I'm in California and for the time being trying to stay CARB legal. Does anyone know of a h pipe on the market that I could install after the cats. While I know it's technically not legal I want the h pipe sound and have a suspicion that it may go unnoticed at check. I just can't bring myself to buy the $2k magnaflow mid pipes.
California H-Pipes
- Thread starter SHDOPNY
- Start date
cobrajeff96
Well-Known Member
Trying to keep it just quiet enough to pass a dB check?
ttocs
Forum's #1 poster
California emissions judging by the location on his profile.
This was a LONG time ago in what seems like a galaxy far far away when I was living in phoenix - One day surfing around on craigslist I found a guy advertising that catted magnaflow pipe for $75. I wasn't sure if it was a scam or if it was just beat up that bad but when I picked it up it literally had one scratch on it as it was hardly used. I jumped on that one for sure but that was before they got todays prices for them and it was still a deal.
This was a LONG time ago in what seems like a galaxy far far away when I was living in phoenix - One day surfing around on craigslist I found a guy advertising that catted magnaflow pipe for $75. I wasn't sure if it was a scam or if it was just beat up that bad but when I picked it up it literally had one scratch on it as it was hardly used. I jumped on that one for sure but that was before they got todays prices for them and it was still a deal.
RAU03MACH
Legend
so the way i did a friend of mine
we put speedy exhaust clamp sleeves on each side off the pipes
and the h pipe was in the center
we set the cats up the same way to remove a replace when inspections come to in
we homemade ours
we put speedy exhaust clamp sleeves on each side off the pipes
and the h pipe was in the center
we set the cats up the same way to remove a replace when inspections come to in
we homemade ours
ttocs
Forum's #1 poster
in all honesty you are not going to lose much power with high flow cats that would still pass emissions. If you end up having to buy a set with cats the time spent removing/reinstalling isn't worth a hole lot of hp. It will make it louder but your not going to notice it any faster.
I have been lucky with exhaust as I mentioned the magnaflow pipe above. 15 yrs later it finally failed on me and out of curiosity of how much louder it would be and in the name of savings I got a catless pipe, back when they were still easy/cheap to find an off road pipe. After the install it was just louder than I liked and with the side exhaust on a windy day it was amazing how much of it blew right back into the car while at the right stop light, and we have a lot of stoplights here. After doing some searching on marketplace I found a guy selling a set of high-flow cats that were the same size as the pipe I had so I cut it and welded them in place and have been happy since.
I have been lucky with exhaust as I mentioned the magnaflow pipe above. 15 yrs later it finally failed on me and out of curiosity of how much louder it would be and in the name of savings I got a catless pipe, back when they were still easy/cheap to find an off road pipe. After the install it was just louder than I liked and with the side exhaust on a windy day it was amazing how much of it blew right back into the car while at the right stop light, and we have a lot of stoplights here. After doing some searching on marketplace I found a guy selling a set of high-flow cats that were the same size as the pipe I had so I cut it and welded them in place and have been happy since.
I'm not particularly worried about the power gain. I just like the sound of h pipe over x pipe. The custom route sounds like it might be what I need to do. I'm okay with swapping at smog checks but I don't really want to attract CHP attention and get reffed.
cobrajeff96
Well-Known Member
Visit the Car Chemistry site. I've used their chambered baffle inserts for many years now to dial in the amount of noise produced. In Germany they are crazy about dB measurements here. These baffle inserts they sell can be riveted in, screwed in, or welded in (I preferred the welding option, don't need anything coming loose and rattling around). And if you get them, ditch the center cap. If you use the cap to cover the central tube, it will cause big backpressure problems.
ttocs
Forum's #1 poster
hopefully you have the gear to do it all yourself, or are VERY good friends with a custom exhaust shop owner. They have been really cracking down on shops doing work outside of what is legal to the point they are generally too afraid to even consider it with the fines they are giving people even when working on track only cars. Anything bypassing the cats will be in that area of stuff they do not want to get caught doing now.
FWIW, I’m in CA and running the Magnaflow catted X-pipe into Series 40 cat-back muffler kit and I pass smog. Very minimal difference between H and X-pipe except sound. In my case, the 40’s make up for it. ;-)
RAU03MACH
Legend
AVOID the ones at amazon
the sound quality is trash
