so i just purchased an 03. it already has a no name cia with a k&n filter on it, first f1 headers, and a custom dual 2.5" exhaust with vibrant mufflers. it also appears that there is some sort of silencer about 3" in diameter before the duals split off. the goofy part is that the guy who built the exhaust left the stock cat in and welded the pipes straight to the outlet side.

as for now i'm not too concerned with hp gains, the car is my dd and as of now, it's way too loud. just wondering if anyone's ran header back stock exhaust with custom headers, what they sound like, and how backwards of an idea is this????

in the future i'd be interested in going with a hf cat or even test pipe coupled with an ecu upgrade or piggyback system, but for now i have more research to do in that area.

 

I don't think a header with an OEM cat & cat-back would be backward thinking in your case, I mean the car already came with the header, so why toss it? The header won't make much of a difference in the way of sound, maybe just a little. You can probably pick up an oem exhaust on the cheap and just mate that with your header. It will quiet it down for now until you decide what future mods you want to do. The header with a stock exhaust probably won't yield you any power gains over the OEM header, but hey, it's already there and is saves you 10 lbs or so.

There are endless exhaust combinations,just search around.

 

Yeah, that's good advice. It'll give me some time to do some ride alongs with other owners.

So, I'm assuming the stock exhaust will not be free flowing enough to truly compliment a header/hfc combo. If its only a few HP difference the sound deadening qualities of the stock exhaust would be wort it to me.

It sux though, I love the way it sounds when I have it at wot, but it's just too much driving around town. I'm assuming since the cat back is custom there was no R&D concerning making it quiet, haha.