last night I took off my cat to gut it, and the damn thing was already gutted, I mean there was NOTHING in there. I was kind of upset, so I just left it off. So right now my car is running Header, Downpipe, then 1 resonator, then open. That junk is LOUD! My car isn't too torquey now, but it is significantly faster. It's easier to launch because the tires don't spin as bad too. If I can bear the noise, is there any real reason I shouldn't just leave it like this? Cops in my town don't care about noise, and we don't have emissions here.

Here's what happened to a friend of mine, Fast420A here in the board, when the header he bought didn't quite align with the downpipe. When we started it and tugged the throttle cable, it shot out flames. He drove that thing with just the header going home and that thing is LOUD!!!!!

On the DAY I got my car I took it to the runs down south of here...A little before 11:30pm I romped on a FC RX-7 with pillar pods. (leading me to believe it was tuned..) TWICE in a row by a car length and a half! Woooot!!

After the second run, the guy turned off. I heard odd sound under hood. Slowly grew louder/louder as I drove further. Pulled over into gas station. By that point, my motor sounded like a fsckin... VW Bug... :o

Popped hood... I'd BLOWN two of the bolts on my downpipe off!! OMG!! Exhaust gas just shootin everywhere. Gas station attendant finally let us use the (closed) shop, grabbed a ratchet.. but it was all wayyy too hot. Heh. Had to limp home in the slow lane sounding like a beetle.. I was 'kinda' pissed.

Brought it to shop in the same area the next day, they replaced the old crappy bolts and its worked fine since!! :thumbsup

Does it get cold at night or is cold where you live? I ask b/c if you run the car hard then shut it off, cold air can be drawn in and warp/crack valves.

yeah, I knew about that. Last night I made it a point to let my car cool down for like 2 minutes before killing it. If I keep it like this, I might put a faux turbo timer type thing on it to give my car cool down time. Thanks a lot for pointing that out though man.

i want flames, but i don't want my car to get more pissed off at me. I swear it has an attitude, i love my car and it hates me. why?

anywho, mmmm loud power w/flames = one happy dude, less torque is kinda dissappointing though. well, i have too much torque, or crappy tires cause i raced my friends jeep (2.0) last night and he kicked my ass cause i accidentally spun them going into 2nd (not a chirp, but a burnout) NEVER BUY UNIROYAL TIGERPAWS, oh, they are my winter crap tires.

you're gonna burn out the valves

Don't forget that exhaust fumes will probably enter the cabin of the car. Not very healthy! Could kill you!

How will it burn out the valves?

Dude, you are not gonna burn out your valves with your exhaust the way it is. Maybe if it was disconnected BEFORE the downpipe, but if you can stand the sound, leave it. Free cat-back! Probably the least resrictive cat-back you could get ;-)

How could you stand the sound? I ran the car with an open header just to pull it into my garage, and I had to keep the windows up at idle! I gave the throttle a quick stab and got the rpms to about 2500 and it was so loud I know it would be impossible to drive the car around like that.

haha, perhaps the years of playing in a rock band damaged my hearing. I know that it's REALLY loud, but I'm already used to it. What I think I'm gonna do is run 3" mandrel bent piping out to the back of the car, either that or... hmmm, DSM with sidepipes? hahaha

I can't imagine there being any real benefits of running a 3" pipe off your NA talon. I just got rid of my hks hiper exhaust (2.5") and put a stock tsi exhaust on, and the difference was negligable. 3" is over kill on a non-turbo. And about burnt valves...if straus says you're good to go with that, I'd believe him...however I was just tryhing to give you a logical reason to think that an openheader on a 2L 4 banger is not the best idea.

You have absolutly no back pressure... did you feel a loss in power?
It is my understanding that you shouldn't go about 2.5 piping NA because it will cause a loss in power. I bet that bitch is LOUD... sweet man


Nick
97RS
OBX Headers, OBX CAI, OBX Cat-Back, 8%tint,Walbro High flow pump, Accell wires/plugs, Custom interior, Upper Strut Bar, Kenwood/pioneer stereo.
Old: Custom IHI Stage2
In about a week: NX75 shot, AFX Ecu

I lost a bit of low end, but now my car is easier to launch (due to less wheelspin) and it pulls like crazy from about 5500 up. I think you should all try this and see what YOU think. It's only like 8 bolts to get the cat off, then just start that mug and let the fun begin.