For anyone interested, I put a Megan exhaust on my car this weekend and took a few photos to compare the differences. Sorry that the pics aren't great, I was working at night so the lighting was poor.

The Megan is definitely much beefier than the wimpy stock pipe. It also seems to weigh quite a bit less. The overall diameter of the Megan is much larger and the bends seem to be much more refined. I'm still running the stock muffler right now but even so, it sounds much more aggressive than before, especially at high RPMs. I noticed a decent improvement in power, but I should note that I was running headers with the stock exhaust so this was a bottle neck for me before. Lastly, I would note that the install was quite easy, only five bolts. The hardest part was getting the old rusted bolts off.

 

Did you change the downpipe from the header to the echaust? If not then that is your biggest chocking point from getting HP gains.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you didn't gain any power. Its been proven quite a few times that without modifying internals, running nitrous, or turbo charging... the D17 does not reflect power gains.

Also, you may want to note that you only have one header. Just a simple clarification issue.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't changed the downpipe yet. I was considering going with a catless test pipe but it was recently brought to my attention that removing the cat is actually a federal offense which can result in having the car impounded or a fine, ect. Any experience with this or opinions? I know MA can be kinda tough when it comes to inspections. Are you running catless?

As for the claim that you ONLY gain power through modifying internals, I would respectfully disagree. It's true that you will not see massive gains with headers and an exhaust like you would with forcing induction however you will see gains whenever you improve the air and/or exhaust flow. What it really comes down to for most people is whether or not that performance gain is worth the $$. In this case, I was swapping for a used midpipe $60 so it wasn't a significant investment of money.

Also, I should note that I'm running a K20A3 motor (not a D17) which in my opinion is not worth putting $$ into the internals. I'd rather save a little more and eventually swap to an A2 head.

 

If you've got a hatchback, you're in the wrong forum. Hence my statement regarding power add-ons on the D17. Hatchbacks don't have those here in the United States.

K-series engines respond differently to bolt-ons, bud. I'm well aware of this.

 

My bad, I'm new to this forum and did not realize that this should have been posted somewhere else. I do not have any experience with D17 motors but I see what you mean, most people are reporting insignificant gains with bolt-ons.