cat back exhausts have no legal issues with carb, you are not affecting anything emissions related.

 

so with these mods are u getting 20 to the wheels or crank?

 

A VAFC is not CARB legal so if you want to stay carb legal and gain power you might as well keep saving and SC it. I am an NA guy and I dont like to say that, but if you get reffed any ECU altering device(F-Con, VAFC, E-Manage, AEM EMS, etc.) will be an immediate fail.

CARB approved I/H/E is your best bet, but will not get you 20HP to the wheels. It might actually make less power with out fuel tuning (making it not smoggable... well legally )

 

You would know all about that, Johnny JDM.

 

There are a lot of posts like this. "I want a good exhaust that gains power, but is cheap and quiet and CARB legal." That exhaust doesn't really exist, and if it did, it would be flying off the shelves. To get HP, you need a more free-flowing exhaust. That means bigger piping, no resonator, and a more free-flowing muffler. Those all make it louder. Also, much of the gains from an exhaust can only be realized with a test pipe, which is not CARB legal, or street legal for that matter (it also makes it even louder). A 70mm single header-back exhaust makes the most power (maybe 15hp if it's well designed). It's also really freaking loud. If I were you, I would go intake, 70mm single exhaust with test pipe and silencer (swap out TP for smog tests), tuned VAFC (easily swapped out for smog), and krank vents. K&N short ram can be had for $100 on ebay. Exhaust should run you about $600 between piping, muffler, and fab cost. Invidia test pipe costs $89 at my local shop. Figure $350 for VAFC and tune. Krank vents are like $110. For under $1,300 I can guarentee you will hit the 220whp mark, and in 20 minutes you can make your car CARB legal again.

 

[quote name='toofast4yalll' date='Mar 20 2007, 03:54 PM']If I were you, I would go intake, 70mm single exhaust with test pipe and silencer (swap out TP for smog tests), tuned VAFC (easily swapped out for smog), and krank vents.

 

What is a krank vent ?

 

Doing simple NA mods like this aren't going to hurt your motor at all. I wouldn't recommend anything radical like FI or a wet shot on a high mileage motor, but mods like this are no problem. Also, I calculated my gas mileage the other day b/c I completely ran out of gas (DOH!) and I got 31.8 mpg with about half of that being city driving. You would be amazed at what an intake/exhaust will do for your gas mileage. If you want to do a custom exhaust, make sure you go to a reputable shop. Ask other guys in your area who they take their cars to. I looked at 4 or 5 exhausts done by Slow Motion before I chose them to fabricate mine. Don't take it to some hack job because a custom exhaust can make a lot of power, but it can also lose a lot of power or have leaks if done improperly.