I did lots of searches on the topic, but got mixed results and and no answers for other questions so, here are my ?'s On ebay the catylytic converters which are really just resonated test pipes.
Who has one on there car, and how thick was the metal, was it thin like an intake tube, or did it have some thickness in the metal.
Second, from the searches people said that the high flow cats, random, and carsound had problems with like the cat material the screens coming loose, and vibrating, and also people said that both cats and testpipes, resonated test pipes, made the exhuast sound worse.
So with that in mind, I am going for a resonated test pipe cause its cheaper to experiment with than a high flow cat. I was thinking between one that has threading for the o2 sensor and one that doesnt.
My other question is...Not having a catylytic converter and using the o2 sensor. Will the car display any cel codes or check engine light? And what should I do, remain to use the o2 or not, or can you bypass using it somehow? I dont know, but basically this car guy told me that another resonator on the exhuast would get rid of some of the raspy notes in the low rpm range. What do you guys think??
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
you won't have a problem with the o2 (since its on the b-pipe connected to the header) unless you are a 96 prelude
i used to have a resonated obx "high flow cat" which is basically a resonated test pipe. its made of really thick metal, seems almost better made than the stock cat. fitment was perfect ( i put it on myself ) i added it in once i got greddy headers/ RSR exhaust with the resonated test pipe. sounded good.
i needed to pass emissions legally so i bought a random tech cat (really great cat) and installed it. sound is same, even butt dyno didn't feel any difference.
if you need a resonated test pipe (obx brand), well i have one and it has an extra o2 bung as well. but you shouldn't need it.
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"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
i looked at the obx one, seems to have a bigger size to it than the other resonated test pipes, the info on it says that it works as a cat, with the chemical reactions and such, but whats inside, can you see through it, or is there actuall materials inside the pipe? And its late now, but i will look on my car tomorrow, but i thought that the o2 was on the cat near the flange closer to the header side...but you said both sound the same, thats good, i will save a lot of money not getting the prestigious random technology cat for over 200 dollars, thanks
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
^well its not a cat at all. won't pass emissions with it (if you need too) and its straight see through. i mean you can see some mesh material on the inner walls, not much.
the o2 is not on the cat, trust me, i'm down there all the time and have replaced 3 headers.
and the random technology is the best cat out there, you should see the numbers it gives (emissions wise) w/o losing power at all. there were some dyno plot somewhere with test pipe then various other cats. RT cats did fairly well.
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"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
well there is no emissions testing in my town, and apparently my cat is not doing its job when my dad driving behind me when im getting on it can smell like buring oil or other smells....so a test pipe is not a lesser option to getting a cat for me..
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
I dont like my test pipe. It ruins the exhaust tone of any exhaust you put on there. It gets very buzzy. Not worth it IMO. If you can get a highflow cat, Id go with that. Unless you have FI, I dont think the noise is worth the benefit of better flow.
I dont like my test pipe. It ruins the exhaust tone of any exhaust you put on there. It gets very buzzy. Not worth it IMO. If you can get a highflow cat, Id go with that. Unless you have FI, I dont think the noise is worth the benefit of better flow.
but is your test pipe oval shaped or straight like a regular pipe?
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
Well, ive been doing a lot of research, and it seems like these resonated test pipes, the good ones anyways, are like glass packs. Glass packs refer to resonators that are bigger than regular pipe on the exhaust, then inside using the extra space is filled with fiber glass, which is contained with a metal screen in the resonator. This fiberglass deadens the sound. And these resonators are usually a straight through design, so they would work, and give the most gains, unlike a premuffler, with baffles . Another option to the common resonator, is the moroso spiral flow resonator (but is called a muffler, which is not really, based on shape of it). From my research, i have found that the moroso quites are cars the most, while providing better flow than a cat, while maintianing some backpressure like the cat from the spiral design.
