How necessary is an intake/header/exhaust upgrade?

[chimchim]

I really like that the tuning world has forced car manufacturers to take note. I'm noticing that many cars nowadays are by design (stock) taking advantage of less restrict intakes which try to get cold air from somewhere, 4-2-1 approximations of headers, and mandrel bent exhausts. The "bad" side is that doing the easy bolt on IHE tuning does almost nothing for like $1000+. (Well, I think of it as... IHE is already done stock)

Anyways... can someone post pics detailing the intake, header, and exhaust?

Is the stock IHE system fairly good already?

 

[FC3s Boy]

hate to sound like a dick but try the search button, there are many threads on all of them.

 

[leungwingkei]

More power is always nice. I think some manufacturers have been doing this for years. Take a Camry, American's best selling the car. My bro drives a 1997 2.2L I4, and when I took a look under the exhaust headers heat shield, the headers were of the 4-2-1 design and looked like aftermarket racing headers. Didn't expect to find it on a family car.

 

[RHAGEL]

I was told by racing beat that exhaust is going to be hard to do for this car because the muffler is placed somewhere towards the middle of the car. Im sure it will happen but it may take some time. Overall, I have an intake and exhaust for my car and I am very pleased with the performance gains. Minimal, but definately helps out on the top end.

 

[M3-GT]

I was told by racing beat that exhaust is going to be hard to do for this car because the muffler is placed somewhere toward the middle of the car. I'm sure it will happen but it may take some time. Overall, I have an intake and exhaust for my car and I am very pleased with the performance gains. Minimal, but definitely helps out on the top end.

Yeah the muffler is in the middle and then the tip swirls to the left and comes out....going to be a b**** to change that.....I think we'll need patience for some decent designs.