**Sorry for the long post, I'm a total noob***

So I'm at the point where I'm getting pretty depressed reading all the smog threads, and the LEOs in my neighborhood are already eying my car (even though I only have rims/mudflaps/light tint).

I'm curious to know if I can get some decent power out of the car while leaving the stock catalytic converters in the downpipe. I made the mistake of not planning what I wanted to do with the car before I started buying parts...

I'm mostly looking for some improved throttle response and a little more high end to the engine if I can get it. This is my daily, and my last car was stolen so I'm hoping to stay as under the radar as possible.

I'm not sure what parts I should keep. I know I'd like to get a tune from one of our Bay Area tuners, but I need to save up for an AP first. Below are the parts that I have. Any and all of these could end up on the car, or up for sale, as a result of whatever feedback I can get here.

*Stock up-pipe that's been gutted. Are there any reasons why I shouldn't use this?

*Borla header that needs some cleaning and the gasket surfaces to be leveled. It was free so I'm not at a loss on this one.

*Crucial Racing divorced wastegate shorty downpipe. I really like the look of this, but this would get rid of one of the cats and I'm not sure if I want the hassle of swapping it out every time I need to go in for smog.

Thanks!

 

not that hard to swap out dp **** da police

 

I'm not sure that's what I was looking for. I have no issues with the Police, they did a damn fine job getting my last car back after it was stolen.

 

aftermarket uppipe and turbo back exhaust with a tune will be your best bet. I see you live in downtown what color is your car?

 

Yeah, I'm right by 280 and McLaughlin, the car is Platinum Silver. Doesn't a turbo-back require replacing the downpipe? I found another thread last night where the guy had the stock downpipe and uppipe (https://www.i-club.com/forums/vendor-tuning-service-parts-review-152/noob-review-eq-tuning-205078/).

Numbers look pretty good.

 

^ yes, it does replace the DP. I honestly think to get all your monies worth out of that tune, changing the DP is a must. I'm in that area often I'll keep my eyes open.

 

I keep thinking about just swapping out the downpipe when it's smog time. The last thing I want to deal with is a ref ticket though. I'm planning on running the stock catback and putting the stock rims back on. I'd love a little more sound but I don't want the attention so a full turbo-back system is out for me. Thanks for the tip on the tune. I'll ping Ed when I'm ready and see what he's got to say about the car he'd tuned with all the cats in place.

 

I say you should at least gut the uppipe. there is no need for it to be there and helps spool up.
a gutted uppipe looks exactly like a non gutted one from the outside. you will have no problems with smog /state refs.
a downpipe is not hard to swap out......

 

I already have a gutted stock uppipe.

 

smog check is only every 2 years and you can test earlier than is required im pretty sure so just get it tested now pass the test then put your downpipe on and you dont have to worry about it for 2 years.

 

i would say just get an opensource tune from one of our tuners with your current setup. the protune would help a lot. the opensource doesn't require you to buy an accessport as well so you save some money.

 

Exactly what KrAzYkLd said. He is of the oh soh goot response.

 

^Question on the open source tune...

What happens come two years from now when I have to get smogged? Do I need another tune or could I drop the stock downpipe back on for smog without changing the tune?

I've thought about going the opensource route, but I want to be able to put the car back to stock w/o paying to have it retuned.

Thanks again for all the input.

 

If you want quick throttle response, an up-pipe would help. You don't get any horsepower but if anything you might get some torque. It increases the spool of your turbo. You could always get a downpipe or testpipe. What that is...is that it's a catless downpipe, but it has a fake looking cat on it. Therefore if a LEO looks under your car it'll look like a stock downpipe. However, a catless up-pipe will not effect your smog.

I don't blame you about the cops...downtown san jose is FULL of them! I live in San Jose too but not in DT. Throw on an SPT intake too. The borla headers are cool, but go on youtube and see if you like how they sound on Subaru's. I know some headers make your car sound really raspy (kinda like a civic) but add only like 5 HP...then there's other headers that are only for sound. Stock we don't have headers, we call it a manifold.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

Very unlikely a tuner would mess with timing in the "drive around town off-boost" load cells... and Fueling will be closed loop if you're off boost (using the O2 sensor instead of fuel maps in the ECU), so fuel tuning wouldn't affect it there.
If you're gonna switch pipes for smog, you take the following steps in this order:
- take your lead foot off
- swap the pipes
- drive to the smog place (being sure your lead foot is safely at home)
- get your certificate
- drive home
- re-swap pipes
- re-affix lead foot if you desire.

That's a few hours every 2 years. But in my opinion, get a pipe with at least one cat. Catless is gross and nasty. Having grown up in SoCal with trips to LA in the 80s and comparing that to what it's like now? Yeah, one cat in there is a good thing.