hey guys I'm starting to see test pipes all over ebay. any ideas on true effectiveness and legality. WV is pretty lax on emmissions but ya never know.

legality? ha! very illegal. it eliminates the "ever so neccessary" Catalytic converter. damn emissions. oh well though, I live in iowa and I've never had a prob. I got the Apexi front pipe (down pipe and test pipe together) you gotta have this set up for fire! but I'm sure no cop will ever EVER get down on his hands and knees to see if you are running a cat or not. no worries

actually the one I've seen for the lancer eliminates the second cat conv. would that make a difference, if say, the inspector saw I had one cat under there. Does only eliminating 1 cat do any good?</P>

hmm...good question, cause I know some cars have a "cat" on the down pipe right after the headers... like on my SpecV. I got a new header and it eliminates that one, I'm sure as long as there is ONE in view you will have no problem. as far as effectiveness goes.. yeah, it will help. the less restrictions on your exhaust the better off... the fun thing about exhausts is that when it goes through the pipe it has a "flow" per say. it resonates inside the pipe creating "exhaust waves" and everytime you have a bend, bottleneck, or s**t in the way (cat) the waves get messed up and create back pressure.. some is good, too much is bad cause it will come back through. so.. bigger is better ( to an extent 3"max!) and less bends and restrictions the better. </P>


this is the whole reason behind the test pipe. it eliminates the main blockage in your exhaust and lets it flow more freely. also you gotta have it so you can blow fire out the ass end! cause thats just cool. <IMG src=smileys/smiley16.gif border="0"></P>

any idea of how much hp and torque we're talkin about ? sorry to grill you just want to know if the ends justify the means.

for just the Test pipe.. im not exactly sure, with my apexi front pipe... its dyno'd to add 20+ not sure if thats to the wheels or the crank, but Im guessing that with just the test pipe... prob 5ish. depending on whatelse you have done. mods are funny like that too, if you have one thing done, it will effect the performance of the next one. so just because an exhaust says adds 25hp or whatever, it may be more because of your headers/intake/cams...blah blah.. but I'd say yeah around 5

worth $55?

...well, if you are upgrading your entire exhaust... might as well to the whole down pipe for 200 then get just the test pipe for 55. more bang for your buck and its more worth it in the end. just save a little bit

thanks man I'll wait and do it all at once.