JWillis.....from your photo, it appears as if the exhaust tips stick out further than the stock tips. Whattya think?
I received my Pride exhaust today. Before I begin I want to say that I was very please with the packing, and shipping. After I had payed for the exhaust, it was shipped to my home within 2 days. Thanks Mark, I am trying to leave you positive TR, but the thread link cannot be used in the system, I will try to find a way around it.
I sold my previous Ark exhaust within the first few hours of posting it here, and I was in a bind, because I thought it would take some time to sell my old exhaust, but I also had to transfer my car by the end of next week and so I needed some kind of exhaust. I was on the backorder list, and I PM'd Mark to see how the progress was going because I urgently needed an exhaust whether it be one of his units, or someone else's.
With that said Mark told me to call him and he informed me that the exhausts had been back ordered, however he had one unit which could be considered slightly defective because the driver side tailpipe would hang lower, and that I may need to have an exhaust shop modify it.
No big deal on my end so with a little incentive, I went ahead an ordered the unit he had on hand. It was shipped on Wednesday, and was at my front door by this afternoon (Friday). The shipping was excellent. Tons of bubble wrap, and thick enough cardboard that it would have survived a plane crash.
It took me about 10 minutes to install it. The fitment surprisingly wasn't all too bad. I just used a longer exhaust hanger on the driver side so there isn't much variance between the tip hanging. I also have the topspeed headers which have the flex section which made things alot easier. Maybe not the safest, but I'll take the risk. If the headers did not have the flex section, then I would have to have some sort of modifying done. Keep in mind this exhaust was considered defective and I am sure Mark test fits all exhausts before shipment.
Now the sound. Okay I admit I want the GT one V5.1 noise. The sound test is not fair because I wasn't able to drive my car out on the road because I am waiting for some wheels from SOS. So the car is sitting on jack stands. Compared to my Ark, it was the same on idle. But at 3k RPM's is was significantly louder. Like waking up the neighbors loud. I do have test pipes. Compared to the GT-one, it does not have that signature deceleration noise. But again, I was just free revving. I may have a different outcome as soon as I take it out on the road. The GT one has this rasp in between 2-4k RPM's before it turns into the F1 noise when the vtech kicks in. The Pride exhaust makes the exact same noise. Again, this is not a fair comparison since I cannot drive the car until my wheels arrive, and then I will do some fly bys. In my opinion, it is comparable to the v5.1, but more of a higher tone.
Overall I am happy for the money. Good welds, looks like a great stainless steel pretzel. I have a real crappy cell phone clip I will try to load. Until then here are some pics:
This is a real crappy cell phone video. Just revving between 3-4k RPM so I wouldn't disturb neighbors:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1jive/4415635868/
Edit 03/28/10 I found this video at a local track event we had. There was a subaru WRX behind me that had a bumper mount camera. But the first 10 seconds shows me taking off to give you an idea of the sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmwe5wVdBnE
