,
Like all of the other Cobb parts, the exhaust fit perfectly with plenty of clearance around the chassis. This won't rattle!
The Cobb exhaust uses stainless headed hangers and makes use of all the stock mounting points. 
The Cobb exhaust is finished with some nice looking 4″ tips that fill the bumper center exit. 
The exhaust installation is done and it's time to dyno. We used the Access Port to download the pump gas Stage III map from Cobb's website. There are many maps on Cobb's site to choose from. The maps even include everything from economy to power limiting valet. Using the access port is super easy to do. 
Our Superflow dyno is notoriously stingy with power figures and our peak numbers reflected that. It was both unusual and interesting but we got greater power gains than Cobb did in their testing!
Project Focus ST made almost 216 WHP with the Cobb Stage III system in place. This is up from a stock power output of 186 whp, that's a gain of a solid 30 whp! In some parts of the powerband, after the power peak, we got a maximum gain of 51 whp! This is useful because the stock power level drops off significantly after the peak. The torque output is what is really surprising. Maximum stable torque is 290 lb/ft at an amazingly low 2600 rpm. This is up from 228 lb/ft of torque stock, 62 more lb/ft of torque! The peak torque gains are 73 lb/ft at 2800 rpm. What is really impressive about the Cobb Stage III system is that the gains are across the entire RPM range for maximum area under the curve. The power traces are smooth and the runs were very repeatable back to back. This is a sign of good tuning on a late model car. Better yet, in freeway driving the car has been getting 30 mpg!The Cobb Stage III system is one of the most effective group of parts that we have ever installed on any of our project cars. Very few mod packages create so much more power and torque over such a wide band. It is area under the curve that moves your car, much more so than peak numbers and Cobb's system provides this in droves. We don't see any drawbacks in the system at all other than a moderate increase in intake and exhaust noise. Even fuel economy is decent.
Stay tuned as we look for other parts for Project Focus ST in the near future!
Read more about Project Focus ST!
Sources
Cobb Tuning
Cobb Socal
Eibach
KW Suspension
Falken Tires
Rotiform Wheels
