ive got a y8 whith a zex 59300 cam on chrome pro. my question is i want more power i have stock exhaust. i plan on getting a header but idk if i want to touch the cat. the reason, i cant stand the raspy tone will a resonated test pipe give me a clean exhaust note or just make my car sound like poo?

 

why not just run a cat? Test pipe might make it sound more raspy but there are many other variables.

 

Run a high-flow cat. It'll cut down on the rasp considerably.

 

thats what i was afrade of. the reason i was thinking about not running a cat. their are no emissions laws in oklahoma at this time. ruduce restriction make power. so my question is now do you guys think that ide have to run a cat to keep my civic from sounding like crap? if so i guess a high flow cat is the way to go then.

 

if you run a 3 inch cat the restriction will be so minor that i dont think it would even make a difference. Who cares if there are no emissions LAWS it wouldnt kill you to be environmentally responsible.

 

Incorrect. A cat is required for all vehicles in the US.

Correct wording would be "there is no check to see if the legally mandated smog equipment is on the car, in Oklahoma at this time.".

Yeah, I'm being ****, but there is a large difference between "legal" and "not checked for legality".

Its not legal for me to walk around with a bag of weed (no prescription), but here in California not a cop would bother me for it. Same thing, not legal, but not enforced either.

But to answer the actual question, no you do not need to use a cat to keep it from sounding like crap, but it usually helps by acting as another resonator. You do need to use an exhaust where all components were selected to work together to achieve the sound and performance you desire though. Just slapping a few random parts together does not achieve this (which is what you usually find on a typical generic-header/cat-delete/straight-through-muffler sounds like crap exhaust).

 

I know what you mean and I wont smack you over the head with Green.

On my car. (track only tree huggers) I run a 4-1 heaer no cat and 60mm piping. I do run a test pipe. Cheap one from Ebay/china. And to kill the rasp I welded a 4x12 Resignator with 3" inlet outlets. I love how it sounds and it is considerably quite untill you open it up.

 

The resignator is on the tip or end of the Pipe. Looks like a regular tail pipe.