche worry about rusty bolts.

[map]

You can see the mounting points on my (admittedly very aftermarket) system:

Manifolds are self explanatory - brackets on silencer bolt up to the gearbox hanger yellow points on photo below:

7 hours ago, ATM said:

Blue bolts fix to gearbox hanger.

Edited January 30, 2023 by map
Trying to sort image load

[brillomaster]

Those manifolds look gorgeous 😍

[map]

11 minutes ago, brillomaster said:

Those manifolds look gorgeous 😍

Thank you - there's quite a bit more about this system in my Running Report - link below goes directly to the relevant bit of the thread:

 

[RedBarediver]

I had an eBay special on for about a year and a half. Cost me £150 and it was okay. Droned like a b****d, especially in the beginning but seemed to mellow a bit and got slightly better the more I used the car. The drone never went away and was always there between roughly 2,500 - 3,000 rpm. I sort of learnt to drive around it.

BUT - when you put your foot down it sounded absolutely glorious. I even had a guy in a 2012 Boxster pull up next to me at a traffic light asking me about it. He was amazed when I told him it was an eBay dronemeister  

Sanity prevailed and when offered a standard exhaust for £50 I grabbed it. The car now sounds more civilised and the drone is gone but I do sometimes miss the howl it made from 5,000 rpm upwards...

I still have the dronebox in the garage if anyone is interested. You can have it for a donation to Scotty's Little Soldiers. I had my fun out of it.

[ATM]

32 minutes ago, RedBarediver said:

I had an eBay special on for about a year and a half. Cost me £150 and it was okay. The drone never went away and was always there between roughly 2,500 - 3,000 rpm. I sort of learnt to drive around it.

Although on the motorway that's difficult.  I found myself using some noise cancelling headphones.

[eob]

1 hour ago, ATM said:

Although on the motorway that's difficult.  I found myself using some noise cancelling headphones.

Jeebus.
I want a bit more drama but I dont want to have to resort to this kind of thing.
Is the general consensus that the Carnewal upgrade is the best compomise next to a full PSE upgrade?
This is the next on my list after tyres, but I dont want to ruin the car.

[ATM]

13 minutes ago, eob said:

Jeebus.
I want a bit more drama but I dont want to have to resort to this kind of thing.
Is the general consensus that the Carnewal upgrade is the best compomise next to a full PSE upgrade?
This is the next on my list after tyres, but I dont want to ruin the car.

If you want a bit more noise but still reasonably civilised then you dont want one of these. 

If you want cheap and cheerful noise and that's it then you want one of these.

[jonogt6]

9 minutes ago, eob said:

Jeebus.
I want a bit more drama but I dont want to have to resort to this kind of thing.
Is the general consensus that the Carnewal upgrade is the best compomise next to a full PSE upgrade?
This is the next on my list after tyres, but I dont want to ruin the car.

Exhaust sounds are so subjective aren't they. In the last few years I've gone from completely standard 2.5 box to a Topgear drone box, then on to a 2004 3.2 box, then on to another standard box but with the bypass modification. 

Hated the dronebox. The bypass modded one was also way too loud for my tastes so eventually reverted back to the 3.2 box which is perfect as far as im concerned.

A lot of people love the bypass system though, so it really is a matter of personal preference.

[brillomaster]

its horses for courses - dont get the dronebox if you do a lot of motorway driving, or use your boxster as a daily. but if your main usage is blasting around b roads on the weekends or trackdays, a dronebox is great.

a few weeks ago my boxster equipped with dronebox was called in for daily driving duties including a long distance slog with my wife. the exhaust did raise some eyebrows in the office car park, and it was a bit tedious on the motorway - basically, have to do an indicated 80 before you can use 6th gear and be out of the drone window. As soon as the speed drops you have to downshift to 5th or 4th to keep the revs up.

however, my daily driver is working again now, and i'm back to using the boxster for cross country blats - and let me tell you, 4000rpm and higher the car sounds glorious - not a hint of drone, just flat 6 loveliness. there may be a couple of extra ponies found too.

[eob]

36 minutes ago, ATM said:

If you want a bit more noise but still reasonably civilised then you dont want one of these.

So would Carnewal fit the bill?
I want the noise that it produces under load, most of the time if that makes sense?

[ATM]

I did see this vid on YouTube where the guy - who I find a bit annoying if you ask Me - fixed the drone with a drone killer attachment duffer.  Let me see if I can find it....

Edited February 1, 2023 by ATM
missing words

[ATM]

 

[brillomaster]

these do work to remove the drone, so are a good option if you want a quiet exhaust thats cheap.

however don't do what i did and buy the ones painted black - the heat from the exhaust quickly melts the paint off and makes a mess.

[brillomaster]

just measured mine, 48mm diameter and about 135mm long, so, these ones:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134298196957?hash=item1f44cbdbdd:g:DJcAAOSw~9NjV6xn&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4Ie0BU4IR55ej0%2B2fTgjNuXIBKzorxlgkdIHt0XvxEkH97xd2vOSZXBtCs59pLoEi8frmHDqoX8DEmJ%2FSdVTU%2BGVX%2FI2p5sZi8T%2BY2PYoBKttqYwTVmGCRGhUX4iMYzSm0uqRDiMJwHDhfPmzBeDOh62LYnbxhpA7o6x8OPj%2BX5ff4EqyLiyd5F1AfBdys%2FyJq7BqGqm9tbXTbpcWcYWRLveyWeexvNf%2B0fZeb1s5hk8yVmiIc8ASgGIpaplr70%2Bob%2B%2B94CuwCpVFJ1er%2BPnDt%2FAEPUPELZBiRSoPFAXNiPi|tkp%3ABFBMhMiK2cFh

[ATM]

1 hour ago, eob said:

So would Carnewal fit the bill?
I want the noise that it produces under load, most of the time if that makes sense?

