Test Pipes vs. High Flow Cats ...

[Ian D]

How much quieter are high flow cats say compared to test pipes?

How much louder are high flow cats compared to OEM Cats?

Which High Flow Cat would you suggest for a 2002, "LEV" type exhaust and why?

Thanks for your help and insight into this.

Ian

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

How much quieter are high flow cats say compared to test pipes?

How much louder are high flow cats compared to OEM Cats?

Which High Flow Cat would you suggest for a 2002, "LEV" type exhaust and why?

Thanks for your help and insight into this.

Ian

Just do test pipes and be done with it :biggrin:. They'll save you a good amount of weight too.

Stephen

PS. To answer your original question, I don't know since I went straight from cats to no cats.

 

[chado]

Ian,

I just switched out my Dali test pipes to Prospeed HighFlo cats. You can hear my car with the test pipes on all of the NSX Gone Wild clips along with a sound clip on Phu's youtube page.
I'm hoping to get sound clips of the HF's up soon.

The difference.. well my best attempt to describe it would be... refined.

With the test pipes it was LOUD and had a growl (rasp), sounded like a car that should be on a race track. Now the sound is more refined, smooth (no rasp!) I would say a little "muted" in a good sense.

OH btw I also have 5.1 dual tip. And I will never go back to factory cats!!!!!

Pics... the high flow's don't weigh too much more than the TP's.
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106549&page=3

 

[Ian D]

I just purchased a GT-One v5.1 exhaust system along with test pipes. I love how loud it is but do not love the smell !!! So I am trying to learn as much as I can to make my decision to stay with test pipes or go with Hi-Flow Cats.

I have a 2002 with the "LEV" type exhaust style, and I do not believe that Prospeed has yet made the "LEV" type yet. Does anyone know if they do?

How about Random Hi Flow Cats?

Thanks for your guys replies, I really appreciate your insight and help.

Ian

 

[NSX R-GT]

hey Ian
have you ever got pull over by the cops becasue of the exhaust?
i heard the OPP or York police will go wild if they know you are running test pipe!
how loud was yours, any sound clips?

 

[sojusoulja]

It comes down to personal preference. I had GT-one v4 exhaust with test pipes and OMG was it loud. I got pulled over in SF(where I live) constantly. It got to the point where it just wasn't worth the hassle. But the sound was to die for! The smell is pretty foul.

Ona side note: my car was stolen with this setup and it deterred the theives from driving my car due to the attention it garnered. Found the car a couple miles away nicely parked unscathed.

My next setup will be GTLW with high flow cats. hopefully it will be a little more muted.

 

[BobMc]

I had the GT 5.1 first with the stock cats, comptech headers, and was amazed with the sound over stock. The thing I didn't like was a low rumble sound at low rpm's. Then I tried the setup with test pipes and the sound was too loud. It could easily be heard over a mile away. I had trouble having a conversation with someone going 70.

I made the mistake of opening it up after passing a state trooper who was stopped at the side of the road. He chased me down and caught me about a mile down the road. Fortunately he let me go. :biggrin: I'm sure it was the exhaust that got his attention.

After that incident, I switched back temporarily to the test pipes with stock exhaust and noticed a significant seat of the pants improvement over the stock cats. The car has almost 100k miles and I think the stock cats are somewhat clogged.

So, its either go back with the stock cats and GT 5.1, or hi flow cats with 5.1. I need help with this decision. I think the high flow cats would be better, but I don't want it too loud.

Bob

 

[gleibig]

I had my 5.1 installed with stock headers and stock cats. A few weeks ago, I switched to the high-flow cats hoping to get a bit more out of the exhaust. The high-flows didn't make much of a difference with the exhaust.
Last week, I installed a set of tp's..........wow. Talk about waking up the exhaust!! It's a lot more raspy, maybe a little too much down low, but the overall sound is just what I was looking for.

 

[NSXAMG996TT]

After a year of test pipes, I've re-installed the hiflow cats. Plus the noise restriction at Laguna Seca would get me booted off the track. So far, I really don't miss the sound, the toxic smell, and all the dust that collects on my bumper.

 

[yoojeankim]

i've never put test pipes on my nsx but a lot of my friends cars have them, im not really fond of loud/raspy/smelly exhaust. The high-flows really smooths the exhaust sounds out and also gets rid of those heavy cats we have =X.

 

[CDX_NSX]

I ran test pipes for a (very) short time before getting a set of custom Prospeed cats made. The noise and smell from running test pipes was too much for my liking. I'm much happier with my high flow cats because when running the test pipes, I was shifting very early to minimize the noise.

I ran Random Tech cats before that, but when I swapped out my exhaust, we found that they were already blown after only a couple of thousand miles.

I am SC'd, so your mileage may vary.

 

[Floyd]

I'll attest to Chado's coments. Running thru the neighborhood he can turn heads without even being seen:biggrin:

On another note,NSXAMG996TT do you get hassled by the CHP for the GT style lamps? I'd love to go yellow myself.

Thanks,

 

[NSXAMG996TT]

I'll attest to Chado's coments. Running thru the neighborhood he can turn heads without even being seen:biggrin:

On another note,NSXAMG996TT do you get hassled by the CHP for the GT style lamps? I'd love to go yellow myself.

Thanks,

Not yet- those are for "offroad use" only:biggrin: I've decided to use some yellow tint as a protective shield on the track. Looks alot better than all that blue painters tape imho.

 

[NSXRguy]

i have test pipes on my car with comptech headers and exhaust.

after the test pipes, i never looked back. sounds aggresive:biggrin: