markh450

Sorry another one....

I've just finished fitting the PNM (lightly) silenced centre exit kit along with De-cat and the car sounds much nicer, though still definately not what you would call loud. as you say it does sound consierably louder on the outside.

I'm sure you will like the Lotus after the 911. Not sure which 911 you had, but for me the Lotus felt more of a 'challenge' to drive than the 3.6 996 I had, in a good way. I do find that you need a little more road than the 911 to enjoy the car to its max. I tend to head out before dawn into the peak district to take advantage of the quiet roads! When I have fitted the latest exhaust I will have had 1.) decat pipes and Lotus sports silencer (IMO far too quiet), 2.) decats and straight pipes which exited either side, (IMO too loud) 3.) Soon to be fitted, gutted cats (as my decat pipes have rusted through on the welds and a mildly silenced centre exit kit from PNM. I'll let you know how I go on.

Thanks Alex! I've had around 1000 miles in it it so far, though it only a weekend car really. I had the cam belts changed despite Simon (previous owner) doing them last year, it was probably JCT600 spooking me, but when I went there they suggested I had them done as a precaution as they felt they were too tight. I only used JCT for this as they still have the 'tensioning' tools and although it would probably have been fine I didn't wnat to take chances on the cambelts. Other than that and a new anti roll bar and bushes at Chris Foulds Lotus it has turned out to be a really nice car.

98db at idle!! I'll be running devoted cats with a pnm silenced centre exit pipe, looking forward to hearing it at last!

Hi It is indeed. I picked it up last October, in fact it still has his number on the car! (SLV) All credit to him for the fantastic condition of the car.

you've got me wondering whether I should have gone for decats and straight pipes now.... ah well, we'll see (or hear) in a week or so when they arrive!

Thanks again for the comments! lookign forward to getting out in it this weekend now (weather allowing!)

Thanks for the advice, I feel better now! I feel like a boy racer saying it but mine already has de cats and a sports exhaust but still sounds very quiet, I have to open the window to hear the exhaust much at all. I've ordered a centre exit kit from PnM, I have opted to have additional silencers put into the pipes (its normally a straight through affair), I will connect this to a pair of 'gutted' standard cats I have (as my currently fitted decat pipe has rusted on the end weld). hopefully this will improve things!

Hi All After doing a bit of a restoration job on an Excel Se for 6 months, selling it, buying a 911 and then buying the excel back (then selling it again!). I took the plunge last yeat and bought a mustard yellow V8. Its an early 96 car, but with the twin plate clutch and a factory post 2000 lotus engine. I've had it over to Chris Foulds and indeed Leeds Lotus main dealer for a once over and cambelt change. Thankfully all have confirmed what I belived / hoped that it is a very nice car. I absolutely love it! I will be putting a slightly loader exhaust on, I'm no boy racer but even the sports silencer (which mine has) is distinctly underwhelming! However, with all the talk about self destructing gearboxes, I have yet to even consider giving the car full throttle in 2nd gear. I appreciate this is a rather subjective question, but how gentle do you really have to be when in second with the V8's? I'm not wnating to be doing anything silly such as standing starts etc, however I would really like to experiance that awesome drive out of a corner in 2nd rather than having to short shift straight to 3rd everytime. Having had a 996 911 before I'm no stranger to 'forum generated' paranoia about impending engine destruction etc! so it would be nice to get some real world feedback from owners telling me yes I'm being silly or NO don't press the loud pedal past 50% in 1st or 2nd gear. I should add that I believe mine has the sport 350 mapped ECU, which removes the boost restriction in 1st and 2nd I think?? (boosting at approx 0.6 bar) Many thanks in advance! Mark