Hey h-t,

I just recieved my jdm itr header for my Jdm b16a sirII powered civic lx. I was very suprised to see this thing in person. I must say wow, honda made this for a drivable car? I can't wait to get thing in my car and do some damage. Here's my question:

I got a 2000 honda civic lx with a hi-flow stainless steel catalytic converter(?), i got about 2yrs ago from pro1/top speed in dallas texas. What would be a good upgrade from this? I saw an omni power test pipe for $100.00. I also saw a carsound catalytic converter. Which of these would be good? Thing is i don't have a bolt-on catback system and this is making me think. So what to do please advice.

 

i just made my test pipe and gutted my cat apart and wrap the whole thing around my test pipe...

in other words its test pipe that looks like a cat...

 

I felt better gains from a test pipe than from my carsound cat, however the difference is pretty minimal. I would say test pipe, but that is just my opinion. Also, you can get a cat a lot cheaper from dave, his screen name is smsp, he will get you the write length test pipe you need, and all the hardware to make it an easy bolt on

 

In your case w/o an aftermarket exhaust you are gonna be bottle-necking no matter what. The header, cat and exhaust are all different sizes the way you have it now. If you put that header on the cat, it's gonna be straight until you get to the exhaust and then it's gonna get more restricted. You need to open up the exhaust piping first with a bigger exhaust and then worry about the test pipe.

 

Fogot to mention that i do hava apex universal n1 muffler w/ muffler shop piping. What size is the piping? i don't know

 

run a cat, its emmissions friendly and its the law if you drive your car on public streets

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 3.504 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">run a cat, its emmissions friendly and its the law if you drive your car on public streets</TD></TR></TABLE>

How are you going to say that being from NC when most ppl do not run cats! Other than that, I see what you are saying.

I run a 2.5" testpipe and love it!

 

what do you mean most people dont run cats in NC. and i just live in NC, i'm from ohio and my cars registered in ohio.

plus i like clean air

 

its the law mother trucker

watch out for johny law hiding under your car man

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 3.504 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you mean most people dont run cats in NC. and i just live in NC, i'm from ohio and my cars registered in ohio.

plus i like clean air </TD></TR></TABLE>

I smoke so I dont know what clean air is!

Im from VA and used to spend a lot of time around the Triad(Greensboro, Winston Salem, Highpoint) and Charlotte street racing back in the day. No one I know runs a catalytic convertor.

It is a federal law to maintain a cat, but most ppl dont look for them and dont care and it only gets check during state inspection(in VA); but pay bubba $25 and you get a special inspection!

BTW, how did you end up in NC?

 

I went from running a stock DX cat to a 2.25 inch testpipe, and my 1/4 time dropped from 14.6@95 to 14.3@97.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr. S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I went from running a stock DX cat to a 2.25 inch testpipe, and my 1/4 time dropped from 14.6@95 to 14.3@97.</TD></TR></TABLE>

there it is prove run catless .... but watch out for johny he is probbally checkin out ur cat right now

 

Thanks y'all for the input...I'm putting in my header this fri. Looking forward to it. I heard this jdm itr header is a pretty good mod for a regular b-series, with my jdm b16a sir II motor, it should be good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr. S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I went from running a stock DX cat to a 2.25 inch testpipe, and my 1/4 time dropped from 14.6@95 to 14.3@97.</TD></TR></TABLE>

this doesn't proove anything. dyno numbers is what would proove something. and this is on a different car w/ a different setup on a different motor. it could have just been a really good run compared to the last run. i'd like to see dyno before and after and how an upgrade that flows only about 5-10% better went .3 seconds faster.

if you've ever done a backpressure test before you'd see that a cat doesn't restrict an exhaust hardly at all (under 1/2psi of backpressure on a honda civic ex that i did on a full stock exhaust). that really is the bottom of the gauge. so theres basically no restriction or so little that it wouldn't matter. the only reason to get a bigger cat w/ the ITR header is simply so it will bolt up being the main reason and i guess to reduce bottle necking or restricting. but even in that sense, this is a b16 and it is stock, so it wouldn't matter much at all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 3.504 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this doesn't proove anything. dyno numbers is what would proove something. and this is on a different car w/ a different setup on a different motor. it could have just been a really good run compared to the last run. i'd like to see dyno before and after and how an upgrade that flows only about 5-10% better went .3 seconds faster.

if you've ever done a backpressure test before you'd see that a cat doesn't restrict an exhaust hardly at all (under 1/2psi of backpressure on a honda civic ex that i did on a full stock exhaust). that really is the bottom of the gauge. so theres basically no restriction or so little that it wouldn't matter. the only reason to get a bigger cat w/ the ITR header is simply so it will bolt up being the main reason and i guess to reduce bottle necking or restricting. but even in that sense, this is a b16 and it is stock, so it wouldn't matter much at all.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Oh really.

I went from consisten 14.6's and 14.8's at 94-95 MPH to consistent 14.3's - 14.5's at 96-97 MPH with this mod, so no it wasn't just one really good run. The stock cat has tiny flanges... it chokes the engine so much. I had to put it back on for emissions testing and my car feels unbelievably slow now compared to when it had the testpipe. I will say that the pipe only really helps above 5500 rpm though.

 

If i run a test pipe i.e omni power how will the sound quility be? Will it be loud? I'm buiying a tanabe hyper med

 

Man **** the law I gutted my cat and saw only about 1/10 of a second differance but when you get further down the road on upgrades the so called high-flow cat will hold you back. Especially with cams or a turbo.