Hey everyone, got a quick question. Say I were to buy a Borla Muffler for my 96 without buying a high flow cat. Is that okay, or would that be completely pointless to the Borla Muffler? I also need to buy a Cold Air Intake yet, but I'll probably buy a cheap eBay one for now, and get the bypass valve. Also, can you cherry bomb an Accord?

 

cherry... bomb.... ?

 

I'm assuming by "cherry bomb" he means a glasspack. I only hear of domestic guys calling it cherry bombs. Anyway, yes you could use one, but it's going to be loud as hell, hence why domestic guys use it. Some muffler shops will use them as resonators to try to quiet down an already-too-loud exhaust system a little.

And no, you don't need a high-flow cat.

 

Thanks for the help. Yeah I wasn't really sure what they were called. My friend is a domestic guy and by chance bought an Accord and ended up hating it, but he "cherry bombed" it. I'll call it a glasspack from now on. It was pretty loud.
Anyways, what's the advantage to having a high-flow cat? Better performance or something? Or is it all sound? Because I kind of want both... Thanks in advance for the help!

 

A high-flow cat isn't all that beneficial unless you're using some form of forced induction, or an all-out NA build. Using a high-flow cat will get you a slight increase in power on the top end, but you will lose a good deal of torque on the low-end due to the lack of backpressure. It effectively shifts your power band higher in the rpm range. If you already have an aftermarket exhaust, switching to a high-flow cat (or test pipe) will make the exhaust much louder. With the stock exhaust system, you won't notice a change in loudness.

 

I plan to get a Cold Air Intake, I know that's not forced induction, but I figure if I've got a clean shot coming into the engine and going out, things will be a little better. I'm on an all OEM setup currently, except minor change to intake. I want to get a new muffler that will be louder, but not bumblebee loud, something that sounds nice. Not OEM though.
"If you already have an aftermarket exhaust, switching to a high-flow cat (or test pipe) will make the exhaust much louder. With the stock exhaust system, you won't notice a change in loudness."
Does this mean that with a stock cat that I'm not going to get a change in loudness even with an aftermarket muffler. Or does it mean that if I switched to a high flow cat with the stock muffler that I won't notice a difference in the loudness. I think it's the later, but I wasn't sure so I thought I'd ask.
So bottom line if I want more performance and loudness and don't plan on supercharging or turbo: stick with the OEM cat, get an aftermarket exhaust, and add plenty of stickers for parts that I don't have (+5HP each) haha.

 

aftermarket muffler will amke your car louder. a high-flow cat with aftermarket muffler will be louder. high flow cat with stock muffler wont be any noticeably change in loudness. i hope that answers your question.

 

Thanks for the clarification. My questions are answered! Thanks everyone!

 

I would actually recommend against a cherry bomb. They will burn out rather quickly. Look for something wiht some better materials, like a mix of steel wool and fiberglass.

 

what I have is dc headders with a high flow cat and 2.25 piping all the way back and a turbo flow exhaust. Its not to loud at all the muffler is not a straight through design more of a ~ shape to baffle it not much low end but good high.

 

Eventually thats what I would love to do, but money is tight right at the moment, but it's alright because it's too cold to be working in an unheated garage anyways. That, and do I really want to invest in a lot of high cost after market parts for an automatic?