PRODUCT GUIDE: Tomei Expreme Ti AE86 exhaust

It is a rare occasion that a chassis is popular enough to get a newly developed exhaust system nearly 30 years after the car was discontinued. However, due to the overwhelming popularity of the AE86 platform, Tomei has announced the release their newest addition to their Expreme Ti lineup and are currently in pre-order stages until December 10th. 

The Expreme Ti line is Tomei’s highest quality exhaust lineup and, as denoted by the chemical symbol Ti, it features all titanium construction. This exhaust comes in 2 variants, the Type R and the Type S.

The Type R variant is one of the most pure high-performance racing exhausts on the market for any Toyota model. Featuring pie-cut 60mm titanium piping, it has a distinct lack of muffler except for the resonator and slip joint-style brackets. With no muffler and the lightweight properties of titanium, it weighs 8.16 pounds, less than half the weight of the stock steel 24-pound pig of an exhaust. This also measures in at an ear splitting 102 dB without the silencer. If you choose to use the provided silencer, you’ll get it down to a marginally less ludicrous 100 dB.

If you prefer not knowing every police officer in town on a first name basis, then perhaps you’d be interested in the more civilian Type S variant. This features the same quality construction of the Type R, maintaining slip joints and titanium pie-cut 60mm piping, but adds a muffler at the end. Bafflingly enough, this is actually louder without the silencer than the Type R at 104 dB. With the silencer it registers only 99 dB, which is pretty close to the legal limit and you should be able to scoot by without attracting unwanted attention if driven conservatively. The weight is also a hair heavier at just 9.37 pounds, which is still well under half the weight of the stock exhaust.

If you are not familiar with fabrication techniques, the term pie cutting refers to slicing a straight pipe at multiple angles to achieve a curve. This is preferred for situations that require tight bends that a mandrel bender would not be able to easily achieve. It doesn’t restrict flow like the archaic practice of compression bending and it looks damn cool. The slip joint-style connections eliminate the need for exhaust gaskets and greatly reduce the chances of an exhaust leak. This is done using a clamp band and a spring to provide tension. Over all this is a much more durable, if not more expensive, solution.

Surprisingly, there is actually a pretty noticeable gain in performance from all of these exhausts when coupled with Tomei’s test pipe. Generally, putting an exhaust on a naturally aspirated application is barely noticeable on a dyno graph. Here, the gain is in the ballpark of almost 10 horsepower.

Tomei has been a staple in Japanese motorsports since their start with Nissans back in 1968, and they are known for sticking with platforms they develop for. It’s good to see companies still supporting the Japanese nostalgic car community with aftermarket parts, especially when they’re as high quality as these. If you are interested in this exhaust, MAPerformance, is one of the first retailers to have a listing for the Type R variant and they will be posting the rest of the listings throughout the week. Otherwise, go to Tomei’s website directly for further information. These do have a wait time as they will not be shipping out from Tomei until December 10th, but it would be wise to get it on order if you’re interested.