’99 LX, 4 cylinder, manual transmission

I needed a new catalytic converter and decided to pick up a new exhaust while I was at it, my old OEM exhaust had a hole in the muffler and had about 120,000 miles on it.

The cat / exhaust I put on were:

Cat: Magnaflow 22642
Exhaust cat-back: Magnaflow 15690

The exhaust looks great and the car runs great… but it’s a little on the loud side. Does the loudness come from the re-designed resonator, or is it from the muffler itself? Is there a new direct-fit muffler (or resonator) that I could use to replace one of my sections to quiet it down a little?

Second question: The part of the exhaust from my exhaust manifold to the catalytic converter is stock. Would there be any noticeable benefit to swapping out this part of the exhaust? If so, any suggestions?

 

I've been driving it for about three months now and have fallen in love with the muffler / cat combo. It's like I have a fifth cylinder in the engine, it was a noticble improvement in power plus the noise isn't bad once you get a little used to it. It's not noticable at lower RPMs so just stay in a higher gear and it's fine. Plus I can make it loud when I want by just going with higher RPMs / lower gear, great when passing somebody driving slowly beause they are on the phone.

I am happy with the exhaust system now.