Supertrap exhaust problems?

[bobyang]

I've seen a few threads in the archive about problems the early supertrap exhausts had. Since I have one on my car (came installed when I bought it), I was hoping someone can give me a bit more information about what the symptoms are.

Is there a way for me to tell when there is excessive back-pressure to the engine? Are there any symptoms that I should watch out for? should I be replacing this exhaust ASAP?

thx

 

[Poloman]

QUESTION: Are you currently running your exhaust with or without cats? If you are using your cats, your exhaust should give you worry free use for about 4-5 yrs. Without the cats, the packing material burns up really quick (in about 1-2 years). I have done extensive research into the Supertrapp exhaust and why they stopped making it. Since I installed my Supertrapp system about 2 months ago, I had the same questions and asked many people around town. According to the muffler shop that installed my exhaust, (Cohen Muffler, San Fernando, CA), the system is about the best you can go with for our 3 ltr engines, as far as sound resonance and overall performance, however, once the packing material begins to age, the system begins to lose air flow capability. Symptoms of a clogged exhaust include backfiring, hesitation through your RPM's and WATCH YOUR OIL PRESSURE GAUGE!! Once the exhaust get clogged, the pressure will go through the roof and more than likely you'll just blow an engine gasket (if your lucky) or cause severe engine block damage!!!! Be careful and enjoy your exhaust.. Now, if you want to keep your exhaust, just order some replacement mufflers. I believe I have the number around somewhere where you can get new Supertrapps. Just take them to a muffler shop and have them weld them in place of your old ones!!!

 

[Edo]

I've had my Supertrapp's for more than a year of HARD HARD driving and I must say that it has some SERIOUS inherent flaws. The packing material DOES NOT (repeat DOES NOT) last 1-2 years. I melted and blew mine apart in under 3 months. You can contact Acura of Portland for verification and extra details. (360-256-5000)
I am running the stock cast iron manifolds and the catalytic converters are still on the car.

My first suggestion is to completely remove the packing material. It doesnt make a huge difference in noise, and I certainly wouldnt risk getting your exhaust clogged.

I have removed both the backing plate and all the discs in the exhaust (least amount of backpressure) and have noticed next to no difference in performance from having 12 discs on it. The car isn't very loud in my opinion. The noise level is probably roughly the same as the Taitec Center-exit exhaust. (Taitec sounds cleaner).

If you are welding different tips onto the exhaust, be careful not to weld a poor Dual tip onto it. Something about the way the Supertrapp's are set up make it hiss and gurgle in the worst way if you attach non-resonated dual tips.

Last of all The portion where the Tip assembly connects to the muffler portion has a tendency to leak exhaust, due to the way they rolled the muffler. I had some custom flanges fabricated, and it seemed to eliminate the exhaust leakage. I am not sure but I think the exhaust leakage contributed to the melting of the packing material.

I regularly track my car, (I dont know the situation with your cars) but I've decided that my Supertrapp exhaust is not suited for my style of use. Comptech told me that the Supertrapp setups they sold were really sort of a one-by-one sort of construction. There were no molds of any sort, and they were made on a "to-Order" basis. I think the quality of the construction reflects this.(not up to Comptech's usual standards).

Sorry to get so long winded, but I just wanted to share some of the headaches and problems I've encountered with this setup in the last year. Please private me of you have any other questions!!

 

[bobyang]

Thanks for the replies. i'm currently running the setup with cats. It sounds like there will be inevitable problems with the supertrapp, depending on how hard I drive the car, so I'll probably swap it out if I run across a good deal on another exhaust.