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Originally Posted by ruggersmach
Orange, what are your thoughts on changing out the mid-pipe only with a MRT catted H-pipe and leaving the stock cat-back and exhaust manifold?  |
My personal thoughts are that the catted peformance mid pipes are an ideal situation in those areas where emission testing is a big problem. Some areas like where i live are not which means i can virtualy do anything to the exhaust as i want and only have to worry if a cop is going to give me a ticket for a loud exhaust. I guess that would be the first question you have to ask yourself. Second, what are the benefits? Though, the catted performance mid pipes flow a little better, i dont believe that they give that much more in performance over stock. And i have heard or seen by other members that they actualy have had problems with the substraight material crack under extreme circumstances. Iam sure some people can show some slight advantages in there numbers with dyno results. The catted performance mid pipes will be a little louder as well, but not as loud as the offroad mids. Some people might think that the catted versions are not as loud as they want and end up going with the offroad versions. I guess thats just a prefrence. The fact here is, there is still an obstruction with in the exhaust system that wont allow the full potential of the exhaust system which means your not getting the full blown power out of your engine that everyone wants. Although, some people are happy with that situation. Additionaly, it would be to your advantage to keep the system uniform, meaning that you should either keep the exhaust pipe at 2.25 (2 1/4), 2.50 (2 1/2), or even 3 inch if you can find that size. Your stock setup is 2.25. you can further your power rating with an all 2.5 inch pipe all the way out back. Today, exhaust manifold technology is far better than what it use to be back in the 70's 80's and 90's. Though some will argure with me that they believe they get big results from headers. The stock headers are good up to 600 horse and flow extremely well for stock. And i dont believe they need to be changed for street applications. Unless you are a full out drag racer in which every HP point counts, that would be the only time i would even bother changing headers. Plus, you cant see them on a 4 vlave engine anyways, so the bling bling is out. And it takes about 8 hours to change just one side for the average joe blow guy. Not a big advantage for 12 horse, if that. Lastly, I would consider what you want out of your exhaust system. Sound level, tone, price, performance values, reputation of manufacture, fit and installation. Or all of the above. If you just want to give your exhaust system some tone and a little extra sound level with a little added performance, any of the cat back systems will do just fine. If you want the full potential of your exhaust system, change the factory mid to a offroad mid of your choice as long as there is no emission factor involved or if you want to take the chance that you might have ticket happy police in your area. And replace the cat back which will inhance the tone. Of course, the sound level may need to be adjusted to your prefrence. Packs, resonators, or mufflers that have few chambers in them, Along with straight through designs that have little to no packing material inside are going to be louder in nature and will have higher CFM flow rates. Mufflers or straight through designs that have more chambers or packing material inside will provide a quieter senerio but have lower CFM flow rates. The best thing i can suggest is to do your research and think about what you want out of your system.