A couple of friends have told me dat whenever they drive behind me, they smell a strong scent of gas. wat could lead to this. I have an 96 ls with 156xxx miles. Basic mods: 4-2-1 headers, evo2 exhaust with test pipe, short ram intake. Any ideas???

 

you can be running rich becuz of the headers and test pipe and exhaust

 

datz wat i was thinkin. also sometimes when i shift i hear a loud poppin noise comin from ma exhaust. wat can i do to stop it from runnin rich

 

get it tuned, or first check the AFR (air flow ratio with a wideband)

 

put a converter back on and it wont smell so bad. you are not really gaining that much power (if any at all) with a test pipe.

 

could it be one of my O2 sensors. ever since i bought the car i had a problem with those. changed both of them tho'. i dont have my cat anymore. Im plannin on goin turbo within the next couple of months. Diz will be a problem woulnt it

 

Yeah dude. Put your cat back on. If you're really convinced that you can feel the 1hp gain from removing it, then buy a hi-flow cat, not a test pipe.
Nonetheless, you should think about investing in some adjustable cam gears and some dyno time. It'll probably swing you another 20hp, & get rid of that popping.
Also... don't go turbo. Your engine isn't ready for it. Unless you're talking 8psi, which you could easily achieve the same hp through 11:1 pistons and a set of rods - and ultimately save around 2 grand.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civicstar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get it tuned, or first check the AFR (air flow ratio with a wideband)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Air/FUEL Ratio.

And most cars will smell like that with full exhaust. Get it tuned.

 

yeh sorry i forgot to write fuel, cuz i wasnt thinking

 

how can i check the air fuel ratio???

 

Buy a WIDEBAND 02 gauge setup. Not narrowband.

 

best thing like vegas said is to put the cat back on, it burns up the unburt fuel so you wont have that smell, cheapest solution, you gain little horsepower with the test pipe without tuning it anyways (like he said)

 

do i need a high flow cat?? where can i get them??

 

its up to you, just get one thats the same sized piping as your exhaust, ebay is the cheapest but exhaust shops have them for less then 100 or you can get it from ebay around 40

 

You can also attach a voltmeter to your O2 sensor, anything below 0.7v is lean, anything above is rich. It'll drop a little lower at WOT.
Easiest (not the cheapest) way to tune it is with a piggyback ECU module. Greddy and Apexi make good ones, which come with several presets or can be customized. Or, you can get a full performance ECU, Hondata makes the best.

 

you don't need a hi-flow cat at your power level, but since yours is probably toast anyway you can pick up a decent magnaflow hi-flow cat for about 50 bucks on ebay. if you get a universal one be prepared to weld it on. pre-fitted cats cost a little more but if you don't have a welder it's overall cheaper.