Sunday, March 13, 2011

Supertrapp End Caps

I have been wanting to put on a Supertrapp exhaust for the longest time. Our laws here demand that all after-market exhaust system needs to be approved by the Land & Transport Authority. After installation, they need to be checked and certified and guess what, you have to pay a fees to get all this done. The Supertrapp end caps circumvent this problem because it is bolted onto the stock exhaust. The question is, how much difference can these few pieces of metal make. The answer; plenty. Due to the design and the way the discs are stacked together, exhaust gas are actually forced out faster giving the effect of a full blow through exhaust. It can also be tuned for more torque or higher end performance. Agreeably, they look silly but its nothing that a can of black spray paint cannot resolve. I was sceptical but after read up all about it, I am convinced now. Those things are awesome and since I had them on last month, the car is a real blast to drive. Don't take my words for it, try it for yourself. They are not expensive and best thing of all, they are transferable.


I took off the tips for about a week to do some enhancement work on the pipings because they were starting to rust. I also wanted to see whether there was any marked difference with and without them. The answer is yes, there is a difference without them. Firstly, the sound factor. Without the end caps, the exhaust sounds thin. With the caps on, the exhaust sounds fuller but quieter. Secondly, performance. I realised there was a substantial loss of torque. Without the caps, it felt like the car is not pulling as strongly as compared to having them on. Thirdly, efficiency. With the caps on, the engine idles more steadily with little hesitation. Without the cap, there seems to be seem some peaks and dips in the engine revs when at idle. Not that this is important but personally, I like my engine to idle smoothly. Fourthly, consumption. Unbelievable, fuel consumption was better without the end caps. I get 13.9km/l compared to 13.7km/l with the caps on. That also means the engine is probably running slightly richer with the caps on.



The tips looked out of place in its original chrome. I had them sprayed black so as to blend in with the rear diffuser.