exhaust questions

ama11 · Post by **ama11** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 4:02 pm

so according to the local parts store, my cat is bad and they said either take it off and punch a hole in it, or just buy a oem or a test pipe. we dont have emmisions where i live so i was wondering whats a good replacement cat or resignator or test pipe i could get. i really dont want it to be loud cause i plan on just getting a high flow muffler too, something deep and not raspy. if anyone has any suggestions, let me know

metal_gear_jon · Post by **metal_gear_jon** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:32 pm

If you're cheap and into trade deficits, then an ebay down pipe/ test pipe will do.

If you have a 98 and down car, you will have the old exhaust donut and spring set up that connects the manifold to the converter/downpipe. Chances are that removing those will cause the bolts to round off or break, so figure in a new set of bolts for the flange.

If you're lucky with the 99 up style, you will have just 4 bolts to remove, very easy with less headache.

It's gonna be a little louder without the cat, Magnaflow makes a great universal replacement converter for not much money.

ama11 · Post by **ama11** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:04 pm

well i got a 99 r/t and your considering getting the magnaflow cat? it just seems like its very restricive and i think getting an aftermarket cat, test pipe, resignator would open it up a little, i just dont want something obnoxiously loud after i put on a different muffler

Rice_Eater · Post by **Rice_Eater** » Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:39 pm

metal_gear_jon wrote:If you're cheap and into trade deficits, then an ebay down pipe/ test pipe will do.

If you have a 98 and down car, you will have the old exhaust donut and spring set up that connects the manifold to the converter/downpipe. Chances are that removing those will cause the bolts to round off or break, so figure in a new set of bolts for the flange.

If you're lucky with the 99 up style, you will have just 4 bolts to remove, very easy with less headache.

It's gonna be a little louder without the cat, Magnaflow makes a great universal replacement converter for not much money.

to correct u on 1 point its 2000 and up that have the 4 bolt setup. 99 has the 2 bolt setup that sucks ur speaking of.

to the topic if u dont want it to be loud just pick up a high flow cat from modern and not sure about a muffler. i have had luck and liked the the one from the auto parts store. this one sound nice and deep but this is on a sohc not sure what u got

http://www.3aracing.com/pdut_detail.asp?ID=144

but if ur not wanting any kind of ricer look look into a borla i think they make the best muffler but mite bite alittle pricey.

metal_gear_jon · Post by **metal_gear_jon** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:57 am

Rice_Eater wrote:

to correct u on 1 point its 2000 and up that have the 4 bolt setup. 99 has the 2 bolt setup that sucks ur speaking of.

Don't know how that can be, did a headgasket on a 99 a year ago, and it had the 4 bolt setup. The 97-99 PL parts catalog even states the difference for the 99 cars. Maybe a late production thing....

ama11 wrote: well i got a 99 r/t and your considering getting the magnaflow cat? it just seems like its very restricive and i think getting an aftermarket cat, test pipe, resignator would open it up a little, i just dont want something obnoxiously loud after i put on a different muffler

Huh????

Magnaflow is aftermarket.....

These cars only came with a converter and a muffler. If you ad a resonator to the mix, it will be even quieter, just look under any J-body to see that. I used to run a Sebring resonator in place of the muffler on my old '95, got loud when needed, but wasn't bad at idle.

roysneon · Post by **roysneon** » Fri Sep 24, 2010 5:44 pm

Not much restriction in the DOHC exhaust system, definately not enough to worry about changing any parts you don't need to. Just get a replacement cat, or if you're going to go the ghetto route, have the cat cut out and exhaust piping welded in its place.

BIGRAM · Post by **BIGRAM** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 3:44 am

Lol I love ghetto.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 2:24 pm

For cost, you can punch it out. You will probably lose HP over this since it will have an expansion chamber in the exhaust. It'll also sound like poop. You could get an ebay test pipe, but it might end up sounding like poop too. You can get a high flow cat welded in place, and it'll sound decent.

BaLLisTiK · Post by **BaLLisTiK** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:01 am

INVUJerry wrote:For cost, you can punch it out. You will probably lose HP over this since it will have an expansion chamber in the exhaust. It'll also sound like poop. You could get an ebay test pipe, but it might end up sounding like poop too. You can get a high flow cat welded in place, and it'll sound decent.

This is true, you can actually lose up to 5hp by gutting your cat. I'm in kind of the same situation, I put my header in abd took the cat out, but the guy who welded up the custom downpipe did not get all the way around it and it leaks and sounds like crap so I need to get somthing to relpace my whole downpipe aswell. Also, it is the 2nd Gn neons (2000-2005) with the 4-bolt flange. all 1st gen Neons (1995-19990 have a 2-bolt flange from the factory. Good luck though.