This is topic X-PIPE off road vs high flow cats? in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0 (Member # 11418) on :
 
hi i have 87 lx hatch bone stock right now

i was wondering how the x-pipes with highflow cats are vs the off road x-pipes with no cats performance wise is it close enough to compete?

another question. the x pipe with highflow cats does it help take away the smell of the x pipe with no cats?

[ November 13, 2011, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: LiGhTSpEEd 5.0 ]
 
Posted by Nifty50 (Member # 9987) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0:
hi i have 87 lx hatch bone stock right now

i was wondering how the x-pipes with highflow cats are vs the off road x-pipes with no cats performance wise is it close enough to compete?

another question. the x pipe with highflow cats does it help take away the smell of the x pipe with no cats?
The off road pieces will obviously perform better because they allow your exhaust to flow more freely. If you dont have any exhaust leaks you shouldnt be smelling anything exhaust related in the vehicle.
 
Posted by phildog (Member # 1214) on :
 
Might feel a bit of a difference at the top end with the no-cat pipe, but you will get the odor of the unburned hydrocarbons at idle. Even on a brand new car with a cat-delete, the odor is still there. In this ever-tightening emissions state, I would be cautious about deleting the cats on a daily driver.
 
Posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0 (Member # 11418) on :
 
passed smog 2 weeks ago its my daily driver if i had a extra car i wouldnt care i had a few hondas with straight pipes before but kind of sick of smellin the fumes.

but looks like the offroad xpipe are cheaper then the catted xpipe
 
Posted by Catfish (Member # 9529) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0:
passed smog 2 weeks ago its my daily driver if i had a extra car i wouldnt care i had a few hondas with straight pipes before but kind of sick of smellin the fumes.

but looks like the offroad xpipe are cheaper then the catted xpipe
I'm pretty sure state ref is more expensive then some cats.
 
Posted by 209 FIVE.O (Member # 9959) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Catfish:
quote:
Originally posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0:
passed smog 2 weeks ago its my daily driver if i had a extra car i wouldnt care i had a few hondas with straight pipes before but kind of sick of smellin the fumes.

but looks like the offroad xpipe are cheaper then the catted xpipe
I'm pretty sure state ref is more expensive then some cats.
+1 gota love our state
 
Posted by copcar (Member # 10113) on :
 
I have done extensive testing on this subject, both track and dyno. Once the cats "break in" there is hardly any difference between offroad and cat pipes. in fact the largest difference was stock versus ORH and that was only 10 hp. between similar designs the margin was roughly half that. Think about it like this, the difference is only 3%. Track times play this out as well. With a stock cat pipe my car went 12.50 over and over and over again. I ran .501, .507 and .503 if memory serves me correctly. With the ORH on the same day I ran a string of low 12.40's. I would argue that the weight difference made more of a difference than the power. The BEST time my car has run in similar conditions is 12.401 at 109 and that was with a UPR cat X pipe.
 
Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
It's negligible...

All the testing I have seen between 2.5" Off-road and 2.5" catted shows a very small difference. Mostly at peak of a few HP.

I used to not want to sacrifice that few HP, but have changed my tune.

The more power you have the bigger the difference. If you consider an NA car under 350HP, the power difference between the two will be nill.
 
Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 
I can't feel much difference between mid pipes, it's all sound.

fwiw, I have longtubes with no cats and an x-pipe on my truck, and I've never smelled anything.

I'll be putting cats on it soon though, the distributor just didn't have the catted version in stock when I needed them.
 
Posted by ZincYellowGt281 (Member # 9865) on :
 
I noticed a slight difference between cats and no cats. Both were on an h-pipe. Not to mention the sound difference! Just keep your stock midpipe so you can switch off. I have an mrt catted h pipe.

I had to gut the cats off because my car is lowered, everytime I went over a speed bump at school they would hit hard! Regardless of what angle or speed I went at. So I said Fuck it, it still looks like I have cats so that's the only good thing.

[ November 14, 2011, 12:23 PM: Message edited by: ZincYellowGt281 ]
 
Posted by Chavez66 (Member # 9812) on :
 
I didn't notice much of a difference other then the noise, I had a BBK off road H and swapped it out for a Bassani X pipe with high flow cats and the power feels pretty much the same. I think my bassani with the cats sounds a lot better too. With no cats it just sounds raspy and not good imo, and the ticket is not worth it either
 
Posted by warhorse58gt (Member # 7702) on :
 
i have ran both on my 88 when i had it.. both bassani x pipes one with on with out.. the track times were only a couple thousands better with the off road x.. imo it's not worth the hassles to run off road pipe.
 
Posted by LiGhTSpEEd 5.0 (Member # 11418) on :
 
thanks for everyones info
 
Posted by 95gtdrop (Member # 7478) on :
 
youll never feel the diffenence in the seat of your pants. youll hear it, itl be a bit louder. i liked the sound of the hi flow catx over the off road. it acts slightly as a resonator. plus if you get pulled over your more likely to get away from a ticket. ( even though removing any factory mid pipe is illegal in ca) unless you get a cop that knows what there looking for.
 




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