cats or no cats?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 249
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From: Richmond,Midlo. V.A.
cats or no cats? i just ordered my cam (TSP 233-239),convertor and some other parts. i have all the bolt ons with full slp exhaust, LT ,loudmouth etc. my question is should i go ahead and dump the cats now while iam at it,before tuning. its gonna cost about 250-300 for the new y pipe and o2 sims. will it make nice differance in power? will i have to re-tune if i wait and do it later. noise and laws are not a issue for my car. i just didnt want to spend the cash right yet unless its wiser to.
It's a funny thing you posted this. I just ran into a guy that had an almost identical setup as you. SLP LT's and LM and a TSP233. I didn't like how it sounded at all. Very loud and obnoxious. But if noise or exhaust note isn't an issue for you, then I'm sure you'll pick up a good 10 rwhp dropping the cats.
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
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From: The South
IMO keep the cats or it'll sound like absolute ***.
Edit: Seriously, it'll sound like ***. Now everyone has their own opinion, and some people just want to make as much noise as possible, but it seriously will not sound good. I'd liken it to a pickup running straight pipes. Raspy and blatty as all hell. NOT GOOD!
Edit again: Just get some high flow cats. I actually ordered and then retunred a pair of random tech high flow cats when I planned on keeping my loudmouth after the header swap.
Edit: Seriously, it'll sound like ***. Now everyone has their own opinion, and some people just want to make as much noise as possible, but it seriously will not sound good. I'd liken it to a pickup running straight pipes. Raspy and blatty as all hell. NOT GOOD!
Edit again: Just get some high flow cats. I actually ordered and then retunred a pair of random tech high flow cats when I planned on keeping my loudmouth after the header swap.
Last edited by blkZ28spt; Apr 12, 2005 at 05:42 PM.
Originally Posted by Red 01SS
for performance...drop the cats 
I think cars with cats sound better, it keeps it more mellow. I have ORY now and want to put cats back on. Its not wicked loud (hooker catback) but it just doesn't sound so great when you really get on it.
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Cats do make the tone of your exhuast much raspier. There are a few catbacks, such as Hooker, that do a pretty damn good job of getting rid of the rasp, but then again some people on this board seem to love their ORY/Borla cars that sound like chainsaws to me. And believe it or not, your ORY plays a huge part in that rasp, particularly the Y collector. I changed mine to a Y pipe with a Flowmaster-style Y collector (mufflex Y), and it took out 99% of my rasp.
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TECH Fanatic
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From: Hometown:Mount Carmel, IL Current: Las Vegas, NV
with a loud mouth, you have no muffler and those cats are doing far more muffling than you think. if youd get a different cat back, like if you ran duals, then dump the cats.
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From: Hometown:Mount Carmel, IL Current: Las Vegas, NV
not if youre really into your car. i took the cats off of my stang. there were 6 of those bastards. I smell like an exhaust shop to others if i idle for a long time and sit but i dont even notice it and if youre having a good time, they dont care.
The cam you selected (which could be the same cam as the other guy) will take care of the rasp problem. I couldn't hear much rasp at all with that similar setup, it was just obnoxiously loud and unrefined.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 3,043
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From: Texas and Qatar
No cats, but ditch the LM. If you want to keep the catback style exhaust, the best I've heard with no cats are the Hooker (something like $290) or get the SLP dual-dual. I havn't installed our TD system on the SLP headers, but I've heard that its been done by shortening our L1 pipe (the first one right off the drivers side header).
I had car sound cats on my under the axle true dual setup. I eventually hollowed them out and I LOVE the way it sounds without cats. Its the agressive clipping sound, the sound of horsepower. I didnt like how mellow the cats made the exhaust note. It all depends on what youre looking for. If you want an agressive tone, ditch the cats and dont look back. If you want a smooth sound that wont make old folks scowl at you, then keep the cats.
-T
-T
