Update, exhaust!

So I wasn't even planning on getting exhaust this summer... but the deal fairy found me a guy trying to go back to stock (not sure why). I bought the following from him:
Apexi 3'' downpipe. 2.5 before flex, $150
Apexi Dunk 3'' catback. $50 + my stock catback
I tried to test it out a little on the way home, but no less than 2 minutes after I pulled away from his house, a cop comes up behind me. The intersection was being worked on (midnight) and after 5 minutes of idling, the cop turns on his lights. I was a little pissed that I would get pulled over so damn soon, but it turns out that he went into reverse and didn't want to wait. I felt relieved that he wasn't going to hear me drive any higher than idle. Also, there was a cop on the median which I happened to pull up RIGHT NEXT TO while waiting for so long. 5 minutes later I put it in reverse to go into a parking lot, hoping that this is legal...

On the long road on my side of town, about 5 miles from home, I gave it some throttle through the top of 3rd gear and shift into 5th to cruise. All of a sudden a cop in the oncoming lane flips his lights and I pull over a little to the right for good measure. He passes me, so I don't know what he was doing, but again a little angry about a ticket 20 minutes from installation. I told myself if I saw that cop in my lane come over the hill about 1/2 mile back, I'd turn off into a neighborhood and hide out for a bit.

I spent the next 5 minutes coming home trying to make out if oncoming cars were police, and thinking about how I have to wake up in 5 hours for work. Finally, the car pulls harder in top end, and is pretty loud. I'm going to get someone to drive it while I listen from a following car to get an idea.

Installation was pretty simple. I don't mean to say it was quick, having to swap full exhausts, but nothing difficult about it. Like usual I spent most of the time holding something or pushing something at full strength, which was frustrating. Overall, exhaust bolts are usually extremely difficult, pulled the guy's rear o2 wires off of the car by accident, and my arms and neck are sore. Good thing we only had 1 jack.

So I happened to get an exhaust for less than I thought. I'm really on my way to 12's for $1500 or less. I might buy an AVC-R high/low EBC from the same guy for $75 bucks. Hate messing with the manual.

I'll take some pictures tomorrow. I don't have any means to capture sound so use your imagination. I had two people try to race me on the way home, when there was like 5 cars total on the road.

If you don't take that AVC-R, remember your fellow DSMers. ;)

Might be a good ivestment to go buy a scanner, i bought one for about $300 new. But its saved my ass a couple of time, we were driving down the street where we live, right after we hacked off the muffler with a sawzall, and one of our neighbors called in the noise.....WTF!

Nice pick up on the exhaust JoeWagon! And btw $75 for an AVC-R is an amazing deal--is it one of the digital ones or an old analog one? Either way, an ebc for less than $100 is sweet!

I'm looking into exhaust options now. Like you, Joe, I don't want to spend a lot...$200 would be alright, but I am not going to spend $500 or more on an N1 or something. First I have to figure out what the hell is overheating my car :(

Out of curiosity, what are your goals for the talon in the end? Or have you not decided just yet ;)

The AVC-R is the analog one, which is perfectly fine with me. It won't be blinging out in the open anyway. Going to set it and hide it since the 'ol T25 doesn't really have that many options.

I have a cobra radar detector, but it doesn't pick up much. There are few speed traps here, mainly on the highway out of town. I really would like a scanner too.

I consider a $400-500 turboback still a great deal, since some retail nearer to $1000 bucks for the full deal. I'm sure anyone who is looking can find a reliable seller willing to part with a used exhaust for way under the price of a new catback. Good deals come by every now and then, even up here in the middle of nowhere. I plan on holding out on certain mods for deals, but after the basic universal mods they might be harder to find.

My short term goal is to run 12's for under $1800 which is often quoted for 95 GSXracer. Other than a cheap $100-200 14b turbo, I would like to avoid the mid range turbos and go straight for the gold - tdo6h 20g or the common 50 trim T3/T4. I might not get a 255HP pump to avoid getting an FPR, but I hope to have DSMlink instead of Kevin's AFC/datalogger combo, so large injectors will come sooner than later. If I was at the right stage on my car, I would pick up Kevin's freshly rebuilt 'M14', 430whp on pump gas sounds like it would suit me well. Of course I wouldn't see that kind of power for a while, but why not go big the first time? I just want a fast street car. 1/4 mile times aren't my goal, just a measure of how fast my street car will be. I'm not interested much in race gas or stripping the car down, because I wouldn't have that advantage if I was demonstrating horsepower to a V8. I'm looking into propane injection and how it's a cheap way to reduce knock. Less knock means more boost, timing and power.

I would appreciate any info from someone who knows about scanners, as to how many channels/how good of a unit is really necessary. Hand-held mounted in the car would be nice, but I don't think I would take it out very often, so an in car unit would suit me well enough.

edit, I'm constantly amazed at how many specific skills/areas different users can offer. It's awesome to know who to ask on a specific question.

sweet pick up! jump all over that AVC-R too!

propane injection? i thought that was for diesels

It's more popular on diesels, but it's one of a few options that are available for DSM, all having slightly different effects. Water injection, Propane injection, Alcohol injection, and of course Nitrous.
From what I've read, Alcohol>Propane>water, but propane should cost less, last longer, and need fewer parts to install. Pressurized tank means no pumping liquid.

www.importpoweronline.com. Been used in cars for some time, even DSMs. I ordered my BJs intake with nitrous bungs, in hopes of trying out a direct port propane injection setup some day :) I have been putting it off because I'm not getting knock. But at 55 lbs/min flow it seems that 4 degrees of knock is enough to cook the motor on pump gas. I'm at 60 psi in 3 cylinders on motor number 6 :D