I would wait until you have some more cash to spend. Supposedly the TWE headers bolt up to stock midpipe but that's what I have read on the forums so I have no first hand experience with them. IMHO I would wait until you saved all of your money up and use top notch stuff, buy a nice set of TWE headers, nice Random tech cat.. you'll be happy.

 

i have the borla headers and a random tech cat w/ 5 ziggen cat back and i feel thats a pretty good combo for about the same price, the only thing i wanna tell you guy's is about the random tech cat. when i got the cat it didnt fit. theres about an inch 1/2 of pipe that sticks out from the flange(stock cat has this as well) well this inch of pipe had to be cut because it didnt fit into my exhaust like the stock cat did, just a little heads up for you guys before you buy the cat

 

In my opnion TWE headers are equal length and because of that you will lose some bottom end. I know a while ago I was going to buy the TWE for my 2000 RS but the headers at that time blocked the oil filter, however they may have changed the header configuration. At any rate, I feel that a well thought out exhaust can net you some power gains, look and sound good. I wound up installing Borla headers, Random Tech Cat, a custom made intermediate pipe and a STI V5 axel back exhaust. The power gains were substantial with no loss of low end grunt. I lived with this set up for six months and always felt the STI can was retricting the full potantial of this set up. Yesterday, I installed a JIC titanium catback exhaust and the set up got better in every aspect. The point is, TWE will give you wider band power than the Borlas. But, if you can swing a free flow cat with Borlas and later on when the funds are available for a top notch axelback, I think its money better spent to get power, sound, weight reduction and great looking exhaust.

 

Random Tech are popular with RS owners because its been around a long time and their Version two is even better and Random Techs will bolt up to stock or Borlas.