Story Time: From Catless to Catted
 

I was running a catless header for a while but after learning the risk I determined it wasn't worth the reward. Kinda just making this for anyone who is thinking about getting a catless header and hopefully it will be easier to decide if you wanna take the risk or not, cause it is infact a risk:popcorn:

In my opinion the gains are not worth it & its much harder to fly under the radar when your car is batshit loud. You may think its quiet, but its pretty dang loud don't kid yourself. The only time its quiet is at idle, thats it. So keep in mind you'll be attracting more attention even if the rest of your car is stock or... if you are more modded then you're even more of a target.

If (its more like when) you get pulled over by the cops regardless of the violation, they will most likely ask you to pop your hood BECAUSE RACECAR. You have to comply as its not a "search" its considered an inspection of emissions equipment. I mean I guess you could try to say No and possibly get arrested either way I don't think it'd help you in the long run. Once they see you're running catless headers (very easy to spot), you'll get a referee ticket. Once you get one of these puppies you SHOULD keep the car off the road, else if you get caught again the copper can impound you. Actually the cop can impound you once he pulls you over and sees that your vehicle is not road legal, I guess it would depend if anyone shit in his wheaties that morning lol. Regardless once you get one of these tickets you should stay off the road. This is the only bit I couldn't find a clear answer on (Spoiler Alert: All options involve your time and your money)... It seems like you have a few options. Either fight the ticket in court (hope the cop doesn't show up) & pay a lesser fine (if you're lucky), pay a fine & leave your equipment on (I've read anywhere from ~$500-1,000+), swap your equipment to stock emissions get inspected at a ref station (~$150 inspection, 2-4hrs of labor & if you want to swap back after the inspection add on another 2-4hrs of labor).

Aftermarket headers are awesome but when you get caught I'd say the fun is over :P. Also I now enjoy the quietness in my cabin now that I'm back to stock, really though you have no idea how loud it is in cabin when you go from aftermarket back to stock. Fortunately I didn't get caught, but reading all the stories got me a bit too paranoid and decided to do the logical thing.

Anyways rant over, hopefully this helps some individuals decide. And if there is any incorrect information, I'm an active forum user just correct me and I'll update it.

Agreed, thought mine wasn't too bad OFH/Motiv OP&HFC FP/Greddy SP, but everyone that heard it strongly disagreed on the volume.

Edit: It is just as loud now with the stock manifold on and stock front pipe hooked up to a 60s but I'd rather the police see all stock everything under the hood and just give me a fix it ticket, better than getting state ref.

And here I am...waiting for my Borla header to come in the mail...:popcorn:

Lol I was considering front and over pipe combo but I'm already running TRD exhaust. Sound clips off youtube seem just perfect for what I'm going for so I'll keep the stock front and over for now.

Oh it will sound great with just the TRD catback not even that loud I bet, as long as you keep the stock front pipe you should be fine, I think its more the risk of getting pulled over for something unrelated and having your hood popped for no reason, I mean police officers can pretty much say anything is a reason. You'll probably be fine with that setup so no worries, I really wanted a single exit again after I had a specII on my car so I went with a tome 60s, started the car with all the other exhaust mods on and it sounded terrible, immediately put the stock manifold and front pipe back on, love the UEL sound though with a suitable exhaust setup.

Problem is hooning this car is so fun lol.

And yea I forget to mention cops can pull you over for a non-moving violation, so if you have a catback and they suspect you are illegal they can get you to stop. A UEL header or any header for that matter is very noticable on the streets the sound is very distinct. Its so easy to know who is running aftermarket or not just based on sound, hell some pigs even have a good nose lol.

Everyone gets pulled over eventually :burnrubber:

That's where you fucked up lol. Take YouTube clips and magnify the sound by 3 haha. It sounds three time louder but three times better in person. I heard someone with some jdl uel and I think I'm in love.

I guess that's one of the good things about Nebraska. No cats? No one cares. So long as you aren't shaking windows, your exhaust's fine. : )

So... if you've still got that catless... >.> I wouldn't mind maybe taking it off your hands.

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e85 doesnt smell!

:lol: