I live in Canada where they don't really do emissions tests. Anyway I just got back from a muffler shop and my cat is getting plugged on my Canadian 5th gen EX (LX in US), plus I was asking on a price for him to fabricate an exhaust for me. The owner is a big stock car racer has his own trailer like nascar where the cars go up on top and everything. Anyway he knows a thing or 2 about exhaust and performance. So what he is proposing is that he can make me a 2.25" aluminized pipes with a magnaflow stainless muffler. He is also proposing for me to remove my cat alltogether. Then I said what about my safety inspection. He said just bring it to me and I will do it no problem. However he doesn't have a mandrel bender, but because he makes all his exhaust for his stock cars, he has a really good bender which doesn't crimp the pipe that much at all. He is quite confident that I will only be loosing 0.5hp from the bends over a mandrel bent. But then removing my cat is going to give me a lot more. And the price for all this is only going to be around $450.00 Canadian, installed. So what do you guys all think so I go for the cat removal? Also he can get me a header for around $250 but I think it is a Ractive. Any thoughts on that? I do have an air intake and NGK Platinum plugs but am looking forward to some more juice. Thanks,

Magna77

 

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Don't do this. . .You're gonna run into a number of problems.

1. Your Exhaust O2 sensor plugs into the catalytic converter. Your system can't work correctly without a properly functioning O2 sensor and the ECU is designed to take information from that specific location.

2. You're not going to see a significant performance gain in a 5th gen accord by running a straight pipe in your exhaust. You might even see a significant drop in torque when you lose the back pressure created by the Cat in your exhaust.

3. For 450, you could get a really nice mandrel bent system like DC Sports or Apexi WS. Look around, there are fantastic deals to be had.

4. For your header, check this and other honda boards. You can get a used DC header (I have a 4-2-1 stainless in my 5th gen and the gains and throttle response were very noticeable) for less than what you'd pay for new Ractive pipes. Alternatively, you could upgrade the quality of your product significantly by spending another 100 on the header.

Anyways, the point is that you shouldn't cheap out. For what you are paying, you could get some excellent aftermarket products and you'd be running at a higher performance level without pumping CO2 into the air.

 

The cat. is a fairly intrigal part to the exhaust. Remember that Hondas are set up pretty tight from the factory already.

I also believe you can get better deals on really good aftermarket for probably the $450 or not much more.

If you replace the cat., you could maybe look to do a high-flow (and get some decent power gains with all the other mods. you're talking about doing); but I would not remove it.

 

But what about the fact that my cat is probably plugged a bit. This guy mentioned that a lot of the headers and whatnot for imports now are all built in the same plant and have different stamping on them. Plus let's remember I am talking Canadian dollars. I have yet to see a price on a Greddy catback exhaust or even Magnaflow for under $650.00 Canadian.

 

You don't need a cat! Cut that puppy out and get a straight pipe put in, just make sure it has an O2 sensor bung in it. Then you can use two spark plug non-foulers to space the O2 sensor out from the pipe and it won't throw a code at all. Clean emissions are for hippies.

Here's a link for the spark plug non-fouler fix.

http://www.honduh.com/showthread.php?t=710

The mod originated from WRX and Evo guys that cut their cats but were getting the gay P0420 code. It works well, is on my car.

 

IMO the cat doesnt restrict enough airflow(unless boosted)to really make any kind of diffrence. The only reason i say that is because i removed mine and only noticed two things, one the exhaust tip now gets EXTREAMLY hot, dont get me wrong, it got hot before but now if you barely touch it, it will burn you(no i didnt reach down with my hand, i was sitting on the trunk and my leg touched it like it has so many times before but this time it burned me right through my pants leg), and two my exhaust was ALOT louder. But one thing i didnt notice was a power increase, the car didnt seem any faster or any slower.

Bottom line if the cat going bad(and you dont have emissions) just leave it out. It certianly wont hurt the car as long as you do what Maukio said. And i believe if you have a 94-95 you should only have one O2 sensor anyway, so then it really doesnt matter.

 

Yeah I think I will leave it out for now and if I find it way too loud then I will put one back in. I agree that it should at very least not make any difference, but as far as i hurting performance by taking it out so long as I still have the O2 sensor then I can't really see it. I mean otherwise why would companies have any market for a "high flow" converter. If better flow through your converter made things worse nobody would buy one.
I talked to the garage again and mentioned the O2 sensor and he said not to worry he has a o2 nut that he welds to the pipe drills a hole and basically sets it up the exact same as it was with the converter. Thanks all for your opinions. I just hope that it won't be too loud while driving steady highway speeds.
Oh and on another note does anyone have a magnaflow or any type of muffler on an accord with a dual 3" tip on it? If so how does it fit. Or am I better off going with a standard single 4"?

Magna77