Exhaust systems for 150's which is best?

[pinko351 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pinko351]

Well jobs done! Yes it has increased the noise but not offensively.

Seat of the pants dyno: quicker out of the hole, happier to drop back gears when towing and the the fuel usage appears to have improved.

The fuel use will be proven over time and the noise is yet to get SWMBO approval. All in all I feel it was money well spend and will allow money to be spend on more important additions in the short term. I will fit a quality full system in time but for now I'm happy.

Word of warning, if your Prado is the wife's daily drive, I would fit a free flowing muffler in lieu of the straight through pipe.

[SWR Banned Find all posts View Profile Close SWR]

Hi guys

I did a bit of an experiment this week which involved in just fitting a straight through pipe in-place of the rear muffler to my 120 series D4D rig!.... (Big No No!) I was not impressed with the noise it made as the car sounded like a ???????? You guest it!!....... A car with no muffler! Especially when going up the side of a mountain or in a built up area. (My opinion is that it sounds crapy!!) Lol (Did go well but not worth the trade off for the noise!!).

I then had the straight through pipe removed and replaced it with a high-flow straight-through muffler 2.5" to match the rest of the system.. The rig is defiantly more responsive down low and all the other areas with the more lookrative savings over the $1,000+ systems And the rest of the system gets to stay stock

I should also add that i have a 3" Metallic catalytic converter @ 100-CPSI (Cells Per Square Inch) as appose to i think it was a 3 or 400cpsi factory standard. I had this fitted three years ago and is still as new.

When i originally removed the cat (3yrs ago) the rig drove much harder but was very toxic when in built-up traffic. Back then i wished i'd left it alone as had to spend $420 to have one re-fitted after cruising around for only 3days so went for the 100cpsi and it is a noticeable difference on its own with the stock exhaust and less the toxic gases). (100cpsi is street legal on the euro2 emissions laws). ("Apparently" From a legal and roadworthy standpoint all you need is a functioning catalytic converter). If still un-easy then stick to the standard or fit a 200cpsi.

Changing the cat on its own did make a noticeable difference but not as much as changing the rear muffler. Together they work very well and i get to keep my rig fully emissions friendly as well as fully street legal.

"BOTTOM LINE!"... up to 2 to $300 bucks max is the perfect alternative when short on cash and is money well spent. (I don't think the 1,000+ bucka would be that much better to be honest but i am sure the retailers would argue that!!). The cat and the muffler are the biggies. (Not so much the going 2.5" to 3")

I would only change the catalytic converter as a last resort as it really bumps up the cost and it is "ILLEGAL" to remove it so if you "Really" want to remove it then at least put in a high-flow like i did or leave it alone.

If you are hesitating on taking the leap then i hope that by me sharing my experience that it makes your decision that much easier!

If you choose the muffler option and not happy then go "All BALLS" out for the premium but don't forget to update us on the "Huge" difference! (I don't think there would be a "HUGE" difference for the money personally. "Chuckle"....... (At the end of the day 4 x cylinders can only pump-out so much spent gas past the turbo and the Muffler/Cat are the biggies).

Cheers

[Kev7762 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Kev7762]

An interesting thought, on a quick inspection the system on the 150 seems to be of fairly good quality for factory system (reasonable dia., no squashed bends) and $1000 plus for a full system is a fair ask from the wife (I had a full custom built stainless system fitted to my patrol by genie). So replacing the main muffler with a free flowing type could be the budget fix with similar gains to a full system. I also learnt the hard way not to remove rear resonators when I replaced the rear muffler on my 2 litre escort with straight through pipe and was promptly advised by the men in blue of the error of my ways. ( sounded like a rally car though)

[azzss Member Find all posts View Profile Close azzss]

I had a hilux (d4d) before the prado, and i first fitted a high flow muffler and it made a gain. Later on i fitted a custom made 3 inch system (turbo back) and high flow cat and to be honest it made more noise, and lost torque i reckon. I think the prado has the same stock system (08 d4d 120) so i will put a high flow muffler on i think. A chip with a high flow muffler would cost around the same as a quality aftermarket full system and i know what would gain more. 3 inch suits cruiser/6 cyl patrol type engines more i think as their stock systems are around the same size as the prado (60mm i think so just shy of 2.5inch anyway!),so with a bigger engine the gain is more.
Cheers.

[BNEGXL Member Find all posts View Profile Close BNEGXL]

Beaudesert Exhausts use 2.75 inch not 3, they told me much the same as azzss above, 3 inch loses a bit of torque and 2.75 works best on the 3lt D4D.

Other suppliers say 3 inch is best, without a dyno how do you know?

I have the full Beaudesert exhaust, while I'm very happy with it I think it's too expensive for what you get, if I had my time again I'd try the centre straight through muffler first.

[azzss Member Find all posts View Profile Close azzss]

Thats the drama, You'd want a big gain for the coin you fork out on a exhaust as once there on, thats it as a rule (no refund).
Cheers

[puregeek Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close puregeek]

So is there any particular type of muffler everyone is fitting?

[barryswanson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close barryswanson]

I run a Berklee glass packed sports muffler

[AMM5.2 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close AMM5.2]

HI everyone,i put a 3inch on my 150GXL and the loss of torque was very noticable once fitted, did a little bit of testing eg:city driving, drive the sameway all the time and lost 1.2-1.4lt per 100km. Highway was 0.6 to 0.8 worse per 100km, exhaust came from Roo systems (AMMS) they told me to put a chip on it to fix issue, they can tune the chip to sute the exhaust. I chose to go with steinbouer as i prefer that chip over the rest,same as TRDs in Europe. The prado gose like a shower of sh#% up in the rev range but the loss of touque is still there.

[barryswanson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close barryswanson]

Probably why beaudesert exhausts only go 2 3/4.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

I spoke to a bloke today at southport exhausts QLD who designs and tests exhausts for Redback. In his experience he reckons any larger than 2.5 up to 2.75 inch maximum is a waste on time aand cash on a 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine. As the poster AMM5.2 has stated, the torque is lost..

I listened to his advice and spent $195 fitted on a Redback straight thru muffler (H743MN part number for the 2.5inch to fit stock Prado exhaust system) and it is as quite as a lamb and goes great..

[downunder Find all posts View Profile Close downunder]

Matt, so you just got the muffler. Do you have a chip as well ?

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[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

Matt, so you just got the muffler. Do you have a chip as well ?

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

See my rig build. Have a Steinbuaer power module as well.

Cheers

[puregeek Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close puregeek]

Did you get a noticeable difference with the exhaust fitted and how much louder is it than stock. I wouldnt mind doing the exhaust upgrade but dont want the extra noise.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

Hardly any more noise. For $200 it's a good improvement. Worth the hassel. If ya don't like it, put the old muffler back in !

Too easy.