hitokiri89

Installing the headers tomorrow , should I delete cats and do a down pipe or or just cut into cats . Want to most gains possible . To be honest I'm a little confused about the process so I need input so u can be sure how I want them installed .

wnunez89

FINALLY! lol. but I've read on here that cutting the cats and running a down pipe actually made the car a little more "sluggish". If I were you id try and keep the cats, and your o2 sensor. but im sure that your gonna have to do some cutting/welding since these are not a direct bolt on.

hitokiri89

Lol I know it's been forever , I want to keep the cats but the it sounds so good without then lol . I plan on getting the cks hi flow cats in a bit so just deleting the stock cats seems to make sense but like I said the process is confusing me lol .

wnunez89

yeaa if they make HF cats then yea thats your best bet. Its gonna be loud!!!! lol.

hitokiri89

Wish smerc put their prototype into production .

Squissh

Pictures please of the install.

hitokiri89

Just dropped off the car . Decided to delete my cats and go with a down pipe .

wnunez89

update?

jimmythegreek

leave your cats on if you can. Just have them flange off the downpipe and bolt into the headers, or cut and expand and then weld if thats easier. Gettin rid of the cats is gonna start a mess of CEL that will never go away and will drive you nuts. Ur gonna get some good HP just from the headers and a free flowing exhaust, cat delete is mostly sound, not much HP in the bigger picture. In certain cars it actually loses HP or takes away low end power

hitokiri89

Got the car back today , s**t is crazy loud . Wound up deleting cars and doing down pipes . Shifts are very smooth and the high end is great . Kind of have mixed feelings though as I have no low end now . There's no pull the car just goes . I'm hoping tuning the ecu according to the headers and exhaust will help but now in seriously thinking about my options for intake and throttle body . The car is fast 60mph and above but it seems the same if not a little slower from a stop . What do you guys think I should do to improve my low end . I find myself in street races all the time and I would hate to lose because the race wasn't long enough for my car to reach peak power .

Richard2011

Placement of x-pipe? I've read multiple posts on multiple forums that claim that the closer the x-pipe is to the engine, the more low-end power it brings.

Does your car feel faster from a roll?

hitokiri89

Have an xpipe , yeah from a roll the car is faster for sure but still not much pull . What good is going fast if it doesn't feel fast . Sounds awesome but I think it's too loud . Will most likely throw my primary cats back in .

Richard2011

Well, what I meant was you could move your x-pipe up, maybe to the spot where your 2nd cats are (or were if they're gone). But that'd probably be too much of a hassle and waste of money.

Make some videos before you put the cats back on!

Knightmare69

Reason why you've lost torque is because you've deleted any resistance to the exhaust. There's a reason exhausts systems oem or aftermarket are designed a certain way. Ask any muscle car guy who's gone straight piped, they've all lost torque for the high end trade off.

hitokiri89

Im aware if how and why I loss my low end torque but what I want to know are ways to improve my low end now that my exhaust is free flowing . There are no intake options out other than open cone filters which probably don't make difference or at least a positive one . I'm
Hoping to dyno tune the car to my mods but will doing this change my low end or only make my high end better ?

hitokiri89

Just got off the phone with tuning technology motorsports , looks like I have to put my stock resonater back in , delete secondary cats and replace with xpipe . Then on to or tuning as Powerchip is out of buisness . I'll post some vids in a day or do of how it sounds now and than after I tinker around.

wnunez89

its your cats, removing them make the car a slug. same thing happened to someone else.

Knightmare69

You pretty much answered your own question there.

wnunez89

I dont think anyone has ever done a custom dyno tune on there w204, you should be able to increase your tq but the question will be how safe is that tune gonna be? Your best bet is try the cats and the headers together.

Knightmare69

Plus from what I've been told from many sources in the field, the benz ecu is locked out so your "tune" is really just a piggyback, not a full tune.