MSP exhaust with new muffler??

[03MSP-JH]

i have a stock exhaust on my msp.. it sounds good, but i want it a little louder. if i change the muffler to a greddy for example, how would the sound change? how can i make the exhaust more "flowing" without spending to much money on a whole new exhaust?

thanks

 

[cougar10agREDUX]

only thing you could do is replace the cats with a high flow cat, or straight pipe. but thats not even worth the trouble if you wanna stay legal since it would have to be the same diameter as stock. stock exhaust piping is small and has many sharp bends. only way to have a more flowing exhaust is to either buy a catback or buy a muffler and weld up some custom piping, which can be pretty damn cheap if you know someone. but make sure they know what they are doing.

racing beat catback is cheap at around 400. i like it, quiet when you're cruising, but noticable when you get on it. i think this is the best route for you since you like the exhaust note but want it louder. racing beat is who made the mufflers for the MP3 and MSP

 

[03MSP-JH]

i was reading some threads about removing the about removing cats. im thinking of removing my 2nd cat for now. how will that change the sounds?? also, some people were saying that the cat is filled with "mesh" material, so you get a pipe or something and take it all out and its just like a straight pipe...kinda lol..

some question:
- will i get a CEL?
- How will it change the sound?
- any gain in perfomace?
- should i weld a straightpipe, or just jam the "mesh" material out?

 

[cougar10agREDUX]

if you remove the cats and don't put a non-fouler on the secondary O2 sensor you will get a CEL.

it will be louder and the tone will change slightly, a cat also helps with resonance.

depending on how clogged your cat is you may notice some gains. but to be honest with the stock exhaust you won't notice any power gains.

DO NOT, just hollow out the cats. by doing this you create turbulence in the exhaust flow since your going from the small diameter exhaust pipe, to the much larger cat, then back to the small diameter exhaust pipe. this will acually hurt performance.

you are better off going with a highflow cat pipe (like the 2.5" from PG which uses a vibrant high flow cat) and a good catback exhaust. when i added the PG 2.5" pipe with high flow cat, the exhaust was noticably louder. also with the PG pipe there is a bung welded after the cat for the secondary O2 sensor so you won't get a CEL, and you stay legal.

flow test have been done between straight pipes and good quality high flow cats. the difference is so small you won't notice it on a street car.

 

[CDub21]

If you change just your muffler, you will certainly notice a change in sound. I have a Magnaflow muffler on my 02 Protege ES and it sounds great. It is not very pipey at all and has a nice purr. To make your exhaust even louder and free-flowing, taking out the resonator on you exhaust will help, but your cat is going to be more restrictive. I know Magnaflow makes a good high-flow cat for about $120 but to take out the resonator all you will need is some pipe to replace where it was. Your model of Protege has two cats though, one located in the engine compartment coming directly off your headers and the other is midway back on your underbody. Do not replace the cat in the engine compartment at all as this will cause your car to not run right. It just screws with the oxygen sensor too much. The second cat however does not have it's O2 sensor regulated by the computer so it should not screw up anything. Like I said though, if you want to make the car louder more free-flowing, I would recommend just a muffler, particularly the Magnaflow.

 

[cougar10agREDUX]

just a muffler won't help in terms of performance. it will change the sound. if you remove the first cat the car will still run fine. but you will get a MIL and a DTC for the cat, and fail emissions. so it's not recommended. but like i said you can use spark plug non foulers on the second O2 sensor to eliminate the MIL.
there is no O2 sensor after the second cat.

if you're gonna spend money on just a muffler then cutting your stock exhaust pipe to replace the resonator you might as well just go with a good quality cat back.

 

[03MSP-JH]

well i got a 3" cat back with a ractive muffler. i dont feel any power gains, just louder lol. when i was at the exhaust shop i asked if they can remove the cats and they said no because its illegal. so i then asked about installing some high flow cats. The guy said that it already has "hi flow" cats. he said that all newer cars have hi-flow cats. idk what he meant by this...

 

[zoompastu]

yeah the shop can get a HUGE fine because taking off the cat for you cause is a federal offense. 3" is good but that muffler needs to go. the BEST Muffler that is dyno proven to MAKE POWER ON ANY TURBO car is the Areo Turbine. it works bad ass and is the only choice for a boosted car. Google it. it is worth every penny.
as far as the cat gose you can get a better cat for your MSP but it sounds like you need a better shop to take your car first

 

[cougar10agREDUX]

the protege does not have "high flow" cats. the reason he said this is because thats somewhat illegal too. i dunno if it varies by state, but the the laws i know are you can only replace an OEM cat with a different CAT when the one on the car is defective. so in otherwords if your cat works fine it is illegal to replace it. but if you somehow managed to bottom out and damage your cat causing it to not work properly, then you could replace it with a cat of your choice.

thats why the guy fed you bulls***. he doesn't want to get fined

 

[TampaBlackMSP]

Save up for an aftermarket exhaust. For what it's worth I have an iON with resonator, race cat - and relevant to this thread, a polished Magnaflow muffler - like the sound better, no performance loss - deeper, smoother tone.