So, I have an enormous exhaust leak on my muffler, so what'd I do? Unbolted it.

I'm left with the y-pipe and cats collecting into....well...nothing.
Here's the result: video-2012-01-09-15-35-27.mp4 video by honda50r - Photobucket

I dig it for now. Unfortunately, I'm throwing multiple fuel/air ratio codes (1179,1193, etc) which leads me to think my cats are bad. Which would explain my lackluster fuel mileage and faint "rumbling" noise that happens under slight acceleration. I'm thinking about just throwing in some NRP Hi-Flows from Paul and continue the straight pipe to the back quarter panel. Thoughts?

It doesn't drone as bad as I thought it would either, sounds fairly nice, too

 

Sounds beefy.

Glad you had your 12-pack of Dr. Pepper just in case you got parched while filming

 

How much did DP pay for that product placement? lol

Mine had a flowmaster on it....yeah a flowmaster ha ha. The previous owner put it on there. My wife hated it until all the rednecks stated complementing the sound. ha ha

I'm surprised yours isn't louder. Maybe your cats are clogged a bit.

 

So those would affect sound, my bad cats?

 

Definitely, cats will quiet things down quiet a bit when they are clean. The more they are clogged the quieter it will get. I'm not sure if it will screw with the ECU or not but if you don’t have emissions there (I don't think you do) then I'd think about gutting them or replacing with a straight pipe.

 

We don't. I would love to remove them, because they're giving me 10 MPG and rattling under accerlation. But I can't stand Check Engine lights on either.

 

yeah but dude, it's not just your cats that are giving you 10 mpg it also has something to do with the 2" lift you're running and the 265's id be willing to venture. Bumpers aren't terribly light either. As it is, the general consensus is that these things are good for an AVERAGE of 13-14mpg stock. So you're not losing that much

FWIW re: the straight pipes, i say go for it, but if you're gonna do it, do it right. Run it out the back over the rear axel and have it turn out and exit through the bottom of the rear quarter panel, or through the bottom of a custom bumper (excuse to buy one). also, i'm sure you know, that if the exhaust terminates before the furthest rearward opening windows, then the car can't be smogged strett legal

 

I'm sure you've already seen my deCAT thread and video, but I couldn't resist the urge to fire it up momentarily with just headers after I had dropped the Y-pipe. It sounded like a nasty race car and left my grandfather shaking his head

 

I did the same thing. It does get annoying on those longer trips though.

 

Sounds sick. I would leave it that way, but pipe it all the way to the rear.