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thinking of changing exhaust

813 views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  BlueTeg 
#1 ·
Hi people, I just got my 99 teg recently and now Im considering adding some parts to it, more specifically intake, headers, changing the exhaust. My buddy though says changing the exhaust is a big waste of money because you don't get much HP increase for the money you spend on it. Whats your take on this? I also talked to a mechanic about swapping in a GSR engine, but he told me its kind of risky and Im better off modding the current engine. However, my friend, who by the way is not a mechanic thinks that swapping engines are safe and that the mechanic didn't know what he was talking about. Im just worried that if I change engines 3 months down the road its gonna break down on me and then im screwed....need opinions on this one.
 
#2 ·
first off, you seem really new at this and it'll do you a world of good if you did some research and make up your mind as to what you want out of your mods. what are you going to be using the car for? target powerband, i.e. midrange vs. top-end. target horsepower, etc...

as far as changing the exhaust, you won't get a lot of gain by just changing the exhaust because you won't be getting rid of all the bottlenecks in your exhaust system and something else is going to be choking your system. (exhaust system = header + cat + exhaust) i'd wait until i find out what i want as far as the ultimate hp goal and size the exhaust system accordingly. there is a great article here that you really should read. and once you're set on how big you want to go with your exhaust sizing, you should wait until you have enough money to do the entire exhaust system with one shot. (again, header + cat + exhaust) then you'll see some noticeable gains.

swapping engine is almost a common practice nowadays. but you should really decide on what you want to do with your car first. if you want some major power gain and you want to go the naturally aspirated route, an engine swap is a good option. however, some people don't really want that much more power. again, there is another option of going forced induction. with your b18b, forced induction is a good option as well and you won't have to spend the extra money for the engine swap. i hope this is all making sense. there is the inherent risk of ending up with a bad engine when you do an engine swap too. you never know what the former owner of the engine put it through. the mileage is a good gauge but it doesn't tell the whole story. even if the engine only has 10K miles on it, if the previous owner abused it, it won't last as long as your current engine. anyway, i'm going off tangent here.

what i recommend you do is do as much research as possible and decide on what you want to do with your car.

1. NA vs. FI
2. midrange vs. top-end
3. daily driver vs. all-out race car

and after that, you can figure out what you need to do in order to achieve your goal. come up with some specific questions and people here will show you the way.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY.
 
#3 ·
dragontegz thanks for the very informative post. I did do a lot of research and talked to diff mechanics. The thing I find is that each person has a different story regarding exhaust systems. For instance the articles posted here state that the ideal backpressure in your car should be zero. However I still get mechanics and friends who INSIST that you need SOME backpressure for the lower end rpm. See why Im confused? Anyhow, I dont' plan to race or anything and my cars gonna be for more day to day driving and occasionally I do like to drive fast....but I was just wondering if people think exhaust systmes are a waste of money?
 
#5 ·
the reason why you want a properly sized exhaust as opposed to the biggest piping you can fit under your car is because you want to keep the exhaust flow at maximum which helps the scavenging effect at cam overlap. that's why you'll see a power loss on a car with an excessively big exhaust as opposed to one with a properly sized exhaust. read some of the articles here and you'll see what i'm saying. MD's got some great articles here and you'll see that how helpful they are once you read them.

as far as replacing "just" the exhaust, i explained it to you already. if there is a 1.8" bottleneck at your cat, it wouldn't matter if you upgrade your cat-back to 2.25". the bottleneck is going to be choking your exhaust system. it's like piping in plumbing. the water can only flow as much as the smallest section of the piping is capable of regardless of the size of the other parts in the system. you see what i mean?
 
#6 ·
the only risky part about a swap is if you get a bad engine, get the engine from a good source and you'll be okay.
 
#7 ·
dx316dx316 on Sep/11/02 said:
However I still get mechanics and friends who INSIST that you need SOME backpressure for the lower end rpm. See why Im confused?
Please don't fall into this method of thinking. Its about as far from the truth as you can get. An easier way to think about is to compare it to something that you can relate to. Using the mechanic's logic you would be able to run faster in a sprint if you exhaled through a drinking straw....because there is more backpressure.

Dragon had some good advice and check out the link that Surfer gave you.
 
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