Help me spend my tax return
 

I am planning on using a good portion of my return to finally put some mods on my car. I want to do full exhaust including headers. Basing off of last year I hunk I can budget $1,500. I am pretty sure I want a UEL header, and I don't mind cat less so long as I don't get a CEL. I also don't want to burn out a catted header after a few years...rom what I understand there isnot a big difference in UEL vs EL for power.

I want reasonably loud with no drone. I am a salesman and take calls through the Bluetooth system and would still like to be able to use it.

I would love your suggestions.

Loud with no drone on a 4 cylinder is pretty hard to find. And you're definitely going to get drone if you go UEL and cat less. Your desired setup is pretty much impossible to get something that isn't going to drone AND be loud. I'd go with a Q300 because if you throw on a header and a front pipe, that'll make any exhaust much louder. The Q300 has no drone, so it might still be ok.

I just put on a Q300 with Invidia catted front pipe along with my catless JDL UEL and it is ultra quiet inside the car. All of the noise is outside and behind. Perfect system to let you do phone calls and hear your music while still sounding amazing. 0 drone, looks fantastic, and fitment is perfect.

^ not really.. depends on your catback too

Get some JDL UEL headers and an OFT tune. You shall be pleased.

Is there a big difference in the jdl header vs borla or anything else? I don't mind spending more, buti have heard that there is a really long wait time. I figured I would keep at least 1 cat and a resonated system.

Borla is definitely lower quality and JDLs is definitely higher but each side has their pros and cons.

For JDL their products do take some time to make but you definitely get the best performance gain for UEL headers, they are better than some EL offerings as well. Their quality is top notch though, although you may run into some fitment issues. Only a few people did but it is still something to concider.

Borla is lower quality but cheaper as well. There have been a few issue with these as well. Like the flex joints rattling or leaks and the flanges not being perfect. You will still get gains from these as well.

Both come with lifetime warranties and if anything does happen with JDL you can hit them up and ask for a new one. That is what I did when I noticed the headers touch the oil pan and they are willing to replace them.

Would EL make more power?

This is what I figured. This seems to be one of the best exhausts to put on stuff that would otherwise make other exhausts horrible. Seems to be a great buy.

Uel: open flash header or jdl
El: nameless
Get the 2.5 nameless front/overpipe combo with highflow cat.

When you have those get a tune then decide if you need/want an axleback or just tips or neither. You'll be out of tax return by or before this point.

I'm 99% sure the nameless el will produce the most power of any available header, but we won't know for sure till the end of the week when they publish Dyno figures.

It would but if you are staying NA it shouldn't be that much a difference. Find which you think sounds better and go and buy that exhaust. I personally enjoy the UEL sound. The rest is up to you.

[ame]http://youtu.be/phf07oHkiZs[/ame]

Help me spend my tax return

A legendary night out?

Other than that - cat back, header, tune, etc

Haha, that is always an option...

I've spent about as much on my car as you are looking to spend with your tax refund.

I'm about $1000 into both the Open Flash Tune and their UEL Header...
I'm about $400 into a muffler shop built resonated cat-back ...
I'm about $60 into a drop-in filter and stock intake mod...

I'm currently running the OFT Stage1 tune from Vishnu... will move to the stage2 once the UEL header is installed. Based on my calculations and reviews of similarly modded cars I expect to be around 185whp on 93oct and 200ish on E85.

Once the header is installed and my money is right again - planning on new wheels and tires... and then coil-over & brake upgrades.

I am very happy for the gains thus far and will upgrade to a supercharged solution when I've paid the car off... only 31 more payments! :D