| According to the TT.net profiles musky and I have very similar NA mods, but while 2.5" straight pipes are a helluva lot of flow for three liters of displacement, I am of the opinion that the benefits are worth it. I have a theory as to why I enjoy not having cats and he doesn't. I have lightened drive components that he does not (according to profile info): Fidanza flywheel, and one-piece driveshaft. The freedom that my motor has to rev quickly is amazing, as is the iceberg crisp throttle response. It also makes having a 5 speed absolutely necessary. It's true that the motor doesn't make much power below 3000, but above that it just explodes with life and rips up the tach all the way to the limiter. Coincidentally this is also where the motor sounds best. Furthermore, at idle, without cats, she purrs louder. It's intoxicating. As far as mufflers go, I would steer clear of the straight through designs that use a packing material outside of a perforated screen (like Stillen) because you said you didn't want the loud raspy sound and straight through designs are going to give you that (if you delete the cats). The sound of mine are growing on me at light speed and I don't think I want to trade anymore. With the cats, the Stillen exhaust (only one I can speak for) is very humble and only gets slightly aggressive at full throttle, while at idle producing a quiet rumbling purr. The stock sound of my '94 NA at idle was nearly imperceptible. The day you install a cat-back will be one of the happiest days in your NA ownership experience. Which leads to my recommendation of a two piece meal deal: POP charger & a cat-back. Happy motoring.
Memeber #124 of Capital Z of Texas and member ZCCAMy CarDomain page |
21:11:03 01/17/05
