just got done with my y pipe install
took about an hour at the most.

easy install no probs at all! noticed a pretty good power gain, defanitly sounds much better as apposed to the crappy stock y pipe.
Now im wondering about my catback.
i have a custom pressure bent 2.25inch catback with more then a few bends, the guy was a newbie who did the exaust, but i had another shop look at it, they said its fine. and said i wont notice any difference from mandrel bent exaust vs pressure bent exaust.

is that true? i was always under the impression mandrel bent is way better by far, and u do notice a little bit of a gain from pressure bent exaust.

im about to get rid of this catback, but will it be worth the extra bucks to have a mandrel bent catback made or should i stick with a good pressure bend
finnaly, should i go with 2.25 or 2.5inch catback.
I already dont have a cat at all, so its just a straight pipe from the y pipe back.
thanks guys

 

Mandrel bends have better flow then pressure bends...Less restriction...

 

are we talkin a .5hp difference or a upwards to 5-7 hp difference on a madrel bent catback vs pressure bent.

 

man youve got to be kidding... the whole y-pipe is only good for about 10 unless coupled with a better intake. and why would you put a 2.5" y-pipe on with no cat, be concerned with mandrel vs. pressure, and then ask if you should use 2.25" the rest of the way...
im getting cranky time for bed...

 

I ran straight 2.5" crush bent from the cat back

 

There are no real power gains from a catback, the money is better spent on a UDP, Flywheel, ECU, or suspension/brake mods.

and the engines do not flow enough to see noticable gains between a Mandrel or non mandrel. It's nice to get mandrel because they are capable of flowing more, but it's a moot point with stock/lightly modified VG's and even VE's.

If you are itching to do more exhaust work, aside from the y-pipe, the only place you will see noticable power gains is the manifolds.

 

I still have to install my y-pipe

 

it takes a whole 15 minutes, it takes longer to raise and lower the car then actually installing the pipe.



Except you probably have fun with salt out there hunh?

 

i don't get that, the whole point to the y-pipe is to not restrict the air, right? so wouldnt you want to keep the same diameter the rest of the way out?

 

mine looked rusty in a week

 

There simply isn't enough velocity to make a noticeable difference, or atleast one that is worth $100+.

If you have money to burn and want a different sound, go for it, but if you are looking moar powah, look in other places. Granted the sound may give you moar mental powah!


IMHO if you really want to upgrade snag a 5th gen muffler (2000-2001 if you want the cuff, 2002-2003 if you want the seperate tips, 2001 AE muffler if say you have a stillen kit and fill in the muffler cut out so you can be a balla and roll like a 7 series). Otherwise IMHO the GReddy is the perfect muffler, it's very quiet, almost like stock but deeper, very smooth. It behaves just like the stock muffler, no droning, it just sounds perfect. The build quality and fit and finish is nice (the price however, is not). At first I wished it looked like the stock or 5th gen muffler, but it grows on you.

 

I think if you go up to 2.5" diameter, either way (mandrel or crush bent) you are going to get plenty enough flow. I wouldn't really worry too much about it. The difference would be totally negligible on a 3rd gen.

FWIW, I have a Catman y-pipe and a GReddy. I really noticed a difference in performance when I installed the y-pipe. When I installed the GReddy I didn't notice anything but a difference in sound. That was cat-back, all mandrel bent.

The GReddy has a nice sound. It is pretty quiet around town and at low rpm, but when you mash it, the sound is fairly loud. It is also nice because it is still pretty quiet cruising on the freeway. Like MrGone said, no droning with a smooth deep tone. I get a lot of compliments on the sound of it.

 

mmm, nice deep powerful sound yet quiet and smooth enough to hear your music with a sh*tty head unit and speakers. I want one but screw it..I'm not spending money on my car to "add performance" I just want to get it running right OR unless my tranny goes bad and I replace it with 5spd I wont be touching any performance unless I can get it for $100 or less already installed which wont happen.

 

i put on the wsp y-pipe and their hi-flow metalic substrate cat because i had a bad exhaust leak that needed to be fixed. i can't say if the cat added any boost in performance since it went on at the same time. until i put in a cai i don't think ill notice any real gains though. has anybody tried the metalic sub. cat?

 

this year is the first time the car has been in a salt area since 96
the car is rustfree
If I'm going to do it I need to soon, I may be getting another j o b

 

i have a 2.25inch pressure bent catback with an HKS universal muffler.
I did gain a little bit of hp from this setup over the stock muffler and piping. But I do feel a little bit of restriction, im thinking of upgrading and going with 2.5inch piping and buying a new muffler mine is getting old.
Im worried about 2.5 because ive heard you loose a little bit of torque with 2.5piping.
what is tht y pipe size?
what would be the best size? i dont want to loose any torque.

 

Did you put it on a dyno?

Otherwise, I don't think you can really tell a difference in losing or gaining a few hp or ft lbs of torque.