So my decisions are whether to get the moroso for getting rid of my loud exhaust notes and the rasp, but pay to get it welded on. Or get a nice obx or megan, resonated test pipe that I can do myself, cause its a bolt on, and will give me better gains.
Both should quite the car but the first is more for hp gains, and the second is more for quite sound and maintaining low end torque.
But if doing welding, there are also other resonators out there. And from my research people always seem to give good and bad opinions on both, so its seems up to me to find out, which I think i have a good idea of what to do now.
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
i mean megan and obx are not high quality brands, and people complain of both brand's headers leaking after so long, but the resonated test pipes dont look that bad and ther is only 2 welds to worry about, ulike a header. And the price is less, so its not so much a loss. Just a loss in time to install and remove. Its just that the megan and obx brands look better than the other ones on ebay.
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
just remember with the resonated test pipes, they ping like crazy.
at idle it will ping, after the car is off it would ping. it got kinda annoying after awhile. at first i thought it was just the new headers / exhaust breaking in.
but after i got the random tech cat, the pinging stopped.
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"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
what do you mean with ping? like noises that go ping ping ping,, hahah. .man, i dont think the moroso will, but id hate to have to go get welding done....
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
you mean those little ping noises that happen on some cars when you park them and they begin to cool down. ....So your obx pings, you said that the exhaust sound was good..
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
I currently have DC Style Header going to OBX "Resonated Test Pipe" going to RSR Exmag. I mostly like the sound. I got the test pipe because when I did my H22 swap my old cat didn't fit correctly so I found the test pipe for cheap to cure the fitment issues.
The test pipe is a pretty nice part, I would really like to have a real cat though. Having straight pipe like that really makes it hard to keep the RSR tip clean...it always looks dirty, and after idleing too long the exhaust can smoke a little.
how much did the RT Cat cost? Oh and I know exactly what you mean when you described the "pinging." I can even hear it sometimes when I am driving. Glad to know it is just the test pipe.
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
Does anyone know if the "Direct Fit Catalytic Converters" come with the flanges already welded in place or do you still have to have that done at a muffler shop?
I can hear the pinging if my windows are open and I come to a red light. As the car idles I can hear the noise. It isn't a really obnoxious sound or anything, just slightly annoying.
Well I ended up getting welded on type resonators cause they are better quality. And I was told that one resonator wouldnt quiet my exhaust so I ordered two and had to buy a stainless steel flange, actually got two, only needed one. Plus they were kinda hard to find, and find cheap.
So I ended up having 2 2.5" resonated pipes welded on my catback that comes with a resonator as well. Also one of the resonators has replaced the cat.
End story - Exhuast is just as loud as before but no rasp. Also the exhaust is very quiet now at idle and pretty quiet at steady speeds. Only gets loud when you on the gas. Horse power gains might still be there, i dont know if the second resonator made gains less, but the car sorta feels more responsive. The whole exhaust is straight through design now. I think the type of the overall sound really comes from your muffler, and since i have a short straight through muffler (thermal) the pitch isnt where id like it. maybe if i had a greddy sp or a apexi ws or hks a big muffler style the exhuast would have a less fartzy sound to it. And be quieter at wot.
Overall if your looking for gains, just get one resonated test pipe to remove your cat or get a high flow cat.
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Black 93 SI CAI/H/E, AEM CAM gears, jacobselectronics wires, 2.5" drop (sprint springs, kyb shocks), neuspeed front upper strut tower bar, no name rear strut tower bar, chrome dc sports lower rear tie bar, thermal R&D exhaust, DC Header. 17's currently with dunlap sp901's.
Sorry to bring up such an old topic, but does anyone know if there is an unresonated variant of the Megan test-pipe? Prostreetonline has the Megan test pipe for 50 bucks, and I just wanna make sure that it will in fact be resonated.
Also, can anyone vouch for how this will sound w/ an Evo2?
and it has an extra o2 bung as well. but you shouldn't need it.
