Hey guys!
I'm thinking of buying a muffler for me 5gen but I know nothing at all about mufflers. I've heard that there are muffler tips and also whole exhaust systems. Could someone give me an overview about these, how much hp gain, cost, installation dificulty. Is there specific brands I should go for and not go for? If a muffler is loud, does it mean it give more power to the car than a quieter muffler? How can a muffler give more power to the car anyways?

thanks for all your help

 

a muffler alone will just make it sound better. as far as gains, you'd have to get a complete exhaust from the header to cat-back. a ot of companies jsut make mufflers, apexi, dc sports, greddy, tanabe, thermal research. these companies also make cat-backs. tips are jsut for show, that's it. just the loudness of a muffler has little to do wth power gains, if any at all. it's the diameter of the piping, and the restriction of the muffler itself. it's easy to install a cat-back. just a matter of lifting the car and undoing a few bolts. costs can range from $400 all the way to $700. exhaust by itself, very minimall gains. a good intake, header, cat-back system can probably get you 10-15 hp gain. everything can cost about a grand and up brand new.

 

thanx el_presidente
i was looking on ebay and there's lots of exhausts u can buy, for example check out this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...424631&r=0&t=0 it says it gives u 9hp increase and it's at $89 right now. and there's lots of these... is this basically just bull or what..?

thanks

 

those are crap.... don't buy that muffler.
if you just go for the cheapest one you will gain nothing and its not gonna look that great either. you have a car that deserves a nice exhaust so that's what you should get. there is quite a few good ones out these. to name a few:
tanabe (hyper medalion or racing medalion) both very nice (from $450 and up)
greddy SP is a nice muffler (also street legal like tanabe) from $450 as well
then you have others like MUGEN, DC sports, HKS, etc etc... can't go wrong with any of the above mentioned.
if your budget is limited, get a muffler only and do the piping at your local muffler shop. e-s technical roadsports makes some nice affordable mufflers. http://www.es-sports.com


[Modified by EG6JDMspec, 7:08 AM 1/15/2002]

 

Apex-i N1

 

I was checkin out some mufflers too, and they seem pretty damned expensive for 10-15 horsepower Is a muffler really worth it for that much? And do they all have that loud buzzing type sound??? Ya guys gotta work with me here All i know about is my Mustang...and that thing is loud enough to wake the dead

OR- is cold air intake a better way to go (performance-wise?)

 

cool, that's really helpful, EG6JDMspec the mufflers you posted, are those just the muffler, or the whole exhaust? the guy in the second post said that muffler gives you only looks and sound, no hp increase, the whole piping will give you more hp. So will the tanabe, or greddy give me more hp or only the sound and looks?

thanks

 

A cat back is definately the way to go for an exhaust. If you drive your lude in the winter get a sull stainless steel cat back exhaust. Thermal Research and Development makes a good one. Personally my lude doesn't see snow, so I have the Greddy SP exhaust. It has a low rumble before VTEC and then wails after VTEC, but not in the bumble bee way. Apexi and Tanabe are also very good companies. You can install it yourself. It is not hard at all.
Mr. Hahn: I'd go with the AEM cold air intake before the exhaust. It's cheaper by about $300, and it will give you an idea of how much extra hp imports get with a bolt on.

 

thanks laughin2.2
so catback means it's the whole thing, piping with the muffler? If the greddy is not SS, then what is it? I live in Vancouver so I see snow only about 1-3 days a year. For the intakes... How much would the AEM cold air go for? How hard is the installation? Is it straight forward? I'd like to do the stuff myself but i've never done it and I dont even have a garage to do it in so i'd have to do it outside infront of my house. Just with an intake, am i gonna see a significant improvement?

thanks

 

A cat back exhaust is everything from the catalytic converter back to the muffler tip. I've heard of the greddy rusting once, but I just checked and they are in fact made of stainless steel, so that one person must have gotten his Greddy from Pepboys. AEM cold air in take is about $200 or less. Neither the exhaust or the intake are hard installs, but make sure you do a search on here and on preludeonline.com to learn about any tips on doing the install. You'll get a couple whp from the intake, which doesn't seem like much, but when you go for cams, SC, turbo, nitrous, etc. you'll see a greater hp increase. Also the intake has a nice sound to it.

 

Here's my input. Before you decide what exhaust to get, first decide whether you want to stay NA (naturally aspirated) or go FI (forced induction, ie. turbo or supercharging). The idea is to spend your money wisely so you want to do it once and do it right. Now, if you stay NA, you have many many choices. If you go FI you might want to look for turbo specific exhausts systems, these will have a slightly larger diameter piping for better flow. So, if you want NA, go ahead and buy the exhaust. If you go FI, wait on the exhaust and get the turbo or supercharger first or other things like a new heavier clutch. I understand it's hard to buy all these things at once but the best way is to see which can wait first. Finally if you are looking for Stainless Steel exhaust or muffler, be advised that some SS do rust. I had a Apex WS on my Si and it started rusting on the muffler. Anyhow, good luck with your decision.

 

thanks, tw00si
I doubt i will be putting in turbo or supercharger, but I'd like to do as many boltons as i can. So for now I think i'll focus on getting an intake, and an exhaust after. I looked on ebay and the AEM CAI costs almost $200, but there is other CAI that go for as little as $20. I dont think i'd go for $20 one cuz it sounds way to cheap, but for example http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...430455&r=0&t=0 looks a bit better. What do you guys think? Is it a huge difference getting a no name intake, instaed of AEM intake?

here's another one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...482100&r=0&t=0


[Modified by pr0digy1, 8:31 PM 1/15/2002]

 

First of all - if you care about your car at all you won't get anything off e-bay uless its brand and you know the product isn't priced less than 25% lower than it would be normally. Second...you need an intake before an exhaust, like pres said earlier. If you have no pressure induction to your engine (intake..CAI will give you more, but also more risk if you drive in the water a lot) pressure deduction will not do a thing for you. In fact, some would say that it screws up your engine becuase no backpressure is present (this would only be a big deal if you had no intake and a cat back, or a hole in your muffler/cat converter or something like that). Third..what else are you planning to upgrade?

