well i copped a "fireball" performance muffler off of ebay for like 50 bucks and i went underneath my pro to take a look at what i was facing if i decided to run all new piping......

and i don't see a point....

there are no emissions tests here in the great city of tampa...and if i just put headers on and cut the catalyctic converter off....i'd basically have straight pipe...WOULDN'T THAT GIVE ME ABOUT THE SAME GAIN AS RUNNING ALL NEW PIPE...FOR A LOT LESS $$$$$?

ALSo---- from what i see it looked like TWO catalyctic converters under therE .....is that possible...if not then what are they?.



what do you guys think???



later

 

I dunno about cutting off cats and stuff, but I do know that you have 1 cat and the other object in the exhuast system is a resonator.

Adam
91 LX-T

 

DO NOT cut it...it's there for a purpose, it keeps your back pressure in tact, unless your going TURBO or NOS...remember these are 4 cyl. cars!!! and i'm sure you didn't beef up your engine(rods, piston's, change compression). Straight pipe is good for bragging rights, but in reality it doesn't do you any good unless you have hardcore stuff done to your engine...just a thought!!

 

here jeremy try this thread it might help you a bit

http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=15466

 

funny ****, man

 

WELL


ITS NOT GOING TO BE JUST STRAIGHT PIPE....I WILL HAVE THE FIREBALL MUFFLER ON IT.......

BUT IF MY CAT IS SO GOOD....HOW ABOUT I JUST CHOP OFF MY
"SILENCER"......and keep the cat...??
?

???????????????????I'M GOING TO BE DOING THIS TUESDAY......SO YOUR INPUT WOULD BE GREAT.....

THANKS...


later

 

alright...cool....that thread helped me out.......




I DON'T WANT MY **** BACK FIRING OR SMELLING SHITTY SO I'M JUST GOING TO GET A HIGHFLOW CAT., AND CUT OFF MY SILENCER


THANKS


Later

 

has anyone got a picture of this "silencer" i havent got any idea what it looks like, but if i remove it and leave the cat does it make the car louder or nothing? would it become louder if i put a free flow cat and removed the silencer apposed to just removing the silencer? (100th post wooo hooo!! )

 

how bout just removing the presilencer with stock everything. would it be louder??

 

Any time you remove a muffler from the exhaust it will get louder. But, usually, the quality of the noise is more important than the quantity. A loud exhaust that sounds good is more tolerable than a quieter one with an annoying tone (buzzes or drones). And one that is only loud at say 55-80mph, but quiet everywhere else will drive you nuts on long trips.

Generally, the resonator (the first muffler) is used to change the character of the sound, while doing little muffling (quieting) the sound. Your exhaust is more likely to drone or resonate without the stock resonator, but it's a crapshoot.

Now, if you go with a header, that's when things really can get loud (you'd be surprised how much the stock manifold quiets things).

My exhaust is composed of a Pacesetter header (coated), the stock cat and resonator, stock piping to just in front of the rear suspension and 2 1/4" crush bent tubes and a Walker turbo muffler. It was barely louder than stock with just the muffler, but with the header it became noticeably louder, but not so much that it bugs the neighbors or is annoying on trips. It even gets fairly quiet at 80 mph.

 

i've decided to put headers on next.....but i'm not totally sold on them......


what could they actually do thats good for my performance....



p.s...

i put the muffler on....cut (w/ a hacksaw blade--that was a pain in the ***) the pre-silencer/resonator off ...and put a small cupling on in its place...and sealed it....

the ***** loud...but i haven't got my high-flo cat yet....it have a zing...sound to it...very nice...


WHAT do you guys think of APC...american products company....is they 're **** worth buying....i don't know anybody with they're performance parts to see how the do....

 

I've seen dyno plots which show about a 8 ft.lb increase over most of the rev range. Don't know for sure if it's that much, but my Protege is noticeably stronger after the header was installed. It doesn't fall off at 6k rpm any more, and it pulls really strong throughout the whole rev-range.

It was well worth the $250 I paid for it (although NOPI sells it for $210). Don't bother saving your money and buying the uncoated version. Besides rusting in no time at all, they put a lot more heat into the engine compartment. For the extra $80-90, the Armor Coating is well worth it. They look better as well.

You may have to do a little to get them to fit. I had to redrill (enlarge) one of the holes (from 7/16" to 1/2") to get the header on. And I had to bend the clutch line slightly, and I took a little material off the fan shroud to keep it from melting (Don't know if it would have, but it was pretty close.).