ounkny

This is a quick writeup for the Bosal cat-back California edition installed on a 2000 ES 1.8L sedan automatic tranny w/ NLEV package. I bought it from Mitch at www.protege5online.com, and had it installed at a local import tuning shop, would probably take 30 minutes if no problems but they had to torch one of the bolts since it was rusted on, so install time was ~1 hour. My version is a 2-piece (midsection and axle-back) and only involves 4 bolts plus whatever they did to secure the muffler to the hanger.

Performance: my car has 120 peak hp before mods but has an AEM short ram intake in addition to the exhaust. The exhaust does not add any appreciable power below around 2500-3000 RPM. From 3000 RPM to redline, there is a just noticeable different in acceleration -- not huge. If you look at the dyno curves at www.protege5online.com this appears to be consistent, although it's not clear whether the gains for the sedan would be the same.

Sound: the exhaust note is low in pitch, and never whiny. I absolutely love the quality of the sound. The volume is loud, like most aftermarket exhausts -- not a problem during city driving but can get annoying at highway speeds. That should be more tolerable with the silencer insert.

Appearance: the finish is really good with mirror-like polished stainless steel. The muffler/canister design is hit-or-miss, it seems some people like the canister-type design and some don't. I'm neutral. The major issue with the exhaust's appearance is that it seeems to have been designed for the Mazda MP3 (or possibly the MSP). This means that the exhaust hangs lower than the exhaust on a stock sedan, since it is designed to accomodate the MP3's lower rear bumper. If you've got a body kit or lower rear bumper it will actually look better.

Conclusion: I love the Bosal cat-back exhaust, it makes the car a lot more fun to drive. The cat-back removes the stock resonator pipe which deadens vibrations in the exhaust plumbing. What this means is that when you stomp on the accelerator, you can feel the vibration in the floor of the car -- a very nice visceral response. Of course all this comes at the expense of comfort, as it adds noise, vibration and harshness to your ride. I also like the performance gain, but I would recommend doing the intake before doing the exhaust, since it costs about 1/3 the money and represents a better bang for the buck.

Hope this helps anyone looking at this exhaust. Notice that there are 3 versions for the 3rd gen -- sedan California, sedan Federal, and MP5. Make sure you get the right version.

-Drew

ounkny

The Bosal exhaust was sounding great but it was also scaring everyone outside and inside the car, and it also droned pretty loudly on the highway, especially above 3000 RPM but even as low as 2500 RPM or so. I then decided to try the Bosal silencer insert, part 259-328.

Results (good): Under cruising conditions, the car is about as quiet as stock... this is not too surprising I guess since the silencer reduces the tip diameter to around the stock level. Performance does not seem to have diminished considerably... the dyno for the P5 version shows a decrease of about 1 whp when using the silencer. At WOT (wide open throttle) the exhaust sounds great, with the same deep tone but with less volume.

Results (bad): Under partial throttle, the exhaust sounds pretty wretched, almost like a car with a broken exhaust. It also has that "tin can" exhaust sound that most people hate (more high pitched than the exhaust without the silencer). The strange thing is that under light throttle and heavy throttle this goes away; it only occurs during medium throttle. Perhaps this has something to do with the way the exhaust and silencer are tuned.

Has anyone else had any experience with the Bosal exhaust with the silencer, or any aftermarket exhaust with a silencer? Similar results or different? Thanks,

-Drew

zadowman

so is the bosal worth the money?

ounkny

For the 3rd gen sedan, it's the only option, other than the Racing beat/Mazdaspeed axle-back. The axle-back is much cheaper, in the ballpark of $200. I would prefer the Bosal for performance. Here is the dyno, it looks like it's from a P5:

http://www.protege5online.com/For_Sa...osal_pics.html

According to that dyno sheet, the max gain is about 5-6 whp near redline. If you don't care about performance, and are more concerned with looks and sound, then honestly the Racing Beat/Mazdaspeed one should be just fine. Also note that if you have a P5 then you have more options since the aftermarket has been much kinder to the P5.

Is it worth $300-400 and 30-60 minutes install time to gain 5-6 whp and a slight weight reduction? That's really up to you. From a performance standpoint I think most people would say no, it's not worth it. For me, it is worth it because there are relatively few other ways to increase the "fun factor" in this type of car.

shinzen

ummm..... to let you know, there are several options for the p5 and es models- jicracing.com makes the most hp (10-15) bosal(already listed) Racing beat(already listed) srmmotorsports boasts a 9whp gain thermal makes one(not sure about gains) and magnaflow makes one- if you got the cash- go with the jicracing- wanna save some money go for the srm all of these systems are cat-back mandrel bent- if that helps

ounkny

The JIC racing link doesn't work. Is it the JIC magic website?

One thing I do know is that there are more exhausts available for the P5 than for the sedan. They are not directly interchangeable, as the P5 has slightly shorter piping and so would not work on the sedan. Conversely, if you were to use a sedan exhaust on a P5, it would stick out past the bumper.

shinzen

sorry here is the correct link http://www.jic-magic.com
and although it's true not as many are available, they are out there, and heck, the cheap way to go is just get an apexi n1 style and have a local shop make you one at 2.25" which is the optimum size for our cars....

Sweedenhouse

I absoloutley hated the way my Bosal sounded for my p5. I stuck the silencer in ther but that negated any gains what so ever that I had from the exhaust in the first place. I ended up uying the HKS tail section. It sounds and looks much better, and essential I know have an uber rare "HKS cat-back" exhaust.

ounkny

In response to Sweedenhouse's post,

I absolutely loved the way the Bosal sounded w/o the silencer, but the volume is a bit much. With the silencer, it doesn't sound as good (as you would expect), but it's still a blast to drive.

ounkny

Did some web surfing and it does look like JIC makes a nice exhaust for the Pro sedan as well as the P5. I wish I had known so I would have looked into it more closely.

The downside is that the prices I have seen are around $650-$800 so far, compared to about $320-$400 for the Bosal.