 

pr0digy1

Go with the aem it is well worth the money!!

 

you can do a custom CAI for cheaper. throw a K&N filter on the end. K&N make great filters, i would highly recommend one. they're also good if it rains a lot. they keep out water very well. some would say, dont' quote me on this, you can drive with the filter submerged in water and you'll be fine. like i said, that's what i hear. so don't go out and try just to test it out. but i do know k&n filters are known for keeping water out of the intake very well. custom CAI are cheaper, they just don't look as good as say an AEM unless you get them painted or coated yourself. but as far as power gains, it's very comparable to a $200 AEM CAI.

 

never buy car parts off of ebay. It's almost always crap boxed to look like real parts. AEM cai and cat-back exhaust are both easy to install "out front" w/o a garage. If you can't get both at once, go w/ the intake first. If you really want to save the money, many people sell their intakes b/c they are either going FI or selling their cars. Intakes are ok to buy used b/c they really don't see too much abuse other than scratching from bad installation or at worst, bottoming out. Make sure you clean and re-oil the filter element. Also make sure you put in all the underbody pastic covering after the install. It helps much to reduce water ingestion. BTW, the aem cai fit on 5th gen prelude just plain stinks. I had to relocate the intake butterfly/ vacuum assmebly and cut about 1/2" off the fenderwall to get the piece to fit. Also the bolt point welded on the pipe doesn't come close to the hole it's supposed to bolt onto and is at an off angle. Other applications fit much better, but never perfect in my experience. The intake sounds like a very low powered vacuum at idle and on the higher cam you hear the valves opening and closing... very loud, kinda like exhaust at high rpms. In my opinion after having a tanabe RM cat-back w/o an intake, exhaust tones can sound weak if not properly opened up on the intake end. Anybody have any good experience w/ any headers other than dc? DC hasn't really made any good power on prelude apps.

 

I agree with not buying car parts from Ebay...I don't trust the people who sell things through Ebay. If you want to get a cold air intake, go for it, and don't worry about it sucking water in...unless you drive through a massive amount of water and don't remove any liner. When you have a CAI and you see puddles of water in front of you, use your best judgement. I'd personally go with a drop in filter and buy a nice exhaust system so I can enjoy the sounds from the exhaust (I had a CAI on my Si and I couldn't hear my exhaust at all...so I'd do something different with my prelude).

 

styler, well for now intake, exhaust, headers later... i dont wanna go turbo and I dont know much about mods so I cant really say i'm gonna do this and that... All i know that I/H/E are the basic mods and that's what i wanna get first.
I live in vancouver and it rains here quite a bit so I'm kinda scared that I'll have problems with CAI. I see that tonydatyga said he'd go with a drop in filter. I thought there was only one upgrade for that and that was to get CAI. So what's the diff between drop in filter and CAI? Is there any other alternatives?

thanks guys, i've learned alot today

 

I'm not speaking from experience, but I know that I would never drive my car in any kind of hard rain with a CAI on it. FYI - waterlogging your engine occurs when water gets into the combustion chamber (usually through the intake) and is REALLY bad. It's not a risk worth taking as dammage can be really bad, or at worst a killed engine...which I guess would be a good way to get your parents to help you out buying a new h22a1...but in any case its a stupid way to kill an engine. Get a bypass valve. (this is a small valve that fits in the intake piping, only allowing air though, some say you lose about 3 hp gained but its worth it).

 

A drop in filter will just give you a bit better air flow and you will still be sucking up hot air. The best air intake is an AEM cold air intake. If you're worried about water get the bypass valve. I have never seen a dyno chart showing that you losing 3 hp by installing a bypass valve, so I personally believe its not true. It's only $200, in the world of car modification that's pocket change. Or you could just get the warm intake from AEM. You'll gain a little less hp, but there is no chance of water getting into the engine unless you drive into a large body of water.

 

good to hear the bypass doesnt steal much power, as i know i will need one myself.

 

If the region where you live at rains a lot, if I were you, I would go with a drop in filter rather than a short ram intake. Reason being, since both power gains are less than a CAI, I'd just opt for the quieter one. Honestly, don't worry about hydrolocking with a CAI. Bypass valve is a waste of money, just don't drive into a pond...I mean you know you are driving a car and not a boat, right?

 

I know a lot of you guys like the AEM sticker on the pipe, but my question is: What's the difference between an ICEMAN CAI or a NAKAYAMA CAI? They are shaped and fitted EXACTLY to the AEM spec and fit just as well. I just ordered a Nakayama CAI for $65 shipped, and it looks identical to the AEM except for the pretty little sticker (I personally think the polished finish on it looks better than the painted AEM). The gains I'm sure, no--I'm positive will be identical the AEM. When it comes to buying an intake, just make sure the piping isn't made for the short ram, but is made to fit down below the fender well and behind the bumper...if it does, it's all the same, name brand or not.

 

Oh yeah, I bought it off of EBAY

 

thanks typeSwarrior
so did u install the intake yet? if yes, how do u like it? Did the intake come with all the necessary parts? How did u find the intallation? Does the bypass valve come with it? if not, how much is it? I'm thinking of getting it from ebay cuz it's cheaper.

thanks