i have a test pipe on my car. just make sure it's not just pipe so it at least will pass Visual inspection. mine looks like a big round cannon haha. Honestly I'd have to say go high flow cat. I will be getting one soon. I don't smell anything bad from the exhaust, I just feel bad about doing it since I drive my car everyday. High flow cat gets my vote.

 

so the high flow cat is just a dummy cat with a strait pipe? or is it a legit cat.

 

It is an actual cat. It doesn't work as well as a stock cat, as in burning the unburnt fuel. I've heard someone's car before and after a high flow cat and it "sounds" like a test pipe.

 

My exhaust is a Hotshot header-->Catco 3in highflow cat-->3in GP sports exaust. I put the header and cat on at the same time so i can let you know there was a slight loss in torque but a nice bump in horsepower. The car sounds deep and smooth but pops a little when off throttle below 2k rpm.

 

as for visual inspection, my car is inspected my my dads best friend who owns a shop. my car will *always* pass emissions because of that. last year when it didnt pass, we used a ford probe as my car and PASSED emissions.

im just wondering about the specific pros and cons of a test pipe vs a hi flow cat plus i was thinking about the cost effectivness of a 20 dollar test pipe.

 

i went from stock cat to test pipe and it didnt seem alot louder but i do get the occaional pop when i let off around 2000 rpms. but i did notice immediatly better throttle response. i know it raised some hp #s because i have seen dynos of it on other n/a cars and it give gaines of 8 hp.also if you have ever looked inside a cat it looks like a bee hive and it looks really restrictive.

 

well actually you with an n/a motor a test pipe is not nessicary you dont have that much air going out the motor to actually take advantage of the pipe . it is meant for turbo motors and is meant to make much air to go out as possible . to get most gains or horsepower . yes what they had said already is that a free flow cat is a cat it takes out the un burned carbon and other stuff a normal cat does but it is not as restrictive .
thats why they are made street legal . but in youre case it would be best since you already have a 3in cat back so a free flow cat is all you need especialy if youre looking to pass emissions .

 

i'd put a high flow cat on. It won't be that much more restrictive and you'll never have to worry about emissions.

 

I would go with the high flow cat if I had an N/A set up but for a swap I see a high flow cat being pointless, since the engine won't pass smog

 

well i went ahead and bought a magnaflow OE fitment cat from pdm-racing.

my car will never have a SR in it and in reality will probably never see a turbo. my car is a daily driver first and foremost. secondly its a weeekend autox car that i like to run in a STOCK class so NA is a must. if i good good and decide to go farther into autoxing then we will see what happens!

 

yeah I have heard that the shiney high flow cats dont pass emissions too well.