Tubi or not Tubi... that's the ?
Discussion
Well,
After much time and expense, the Esprit is doing quite well. I recently installed a Tubi stainless exhaust on the Esprit and it's a good news/bad news story.
First, the good news. Overall, the Tubi is very well made and is probably worth it's asking price when you consider the other options... like OEM. It fits well to the existing exhaust system and in my case, mated well to the Hyper-Flow catalytic convertor pipes (also in stainless).
The Hyper-Flow cat pipes are really nice, they opened the exhaust up completely... lots of bark, early turbo spool-up and improved overall power across the RPM range. All this with the original muffler. So I was expecting a slight improvement with the Tubi as it's listed as a competition exhaust.
Now for the bad news... first, the Tubi, being very well made, is heavier than the stock system by 4 pounds but this is a minor sin considering the quality of materials and workmanship. The bit that disappoints the most is the fact that the Tubi has significantly MORE backpressure than the stock Lotus system. So I lost all of the bark it had, the early turbo spool-up and associated performance gains (all a result of the Hyper-Flow cats). What the Tubi did do is provide a much "nicer sounding" exhaust that seems to stay nice past the 5000RPM mark (as the stock system sounded poorly at the high RPM range).
So overall, as much as I like the positives the Tubi offers (ie, quality, fit/finish and sound) I'm not convinced on keeping it long term due to the performance I lost as a result of installing it. Can anyone else add a different experience with the Tubi?
Regards, KM
2000 V8
After much time and expense, the Esprit is doing quite well. I recently installed a Tubi stainless exhaust on the Esprit and it's a good news/bad news story.
First, the good news. Overall, the Tubi is very well made and is probably worth it's asking price when you consider the other options... like OEM. It fits well to the existing exhaust system and in my case, mated well to the Hyper-Flow catalytic convertor pipes (also in stainless).
The Hyper-Flow cat pipes are really nice, they opened the exhaust up completely... lots of bark, early turbo spool-up and improved overall power across the RPM range. All this with the original muffler. So I was expecting a slight improvement with the Tubi as it's listed as a competition exhaust.
Now for the bad news... first, the Tubi, being very well made, is heavier than the stock system by 4 pounds but this is a minor sin considering the quality of materials and workmanship. The bit that disappoints the most is the fact that the Tubi has significantly MORE backpressure than the stock Lotus system. So I lost all of the bark it had, the early turbo spool-up and associated performance gains (all a result of the Hyper-Flow cats). What the Tubi did do is provide a much "nicer sounding" exhaust that seems to stay nice past the 5000RPM mark (as the stock system sounded poorly at the high RPM range).
So overall, as much as I like the positives the Tubi offers (ie, quality, fit/finish and sound) I'm not convinced on keeping it long term due to the performance I lost as a result of installing it. Can anyone else add a different experience with the Tubi?
Regards, KM
2000 V8
My reasons for Tubi install where a little different:
1. OEM failure
2. I didn't want to replace an OEM once per year
3. I didn't want to wake up my neighbors on Sunday mornings when starting the car (straight pipes).
On that criteria - sterling performance...
I will probably install the hyperflo cats for the same reason (the OEMs attract rust).
ErnestM
1. OEM failure
2. I didn't want to replace an OEM once per year
3. I didn't want to wake up my neighbors on Sunday mornings when starting the car (straight pipes).
On that criteria - sterling performance...
I will probably install the hyperflo cats for the same reason (the OEMs attract rust).
ErnestM
Hi All,
I have some experience with the Tubi exhaust ... Actually its a gorgeous piece of metal, its great workmanship and it fits like a charm. And IMHO it sounds VERY nice
But the real downside is that it is completely useless for performance. It is heavier 4-5 pounds and it has worse flow characteristics compared to the Lotus-stock-exhaust 
Definitely not what we are looking for ...
The stock OEM one is not too bad ! Actually it has quite good flow, but it does not produce ANY good sound Actually it does not produce any sound at all. And it likes to crack like a dry cracker that is dropped to the floor
There is another sports exhaust available for the V8 directly from Lotus. Its the original Lotus V8 Race Exhaust. This one is made like the OEM stock exhaust but with way better flow characteristics and better/louder sound (BTW the Tubi sounds better !)
The downside is that this unit from Lotus is quite expensive. If somebody likes we have a few exhausts in stock that are VERY similar to the original Lotus Race-Exhaust for way less money.
Cheers
Marcus (www.PUKesprit.de)
I have some experience with the Tubi exhaust ... Actually its a gorgeous piece of metal, its great workmanship and it fits like a charm. And IMHO it sounds VERY nice
But the real downside is that it is completely useless for performance. It is heavier 4-5 pounds and it has worse flow characteristics compared to the Lotus-stock-exhaust Definitely not what we are looking for ... The stock OEM one is not too bad ! Actually it has quite good flow, but it does not produce ANY good sound
Actually it does not produce any sound at all. And it likes to crack like a dry cracker that is dropped to the floor There is another sports exhaust available for the V8 directly from Lotus. Its the original Lotus V8 Race Exhaust. This one is made like the OEM stock exhaust but with way better flow characteristics and better/louder sound (BTW the Tubi sounds better !)
The downside is that this unit from Lotus is quite expensive. If somebody likes we have a few exhausts in stock that are VERY similar to the original Lotus Race-Exhaust for way less money.
Cheers
Marcus (www.PUKesprit.de)
SA Mike said:
I am thinking of getting a Tubi Exhaust. Is the power difference really that noticable?
I think it really depends on what else has been done to the car. If it's bone stock swapping the stock system for the Tubi will most likely have little to no difference in performance as the stock cats are more of a restriction than the Tubi. If you have other improvements and/or enhancements the Tubi can be a factor.
Hands down it has a nice sound and is certainly pretty metalwork and it fits great, so you pay for that. However, it does have more backpressure than stock. The reason I know is I have the Hyper-Flow cats installed. These with the stock muffler made a significant difference. Turbos would be spooling up at 2000 RPM and the sound was really loud, in fact, louder than stock cats and straight pipes. The power was obviously up and the car was certainly quicker than a stock V8 (had one of those available for testing as well). Replacing the stock muffler with the Tubi made it much quieter... in fact, more like stock (in level) but much better sounding. The down side is turbos no longer start spooling up at 2000 RPM... now closer to 2600 RPM. Still, the High-Torque ECM upgrade is very noticeable with the Hyper-Flow cats and Tubi. Car is bloody quick now. Other bits added are ITG Profilters and Denso Iridium plugs.
Regards, KM
2000 V8
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