will gutting my cat make my exhaust sound like **** and effect engine performance? ive heard some people say that it does and people say that it doesnt..

 

Leave it alone, will add negligible power and crappy sound not to mention the fact that its illegal, adds pollution and if your car is obd2 will cause an engine light.

 

i did this and i noticed more throttle response in low end power.... i also herd it was a bad idea and didn't improve power but i didn't it any way and i like it... and i have gotten many compliments on how my car sounds so i think the sound depends on ur exhaust set up.... but if could go back i think i would have just bought a test pipe and kept my cat how its ment to be....

 

you will gain power. Not alot. but hondapartshero explained the negative

 

Personally if I were going to delete the cat I wouldn't gut it I would just spend the money to buy either a test pipe or flex pipe...If you're not concerned with emissions you could just go straight pipe, but you should never just mod a car based on someting as trivial as sound. as for gains, its evident that the more free-flowing your intake and exhaust, the better throttle response and power gains will be. Your vehicle needs to be able to breath and exhale good and the best way to acheive this is with the least restrictions.

 

any body know of a good place to by a test pipe for my car? i would need a new header to wouldnt i? my car has the cat bolted directly on to the header

 

http://autoplicity.com/products/2093...FelDMgodwgEAOg
http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts/...FYVFMgod_AIAeg
http://www.autoaccessoriesgarage.com/Exhaust/Hedman-Painted-Headers/_Item/_205600012?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Exhaust&ut m_campaign=GoogleProducts&utm_term=Hedman-Painted-Headers&gclid=CJLYouGik7QCFYw-MgodiEkATA
http://www.boosted-racing.com/i-3812...FYZaMgodYWUAQA
This is a similar setup to the one I have on my B18A CRX including the same brand header and muffler. Personally I couldn't have been happier with the throttle response and gains. As for your question about changing the header, you should not have to but it may require a new header pipe and/ or new flanges and/or some basic welding. Also you want to make sure you muffler can accept the flow increases or you'll be creating much unneeded back pressure which is bad. Good Luck.

 

What is your year, make and model?

 

Don't gut it. Not enough back pressure is bad. Too much back pressure is bad. Do you think that the OEM would design an engine that had too much/not enough back pressure from the factory? With stock internals, leave it be.

 

1987 civic 1500 sedan

 

ive heard of 2 strokes needing back pressure because they dont have valves and it will cause them to run too lean but ive never heard of this with 4 stroke motors. doesnt really make much since because alot of people run straight pipes on their trucks,cars, and 4 stroke motocycles. not saying your wrong, just saying ive never heard that before and its got me really wondering now haha

 

if someone knows where to get a good header that would work too. nothing bigger than 2 inch collector though. i dont think i could fit 3 inch up under my car haha dont wanna scrape a good exhaust system on road bumps and curbs

 

gutting your cat is not the bst thing to do..

you will get more 'burble gurble' in your exhaust note, more backfires.. (which are both ok) but you will also get more raspy farty sound that is caused by turbulence from the pipes going from one diameter (2") to the hollow cat (~3-4") then back to 2" diameter of the B-pipe. This turbulence not only affects the soundwaves but also slows the flow of exhaust gasses - this is why the 'test pipes' have a constant diameter.

you're also polluting the environment MUCH more than if u ran a cat, even on a modified engine. have you ever driven behind a car with no cat ? it smells BAD and you can tell it's that hurty kind of gasses. Plus you will get a buildup of carbon **** over your back bumper - this is a dead giveaway to Environmental Police etc. and here in Australia it's a $10,000 fine for driving without a cat.