New exhaust for my DD... opinions wanted.

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:11 am

With the tranny in my car being dealt with in the next 2 weeks I am already looking towards the next thing to be done... the exhaust. I have a 2+1/2" high flow cat waiting, I'm just looking for opinions on the cat back and the headers. keep in mind that I'm not looking to rice out this car or seriously mod it for power but I do want it to look good and sound good rolling down the road. stainless steel cat backs are not easy to find for under $500 for the 2.0 but I did find this and the price seems good to me...

http://www.topgearautosport.com/part/A1 ... ystem.html

It seems that several places offer this same set for different prices But this place had the best deal overall when shipping is figured into the price.

As for headers I'm looking at a set being offered for sale by a member here but I am also looking at sets like this one on ebay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-1-STAINLESS-R ... v4exp=true

I would welcome all thoughts and opinions on these parts and the sellers. if you have others that you know about personally let me know. share links too if you have them. Even though I am always looking for a deal and I am on a budget I am also aware that you get what you pay for so quality matters more than price.

Thanks for the help guys

chew* · Post by chew* » Wed Sep 12, 2012 1:47 am

Really cant beat the SRT catback for price or sound or looks.......

For decent sound you need to have a cat, my silver car has a complete SRT catback with the 2 resonators + factory cat, it pops/crackles just a little. Volume wise this is the best config i've used to date.

It cost me $175 picked up.

My Maroon car has a R/T midsection with 1 resonator, stock cat and SRT rear, pops/crackles quite a bit more and is definitely louder. Tone/sound wise this is the best config i've used to date at the cost of increased volume.

About same cost overall as above.... with the R/T midsection and srt rear....

Do not try to run it without a cat least on a normal single cam, it sounds like ass and is way to loud. Maybe if you ran 2 of the longest resonators you could find in the tunnel it might be ok. I don't have a spare midsection atm to try that though.

Ive been through and heard quite a few setups in person on regular neons except the borla muffler version on the R/T's.

Without that in my comparison price wise the complete used srt catback wins hands down....compared to the Ebay duals, ebay fart can, magnaflow, pacesetter or the one you linked to ( branded as Number One ) that NOPI sells for $110 iirc which sounds horrid.....Think Honda with a fartcan.

Also alot of those headers have a different clock position than factory so the downpipe will ONLY work on there header, a stock downpipe will not work and there down pipe will NOT work with a factory maniflod or R/T header unless you reweld it in the factory position.

Also the flex pipe is junk. I broke one in 4 months....

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:36 am

Lots of useful info, thanks for all of that but where you mention the "honda fart can sound" were you talking about the cat back I linked to or the ebay header?

At times I am not sure where you are talking about the header or the cat back. Could you clarify a little more please.

Would the cat back I linked to possibly sound better with the 02 camaro muffler swapped in place of the muffler it comes with?

chew* · Post by chew* » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:27 am

bobneon2k wrote:Lots of useful info, thanks for all of that but where you mention the "honda fart can sound" were you talking about the cat back I linked to or the ebay header?

At times I am not sure where you are talking about the header or the cat back. Could you clarify a little more please.

Would the cat back I linked to possibly sound better with the 02 camaro muffler swapped in place of the muffler it comes with?

The catback exhaust you linked to sux to put it simply.

The header and downpipe least my OBX is decent, no complaints on header, the downpipes flexpipe is crap though. Also like I said they use a unique to there design clock position so you can't use a factory downpipe with that header and likewise you can't use there downpipe on a OEM manifold or R/T header unless you have the clock position changed and rewelded. The way to cheat it is just have a quality flexpipe welded in and change the clock position that way

From what i understand the camaro muffler if magnaflow is the one they sell for neons as well. It sounds ok but IMO it's rather mellow, from youtubes ive heard the borla muffler that zerochad was selling sounds way better.

In that case however why by an exhaust, just have someone with a "blown" out R/T muffler chop the piping off there muffler and have that welded to a camaro muffler.

I have a blown out R/T muffler you can have if you want to go that route.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:23 am

If you want reasonably priced stainless tubing from the cat back, go with a TruBenz kit. Just be sure to call and clarify you need it for a factory length cat back, otherwise it is cut for a LTH.

viewtopic.php?t=42639

It's been almost three and a half years now, since I installed it, and the pipe looks as good as the day it was installed.

The turn outs for the muffler are include in the kit. you just need to cut them to length for w/e muffler you use. I would recommend either welding the pipes, or using stainless band clamps.

jckevns · Post by **jckevns** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 2:30 pm

Ive always preferred magnaflow products best sounding imo.

Like chew mentioned the magnaflow muffler is mellow which could be perfect for ur dd application. Not too loud not ricey sounding

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:18 pm

jckevns wrote:Ive always preferred magnaflow products best sounding imo.

Like chew mentioned the magnaflow muffler is mellow which could be perfect for ur dd application. Not too loud not ricey sounding

Another +1 vote for Magnaflow here.

It had the nicest-sounding ( IMO ) muffler, of all the Neons in our family.
Has a nice rumble, not 'ricey', and never ever got unwanted attention from the authorities.... It was 'low-key' when needed.

- Nick

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 12:48 am

Okay so based on what everyone is telling me, The header is decent but I can expect the flex pipe to go quickly, The cat back I linked to sounds like a fart can and should be avoided, trubenz makes a piping kit but I should mention the fact that I need one for an otherwise factory set up to be sure I have the length I need and the magnaflow muffler sounds deeper than most.

Is the obx shorty header a better option? it looks like the ebay header but I'm thinking the flex pipe may be better construction.

So the best set up seems to be header to trubenz kit to magnaflow. Does that sound right?

Does anyone have a part number for a single outlet magnaflow muffler? I want to be sure I get the right one and not some other one listed as being for neons but not the right one for what I want to do. I found these...

http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts-mu ... 4A0A0.aspx

I'm looking at a single offset inlet/single offset outlet with 2-1/2" ends. are these the right type for a good sound? Is bigger better for sound or should I just go with one about the same size and shape as stock?

And guys?.... Thanks again for all the input it is a HUGE help.

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:40 am

I just checked out truebndz and i like the dual catback they offer. I'm going to see about a price on a single outlet version

chew* · Post by chew* » Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:46 am

bobneon2k wrote: I'm looking at a single offset inlet/single offset outlet with 2-1/2" ends. are these the right type for a good sound? Is bigger better for sound or should I just go with one about the same size and shape as stock?

I was running a 3" for a while, with factory manifold and cat, with a header and no cat........both configs caused a flat spot between 2000-3000 rpm, very noticeable loss in power.

4500 and up and the tac needle would bury alot quicker with header and catless however the gains IMO did not outweigh losses and it made for a very unpleasant DD with the flatspot.

To sum it up 2.50" should be max size you want to run.

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:32 pm

chew* wrote:
bobneon2k wrote: I'm looking at a single offset inlet/single offset outlet with 2-1/2" ends. are these the right type for a good sound? Is bigger better for sound or should I just go with one about the same size and shape as stock?
I was running a 3" for a while, with factory manifold and cat, with a header and no cat........both configs caused a flat spot between 2000-3000 rpm, very noticeable loss in power.

4500 and up and the tac needle would bury alot quicker with header and catless however the gains IMO did not outweigh losses and it made for a very unpleasant DD with the flatspot.

To sum it up 2.50" should be max size you want to run.

Thanks for that. I was actually talking about a muffler I was looking at but i was wondering about a 3" pipe and what would happen.