hello all,

does anyone know the stock exhaust diameter on a 95-99 legacy ls 2.2l? as far as i know its 2.25" but i'm not sure. i want to upgrade to a larger more free-flowing exhaust. i was thinking about going to 2.5" but i may want to turbo it eventually so what would you guys suggest as far as diameter size and highflow cat vs. catback if there is a difference...

-mike

 

I suggest custom straight pipes 2.5 is good, that is how big my borla was for my other car. 3 wouldn't hurt if you are going turbo. that is what my friend has on his wrx.

 

are straight pipes legal? how much did they run you? i am probably going to go 2.5"... that does mean that the cats are still in there, or are there no cats at all?

 

Oh, you have cats. That's why aftermarket stuff is offered in 'Cat-back' versions to maintain emission legality. If you go with custom 'Cat-back', you should not have to worry about your cats. In CT, you have to make sure you maintain your emissions compliance. I know when I was living there, it was pretty tough trying to maintain compliance.

I think by 'straight pipes', he means no bends in the intermediate pipe and no resonator. If you run true 'straight pipes', your car will sound like crap and you'll probably lose some power. Just run a good aftermarket muffler like Flowmaster and you'll be fine.

Finn

 

another muffler which may be worth looking at is Borla. I bought a Borla cat-back for my my ford..yes it is a totally different kind of car, but the quality and the 1Million mile warranty is great. Plus Borla offers a unique sound kind of like masculine rice. My two-cents.

Flowmaster is a darn good brand too. We just put one on my friends F-150 and it sounds great!

 

when I said straight pipes I don't actually mean true straight pipes. I went to a metal worker and made my own 2.5" diameter mandrel bent pipes...no resonator..I hollowed out the cat so at least it looked like I hade one, and ran it through my old borla muffler. I did the job well..shaved some time off my track times but this was with a bigger engine..I would think with the 4-cyl. motor mani-back and cams would give you the best sound you were going for...cams make such a difference. Check out Cobb Racing.

 

i think i need to read up on this more. does a "cat-back" go from the header/exhaust manifold back? i am really thinking about going with the borla cat-back. what other suggestions do you guys have? i like the look of the more round mufflers (fart cannons) than the more stock looking ones like borla, but whatever works the best i guess. is there any real difference? i noticed some cat-backs come with the stock looking one while others come with the round one. is it even necessary to replace the stock pipes or will a high flow muffler with my existing cats and pipes provide sufficient gains in exhaust flow and hp? and can someone tell me the difference between a high flow exhaust and a catback? and yea i do want to stay legal although emissions in ct right now is not in service but i dont want to be pleasantly surprised once the state starts it up again god knows when.

-mike

 

all right cat-back means from your catalytic converter back..the reason stock piping sucks is because it has pinches in the metal the diameter of the pipe does not stay true which is why people like mandrel bent piping. this means the piping retains its diameter the whole length of the pipe. Now to be honest cat-back exhaust itsn't really going to that big of a difference other than sound. Now if you get headers, highflow cat, and cat-back exhaust you will notice a much bigger difference. Also to gain more hp and smooth out the sound of your exhaust I suggest cams. On top of this..since you are moving more air out you need to get more air so it would be logical to get a cold air intake while you're at it. I like to go all or none...I bought the whole deal when I had my Probe...now I am saving up for Cobb's power package which has it all. If you just want sound with a ricy look just get a fart cannon. it doesn't matter what other people think, but how you like your car.

 

i already have a rallitek intake in so that's taken care of. i already know i am going with the borla gen. IV header, that is a definate. i was going to do that before i get an exhaust. is it true in the stock exhaust there's 3 cats? someone had told me that and maybe they were full of ****. do you think it would be cheaper to get a custom exhaust than to buy say, a borla catback or scoobysport? i am definately not just after the sound. i'm basically going what you said "all or nothing". so with a hi-flow cat, and catback would i have one cat, two, or three? these may be stupid questions but i really don't know.

 

I would imagine if you buy the highflow cat you would have one..as for going custom vs. borla I would go with borla for two reasons. 1 I know it sounds good 2 it has a Million mile warranty! How can you beat that. I loved my borla..it was the only thing on the car I loved. I highly recommend it. As for the three cats I think that is true.