No idea

 

I'm no expert

 

I have had the drone box and the standard exhaust.  Both were blowing or leaking so both were louder than they would normally be if they were fitted correctly.  The drone box was only ever blowing and sounded crazy.  Funny yes.  Childish yes.   But a little bit embarrassing in traffic when people look at you and start to question the size of your manhood.

[Baldrick]

My 2004 had a quite expensive Dansk 'sausage box' fitted by the previous owner.

It had a muted quality at low rpm and a great noise above 4000. However it droned like a bar steward between 2500 - 3000 rpm and was one of the reasons I shifted the car as it was really that bad. Enough to resonate your fillings out... It also had 90 degree bends about 50mm in from the tips so db killers couldn't be fitted in a way I was happy with.

Current one has original and will be replaced with the same if and when it goes. It's lasted 22 years so a grand or so isn't too bad in the scheme of things. Car is a daily so needs to be understated.

[Meridianmet]

On 2/1/2023 at 11:53 AM, RedBarediver said:

I had an eBay special on for about a year and a half. Cost me £150 and it was okay. Droned like a b****d, especially in the beginning but seemed to mellow a bit and got slightly better the more I used the car. The drone never went away and was always there between roughly 2,500 - 3,000 rpm. I sort of learnt to drive around it.

BUT - when you put your foot down it sounded absolutely glorious. I even had a guy in a 2012 Boxster pull up next to me at a traffic light asking me about it. He was amazed when I told him it was an eBay dronemeister  

Sanity prevailed and when offered a standard exhaust for £50 I grabbed it. The car now sounds more civilised and the drone is gone but I do sometimes miss the howl it made from 5,000 rpm upwards...

I still have the dronebox in the garage if anyone is interested. You can have it for a donation to Scotty's Little Soldiers. I had my fun out of it.

I've messaged you about the exhaust if it's still available. Thanks.

[RedBarediver]

On 2/1/2023 at 12:25 PM, ATM said:

Although on the motorway that's difficult.  I found myself using some noise cancelling headphones.

Mine is a base model 2.5 litre so only has 5 hears. Easier to get it to 3,000 rpm on the motorway without really breaking the speed limit.

On 2/1/2023 at 1:53 PM, ATM said:

If you want a bit more noise but still reasonably civilised then you dont want one of these. 

If you want cheap and cheerful noise and that's it then you want one of these.

Yes indeed. Cheap and cheerful. I do prefer the standard exhaust but boy oh boy these sound great when you're driving in a more spirited fashion. 

 

Re the DB killers - they do work but the car sounded like an asthmatic moped. Hated it and took it out after 5 minutes. I'd rather live with the drone!

[ATM]

3 hours ago, RedBarediver said:

Re the DB killers - they do work but the car sounded like an asthmatic moped. Hated it and took it out after 5 minutes. I'd rather live with the drone!

It looks like you can trim these down.  The long tube thing with holes in can surely have a bit nipped off the top.  Then it will be a bit less restrictive but might still damp down some drone.  We need a trial and error volunteer.

[edc]

It's been done here before as has the cross over link pipe.

[RedBarediver]

14 hours ago, ATM said:

It looks like you can trim these down.  The long tube thing with holes in can surely have a bit nipped off the top.  Then it will be a bit less restrictive but might still damp down some drone.  We need a trial and error volunteer.

I think I still have them somewhere in the garage if I haven't thrown them out when we moved. 

They came with a sort of little plug so the exhaust gases are forced to exit only through the little holes in the baffle. Horrible wheezy sound. I took out the little plugs in the hope it would make it better while still killing the drone.

I must admit it sounded so bad that I took it out and never really explored if it cured the drone. There was no way I was going to drive around a Porsche that sounded that bad. At least the dronebox sounded good from outside the car

[ATM]

Yeah I'm not sure what can be done here.  It seems the drone box is too much but if you ty to kill the drone you also kill the good noise also.  I am new to the party so I guess others have been down this road already.  I know my standard box sounded rather fruity once the u bends were both blowing.  So maybe the answer is those valved u bends from spider performance with a standard box.

 

https://www.spyderperformance.co.uk/shop/exhausts/valvetronic-sets/porsche-986-boxster-spyder-performance-exhaust-bypass-valve-set/

 

[Ninesomething]

I'm about to test this theory. I have the dronebox and it really isn't that bad. Don't notice it at all with the roof down which is how I usually go. Makes a good noise when your foot is down but it's just a little 'flat' sounding so I'm going to get a balance pipe welded in between the silencers. By all accounts this will kill the drone, give me a tad more midrange and sound wicked. Been meaning to do it for ages but I'm hopefully getting it done next week. Wish I'd done it before I had it fitted - would've been so much easier.