Exhaust modification
 

Has anyone done an exhaust upgrade? TRD or swapped out for a different aftermarket product?

I've read these are suppose to moderately improve performance, with improved horsepower. True? If so, how much?

I've also read that getting an aftermarket product like flowmaster, etc, and get the same improvement, if not better, at about a third of the cost.

Any input would be great. Thanks!

P.s. sorry if this is in the wrong forum. I'm learning on the fly!

I put a TRD exhaust on my 07, no noticeable power increase except for maybe a bit of a nudge at top RPM, and I was highly disappointed with the sound. It was a nice rumble, with very little cabin drone but I was looking for something much more aggressive.

The reality is you're not going to see much of an improvement with any aftermarket exhaust setup unless you do headers, high flow cats and a cat-back.

I would recommend having a muffler shop just weld in a Flowmaster or something similar to your existing setup if you just want to make some noise for cheap.

Thanks, BM. I'd read you would get 5-8 more hp to each wheel. Want too concerned with sound, just improving the performance.

I wanted to separate hearsay from fact. Thanks!

How involved/costly is the headers, cat back, high flow changes you mentioned? What could I expect for results?

The major flow restriction on any exhaust system is the cats, a muffler replacement won't improve much. That goes for pretty much all vehicles...maybe if you couple it with a TRD intake you could feel a seat of the pants increase but you'd be paying $100 per HP lol.
I'm not sure how expensive it is, the headers can be quite involved...the cats are expensive and for results maybe 20hp? i'm only guessing though. just slap a supercharger on it :D

here's my current beast with a Flowmaster 50 series...the $250 was worth the sound alone :)

The video, is that a flowmaster supercharger?

( I'm new to this whole process )

Does that give you a good increase?

the flowmaster is the muffler. no supercharger.

Ah .. OK. Yeah, I looked up supercharger price. Holy frickin' ouch.

Another thing to keep in mind, VDW, the FJ is, first and foremost not intended to be a speed racer. Yes you can tweak it to make it faster but at the end of the day, it's still a heavy brick of an SUV.

But more importantly than that, in the most basic sense, HP is for top end driving, torque is for take offs and towing. If you were to go with a full exhaust, you would be drastically decreasing the back pressure on the engine, which in turn will give you a HP boost, but cause your torque to drop. You will have a higher top speed, but it will take you longer to get there, and wont be as pin you to your seat as you're expecting. Plus should you decided to tow anything, you'll probably notice the decline of torque there, and if you go offroad, you might have issues with the torque decline there.

I am but one man, with my own tastes. As are you. Should you want to make your FJ into a performance machine, by all means go for it. But if I were to give you my completely honest opinion, you'd be wasting your time and money.