Exhaust plans w/ lots of questions

Update: Okay so 3" piping now.

So I'm in the process of purchasing a new exhaust. I had some questions that I can't seem to find the answer to. I need to remain as legal as I can because of smog in my state (pa). I know some of this has been covered before and I've read it but their are so many options for exhaust it's rather confusing.

I plan to go with evo o2 housing, a downpipe that mates to that 3 inch. A 3 hi flow cat (magnaflow?) and then custom piping back to 2 mufflers (dual muffler). I understand that dual muffler serves no performance gains I like the look, call me rice whatever you want I don't care. I plan to go with ebay mufflers.

Any advice for company that sells a non o2 eliminating downpipe relatively cheap? I was looking at rre but I think theres is an eliminating downpipe.

Magnaflow cat It seems the "standard" and reasonably priced. Unless someone else has a suggestion. I plan to flange it so it could be switched for a test pipe later if I ever need to.

I need to keep the rear o2. I don't want to eliminate it. I can't seem to find out where this goes. Does it go into the back of the cat or can it just go on the piping after the cat? If so I can just have a shop weld a bung for me right?

Are ebay mufflers okay or crap? I want to go dual muffler dual tip on each. I liked shpyders setup. Any length restrictions for the mufflers. I haven't got under my car yet to measure it's crazy cold out.

I apologize for the barrage of already asked questions. I understand it's all personal preference but I've never changed an exhaust before so I don't have much preference wise. I've done the research and everyone spouts different answers. Alot of the sites they link to now don't exist so those opinions do me no good.

I run a 16g evo3 turbo right now, un-tuned and I think the stock exhaust is really really restricting my possibilities. I have link and some 800cc injectors to go in this summer along with a front mount (I still currently run stock side mount). So my setup is currently really hindered.

You're running a e316G, plan to tune with link, 880 injectors, and a FMIC, but are going to stay with 2.5" piping? That's restricting as hell, and plain retarded if you ask me. Throw your plans in the garbage if you want to keep the performance level up as far as possible, because that 2.5 is restricting, whether you put "dual tips" on it or not. If you think it looks "cool", then go ahead with your plans, but a regular 3" turbo-back (at LEAST catback) will be a much bigger upgrade and allow for much more exhaust flow.

I didn't realize it would be that big of a difference. I'll edit my original post to reflect 3" then. I was looking around (got some dead time at work) some more and the piping isn't all that expensive. I originally didn't want to go over 800 for an exhaust but it looks like that won't be possible with labor by the muffler shops around here.

My worry was wouldn't get a downpipe that would be 3" all the way through most I saw dropped to 2.5. Isn't that going to restrict it anyway or it doesn't matter if it's just a short section of it and it opens up after?

My other mistake was I can only find magnaflow cat in 3" anyway.

$800 for an exhaust sytem?!? That's insane. Custom ones usually run around the $500 range, but $800 is just wack. Slowboy has a 3" downpipe from Megan racing for $150, and I believe Buschur sells a 3" dp too, but I'd have to check.

EDIT: Yeah, Buschur sells a 3" mandrel bent dp, but it's $300. I'd go with the Megan one.

I was figuring about 200 for dp, 100 for each muffler (200ish), cat for 130. Right there I was at 500ish without hangers or extra piping and labor.

With megan, I read there were fitment problems with the fwd versions a bit back. Some people reported they fixed them, some people said no they still had problems.

Thanks for the info.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99-DSM-Talon-Tsi-Eclipse-GST-3-Turbo-Back-Exhaust_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33630QQihZ007QQ itemZ170078474078QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
I would say this is perfect for you.

Thanks so much I'll have to watch that auction. It can be installed now and always modded later if I'd need to but that has most of the stuff I need. Thanks so much!

That's a perfect exhaust for someone like yourself, especially since you're still running the stocker.

The cat should be on the downpipe when you buy it. As long as you have a cat in your system beit high flow or not, you will pass smog. If you can pass smog on a highflow cat here in CA I guarantee you can pass in PA.

gr8. I just literally last week got smogged for this next year in pa. So I don't have to put up with it again till next feb but I want to make sure I do it right. I don't want to be tearing off my exhaust in February when it's cold. I went and installed what I could this past summer and just waiting on a few parts but the exhaust needed to get changed. Once it's on I can always go and swap out the end of it. So I'm going to sit on this auction and see where it goes.

The downpipe that RRE offers comes with the cat eliminator and they also sell them with the cat on there. The down pipes usually start at 2.5 because when the exhaust is really hot it flows just fine at 2.5 there is a short write up on RRE's website about it.

this might be another dumb question but considering I have the evo 3 o2 housing sitting here now (It just shipped) is the dp in that auction (I believes it mates to the stock downpipe) compatible? The angle of the evo 3 o2 housing looks slightly diff from stock but I can't tell so well without really removing the heat sheild on my car.

The angle on them is differant

Here is a picture off of RRE's website
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/parts/evo/evoO2-differentangle2.jpg

okay gr8 thanks. I couldn't find anything but RRE had mentioned they had 2 diff downpipes and I wasn't sure. If I can get this cheap it's still worth it to me I guess.

Yeah from what I understand it puts a little more stress on the flex section