I am not trying to gain 4.75 horsepower (or whatever) by getting the header, I want to get the boxer rumble, and make my exhaust a hair louder. So my goal with adding a cat to the front pipe would be to replace the primary cat lost by the header switch, and hopefully make it legit.

I hit a mobile inspection stop once in my life when I had my S2000 and got a ticket for no front plate. I think they were targeting no seat-belt and cell phone people. I dont think cops in my area would think to check stuff like that, unless they themselves were savvy with cars and knew what to look for.

You should ideally be looking for a "Catted UEL". Will give you the sound you are looking for, and a slight bump in power. Though you won't be "legal" with that setup, you will pass emissions tests in NJ, and you won't smell so the cops shouldn't have a reason to suspect your exhaust or emissions systems haven't been modded.

Just get a hi-flow catalytic converter or a header with a cat included.

Yea but catted UELs go for close to a grand. I'd rather spend less on a cheaper header and have a front pipe made with high flow cat.

I'm completely catless, and honestly it's a little annoying. It smells. AND it's pretty raspy. I do however, have a high flow catted front pipe on it's way from the guys over at P&L for $299. True 2.5" stainless.

I ran completely catless on my last car, which was a saabaru with jdm sti swap and a rotated gt30 turbo set up 3" turbo back exhaust. LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS if giving it anything over grandma acceleration... never got pulled over and she stunk. But that car was not about luxury after everything I had done to it.

It's your call, I'm going high flow cat because, fuck it... it's only a few whp..

I went HFC, and I'm wishing I just went the straight pipe route. Still smelly, the HFC does little to nothing to disguise the fact that I'm missing the primary cat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Another thing to consider is you might be voiding your insurance. Here, in Australia, insurance is conditional on the car being roadworthy. That is, it meets the relevant laws regarding Australian Design Rules. If the car is not roadworthy the insurance company doesn't have to cover you. The situation may be different in the U.S. I appreciate the chances of getting caught are slim but for me I don't want to run the risk.

If you are that concerned about the law, know that under federal law it is illegal to remove a functioning factory cat.

Ive never in my 18 years of driving and having friends with modded cars driving in NJ have ever heard of a cop in NJ looking for a cat on a car. Keep your stock header and swap it on when you go in for inspection at the inspection station. Its not hard to do every 2 years.

That's the point of this thread chief.. Everyone is aware its against the law

Shoot one fireball in-front of an unmarked car and see how well your day goes. :lol:

I have no cats (or resonators) and the smell isn't that bad, in my opinion. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it's the fact that I'm on E85? :iono:

:respekt: :burnrubber: LOLOLOL Soooo true!

This made me lol.