Aftermarket Header Question

[mike100]

Loud is fun for a car you only drive on Saturdays, but loud mufflers don't have the nickname "cop-callers" for nothing.

many of us have gone back to stock-ish pipe sets, installed cut-outs, or done the vacuum operated NPP muffler flaps to help make the car pleasant when you have to drive somewhere farther than 30 minutes away.

[WARP TEN]

Catalytic converters do reduce the intensity of the sound. Don't know by how many decibels but others have opined about a 20% reduction sound. I went a slightly different route in that I have SW headers with no cats (no more emissions testing for these cars in Illinois) backed by a stock 95 exhaust. Very livable and of course no drone. Somewhat louder than it would be with cats but probably too quiet for many in our group. Great for long stints in the car, like when I am, say, driving to Bowling Green. When I need to, I solve my "need for noise" and add back the roughly ten horsepower that the mufflers cost me with electric cutouts in front of the mufflers. I can dial in whatever sound lever I want. After trying a half dozen different exhaust systems over two cars and about 20 years, I like this setup best. But as Marc Haibeck points out, I have a child's span of attention when it comes to exhaust systems so who knows what might be next--Bob

[rkreigh]

Haibeck should love u for changing your mind, each time you do he gets paid.

I don't know that the high flow cats affect sound much at all. the LSV "ate the centers out" and last time I pulled the exh we finished the job and hollowed out the "cat shells"

didn't really notice it get much louder at all which surprised me.

but I agree with Bob, a nice "reasonable" system with cut outs for those times you want to let the mighty lion roar is best of both worlds

I'm sticking with my B&B with x pipe and "cat shells" for now. I'm thinking about putting a c6 "flapper tip" on the exhaust and upgrading to a less restrictive muffler (2nd gen B&B is more quiet, but at a restriction "cost") for so far the throaty sound all the time and spending less $$$ has won out.

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by rkreigh

Haibeck should love u for changing your mind, each time you do he gets paid.

I don't know that the high flow cats affect sound much at all. the LSV "ate the centers out" and last time I pulled the exh we finished the job and hollowed out the "cat shells"

didn't really notice it get much louder at all which surprised me.

but I agree with Bob, a nice "reasonable" system with cut outs for those times you want to let the mighty lion roar is best of both worlds

I'm sticking with my B&B with x pipe and "cat shells" for now. I'm thinking about putting a c6 "flapper tip" on the exhaust and upgrading to a less restrictive muffler (2nd gen B&B is more quiet, but at a restriction "cost") for so far the throaty sound all the time and spending less $$$ has won out.

Yes Marc loves me now but in my youth I used to do all the exhaust system changes myself. Spent a lot of time on my back under the car on jack stands. Lots of great memories. One time when I was having a particularly hard time getting a Borla to fit together, my then high school age daughter studying in the room above the garage called my wife in and said, "Mom, you should hear what dad is saying!" Never used a Borla again and did my best to explain to said daughter that I would never use such words in public but I thought no one could hear me. But you are right my current system is one way to get the "best of both worlds" in terms of sound and performance.--Bob

[RICKYRJ1]

I like the the cut out option QTP & Dougs make a nice set. The QTP has a system with a remote control

[Gunny]

time to chime in ...

after talking w/Warp Ten as well as listening to his setup I decided to go that route. Since I bought the 90 over 10 years ago I've been searching for the "perfect" exhaust (for me) and, through the years, have run the OEM, Borlas (two times), Corsa, and 95 OEM, some w/cats, some w/out, some w/OEM manifolds/cats, some w/SW headers. Some would be "perfect" in certain ways but not quite in other ways. And on and on. My exhaust for the past 2 years has been a 96 LT4 system, SW headers and no cats. I swore I was through modding/experimenting until I heard Bob's setup. Added QTP cutouts in late summer and drove the Z to Haibeck in late September for some additional porting, secondary deletion, and his tuning magic. Wow, what a difference !!! Marc dynoed with cutouts closed and open ... the difference is 15HP at the wheels and the sound difference is quite incredible. Best of all, you can "tune" the sound to your taste by opening the cutouts only as much as wanted. This is probably as "perfect" an exhaust (for me) that I will ever have on my Z.

[Johnny5]

If anyone can PM me a sound clip or PM me and send me cell phone a clip Id love to hear SW with Cats to corsa cat back. I have clips of my corsa and play it everytime i get separation anxiety. I love the sound and don;t want to change that if i don't enjoy the header loudness for an additional 22 HP.

[We Gone]

I have SW long tube headers, when I first put them on it was without cats. It is loud and had a very tinny sound that I did not like... So I put the hi-flow cats on and it now sounds great. I could not tell any difference in power but I don't drive that hard.

With cats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=delqgeptb2A

[dredgeguy]

Originally Posted by Johnny5

If anyone can PM me a sound clip or PM me and send me cell phone a clip Id love to hear SW with Cats to corsa cat back. I have clips of my corsa and play it everytime i get separation anxiety. I love the sound and don;t want to change that if i don't enjoy the header loudness for an additional 22 HP.

I have a Corsa exhaust and just ordered SW headers with the SW cats. They are being coated now and I should have them in about 2 weeks so will be able to let you know.