Ok I am new to all this stuff need some help please. What is a good aggressive header that is very loud but I am still gonna gain hp on? What exactly is a down pipe? cause I hear people saying they have a header down pipe and a catback i thought the cat back was a down pipe. Why do people use down pipes. Also why do people go with a catless exhaust? And what does a high flow cat do for you? I have a full magnaflow exhaust and I am not happy with it at all it is all rusted already and the sound quality isn't that good I was wondering if headers would help? or i might just buy a new exhaust. I like the sounds of the megan, ark, hahn, and tag what size should I get my magnaflow is 3".
Thanks Guys.

 

Your exhaust has in this order from the engine to the rear bumper:

Manifold, Downpipe, cat converter, cat back ehxuast system.

Best setup IMO would be the vibrant header and Corsa Touring cat back system.

This setup will replace you entire stock exhaust system from the engine to the exhaust tip. IMO this will give you the best gains.

 

I heard vibrant throws codes due tot he 02 senser being before the cat or something like that. And I thought Vibrant was a 3" exhaust.

 

Cat back is the exhaust after the catalytic converter, header is obviously the part attached to the exhaust side of the head, the down pipe does contain the catalytic converter, can order without, but if in emissions state, you will fail. A high flow cat has higher surface loading (more reactive material) so it needs less surface area, hence increasing flow. It is a trade off between airflow or cost, better airflow higher cost, lower cost less airflow. http://hyper-flow.com/technical.htm if you want a headache.... There is also a resonator on the stock exhaust, some cat-back system's 86 that, yours doesn't. Yous does have a lifetime warrantee, so I'd hop on the phone....

 

The vibrant header "necks" down to about 2.5" at the flange after the cat, which makes the corsa a perfect fit.

 

1. The downpipe is the pipe right after the header, that leads to the catalytic converter. You have your header, then your downpipe, then you have your cat, then your cat-back exhaust.

2. I BELIEVE a high flow cat helps the exhaust gases flow more freely, while still doing the job of a cat. It helps your engine to breath better.

3. You can wipe the rust off the top layer. It isn't actual rust. Some shine will do it all right up. Magnaflow only makes Cat-back exhaust. You have a stock downpipe and header. Full exhaust means, header, downpipe, exhaust.

4. Headers would give it a different sound, SLIGHTLY.

5. I thought the magnaflow was a 2.5 inch exhaust. But, uhm, most love the magnaflow sound. If you want a better sound, a header and downpipe would help I believe.

6. it depends on what you want. Unless you plan on going above 300whp, then you only need a 2.5 inch exhaust. You could get the Cobalt Addiction Header (most like this one), either a ZZP or XTC downpipe, and either GMPP, Corsa, Magnaflow, or Mega cat back would be a good setup in my opinion.
6a. if you plan on going above 300whp, then you'd need a 3 inch exhaust.

I hope I helped somewhat.

Ah I getcha. That is a perfect fit.

 

increase in diameter of exhaust doesn't doing anything and might actually hurt performance unless you plan on increasing your rev limiter

so stick with 2.5" unless of course you're going to increase you're rev limiter

 

About what you said I 4......that's not always true. A friend of mine has an '07 Focus, and he used to have just the cat-back as far as an exhaust went (Tru-Benz non resonated/de-cat 2.5") and he recently added an F2 long tube stepped header, and it went from sounding like a modestly tuned street car to a godzilla like sounding race car, lol. I swear you can now hear his car from like 5 miles away now.

As far as a good exhaust setup, read my sig. I love my exhaust setup. The CA header is proportioned well to the 2.4 balts, and my header/cat-back all work in perfect harmony and make some nice power. However, the whole setup is really loud, but I love loud.

 

To clarify, like Scythe_Snake said, if you plan on getting 300whp+ then get 3 inch exhaust but if not go with 2.5. I'm not getting 300hp so I am currently going with ZZP header/downpipe/hiflowcat and the touring GM Performance Parts catback exhaust along with the GMPP short ram with the intake silencer removed. All of that would cost you about $1300ish and gains of 30ish whp and drop a tune and thats about 10whp. Bringing a 2.4L to about 185-190whp.