is catback worth it??

i was wondering if it was worth the extra cash to put in a catback vs. just putting in headers and a muffler. Will you see very much more hp with catback? I just think maybe i should save the money from the catback and put in a head instead. comments?

You won't see much more power. Your better off custom bending your own 2 1/4" from the manifold back. IMO

The only real advantage of a purchased full catback is sound-they design the system to give a certain tone. With a custom exuast system the tone tends to sound somewhat like a lawnmower, but its much cheaper. Be sure to use mandrel bent piping and you can take the links to a welders shop. They'll do the work for you for about a quarter of the price of a full catback exuast. The problem with bending your own exaust is you get flanges (i think thats what theyre called) in the bends and they restrict exuast flow.

A full cat-back will always be better than just adding a muffler, since it'll allow the engine to exhale easier due to the larger piping of a cat-back.

Stock exhaust piping = "1.5 - "1.75
Cat-back piping (for N/A application) = "2.25 - "2.5

Larger is usually better. ;)

yea but like my girl friend says whoaa to big is bad! i hear that alot ehh

ZING!

(hes talking about the size of his penis, for those of you who didnt pick it up)

:lol:

ok,im gonna go with dc 4-2-1 header and apexi n1 muffler off e-bay. sound good? (the name i started the thread with is a typo, this is my real name)

well if you're getting them off ebay

make sure they're not "dc sports STYLE" or "apexi n1 STYLE"

Keyword: Style

Style = knockoff

if u do custom piping make sure its mandrel bent and not crush bent. there are tons of exhaust for integras. so its hard to say which is better. but just stay away from cheap mufflers. Apexi N1 muffler and JIC Titanium mufflers aint bad though. and as far as headers go u cant go wrong w/ Dc Sports headers.

alright thanks for the help.

The only real advantage of a purchased full catback is sound-they design the system to give a certain tone.
Not even fucking close. A full cat back allows more exhaust gases to find their way out of the system faster due to a larger diameter. Muffler design, cat, and resonator determine the sound of an exhaust system, not whether or not it is a catback.
The problem with bending your own exaust is you get flanges (i think thats what theyre called) in the bends and they restrict exuast flow.
A flange is the part the bolt goes through that bolt it to something. Kinks, crush's, bends, whatever are what restricts exhaust flow.

If you go through the head loss calcuations, you stand to gain about 10 - 15% flow through the exhaust by lowering the pipe surface roughness, smoothing the 45 degree bends, and selecting the proper diameter to produce laminar flow (bigger is NOT better). The muffler, however, has a more significant effect (which I can't quantify since I don't have a loss coefficient for the stock muffler). I would guess that an improved muffler would increase the flowrate and additional 10 to 25%. Note that this is flowrate through the pipe, and though proportional to engine output, is not a 1:1 relationship (you won't get 20% more horsepower with 20% greater flow through the exhaust).