Hey, I got my Lancer about a month ago, and I'm DYING to start modifying it. After learning to drive on my dad's Ford Taurus (the one with the DOHC 24V V6 @ ~200HP) and getting the Lancer OZ (at a whopping ~120HP!!!) I want to try and increase my performance.

I already know that one of the first things I do is going to be a cat-back exhaust, and from what I've read here on the forums and elsewhere online, I know the stock exhaust pipping robs the engine of air.

I'm looking to switch to 2.25" piping, but the only cat-back exhaust system I can find that isn't **** expensive has a 3.5" tip on it, and I DON'T want a cannon coming out of the back of my car, because I'm looking to not sound like all the other a**holes on campus (I go to a community college) who modify their cars.

Any suggestions on how to get a good cat-back system without sounding like I have a 454cu under the hood?

zero replies
that sucks...

Yeah. I'm pretty much aware at this point that the only way I"m not going to be sitting on an oversized cannon is to do a custom setup with 2.25" piping and drop a silencer into it.

so you are on a community college on which most of their students modify their cars...

i'm also looking for a cat back. optimal tip is 4". any suggestions....?

Yeah, luischav3z, a large number of the students mod their cars, and I'd like to do the same. My difference is they do it because they want to look cool. I want to get every last ounce of power from my engine.

And hindesketchup, why in the name of all that is good would you want a 4" tip?

4" isn't THAT big. is it? i don't think so. i just don't think that a 3 - 3.5" tip isn't that much of an improvement from the stock tip. the stock is 2.5" if i remember correctly. if not 2.5 then 2. so an inch improvement? doesn't seem worth the money to me...

Grab a ruler and look at how big a four inch tip is...stock is 1.25"-1.5" tip, I'm not sure which. All I know for certain is it is TINY, and chokes the engine...

dudeeeeeee, just go on ebay. i got wholesale prices on there. not bad. your gonna pay for what you get though. so when you get some money, i would then think about modifying my car. not trying to sound like a dick. just tellin you, your gonna have to put alot of money to start gaining all that power you want. shop around and compare prices. oh and btw, 120 hp isnt that much. my 2003 ES holds the same lol. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banana.gif)

I know 120 isn't much. That's the problem. And I'm actually not looking for TONS of power. I just want more pickup. I do a lot of highway driving, cause I enjoy weekend trips to visit my friends at other colleges. But on my last trip to PSU-WB, I almost got taken out by an 18-Wheeler cause I couldn't accelerate around him fast enough...

thats good that you are seeking for performance and not for looks.. im trying to do the same.. and mine doesnt accelerate pretty good well just on the city..

i'm ordering a cat back this weekend. already installed an intake, so that will be more effective now that ive got less restriction the rest of the way to the back. tip is 3 3/4". not too big. but i have been doing looks upgrades as well as performance. h.i.d.s, blue dome, debadging. a lot of inexpensive mods that just differentiate my car. spraypainted black mitsubishi symbol onto the back speaker covers. looks pretty cool. i like it. thats really all that matters, right? haha. after install exhaust a friend of mine has a program that adds 50 horse and can change a whole bunch of stuff. shift points. when it redlines. looking forward to that. but with intake only i feel most improvement when i'm on interstate and hit the gas hard in 3rd. picks up a little faster than stock.

I assume you drive an auto?

See, I personally have this thing for making a car look as much as possible like it is stock while still making it very much so NOT stock. Especially because of all the fancy cars driven by punk-kids whose parents decided that for their 17th birthday they could choose either the Acura or the Infiniti...I loved taking my dad's Taurus and going to a stop light and jamming it and watching those kids in their cars unable to shift and get beaten by a family car.

Hence, when I got my Lancer OZ, I decided I wanted the outside at least to stay as stock looking as possible.

But whatever makes you happy. I have to admit I like the speaker cover idea...especially once I put new speakers in. Let me know how the ECU flash works...

just take off your down pipe. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laughing.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laughing.gif) jk, did that once just to mess around and it was very loud and unpleasant lol. but yeah watch that ecu flash, u could really tear shit up on your car if your not careful. dont blow your engine!!

Yeah, I'd much rather spend the couple hundred bucks to just get a piggy back ECU.

well, unfortunately, the ecu will not work with lancers, which kinda is a good thing, but also bad. good cuz i don't know if it will mess my car up or something. so.... and i have an exhaust on the way. the n1 catback off ebay. the only part i don't like, but is still kinda funny is that the tip is 4.5"!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/gunsmilie.gif) lol. my dad's diesel chevy 2500's tip is 5". but i will probably like it and thats all that matters. i really like the aftermarket look on cars, thats why i was looking for a bigger tip zizman. after i install it next week i shall post again let everyone know about it.

so i got the exhaust installed, and it sounds amazing. the 4.5" tip doesnt look too big on the lancer. I actually think it's perfect. But like it was said earlier each person like different things, and I happen to like the pretty big tips. It has a nice deep tone to it. And the silencer is very effective. Makes it sound like there is no exhaust. I would recommend it if anyone was contemplating buying it.

As long as you like it. You got a silencer, which really negates my issue with tips that large. Care to post some pictures?

Big mufflers look good on the lancers. Mine is huge atleast 4" in not more, but it looks alright. I didn't buy it it came on the car when I bought it. You could try to find a duel exaust tip muffler. that would look good and not be the cannon style.

HP isn't every thing. I think with all the thousands I put into my car I never made big hp #'s but I was quicker than most people. I smashed on some stock porshes. most mustangs were crap, I could never get a vette to race. basicly the engine isn't the best engine for power. but with alot of tuning and some bolt on's you could make it very responsive. and with some wieght taken out you will be quicker also. And your not at 120 at the wheels, more like 90 hp at the wheels. I don't have any timesheets for proof, but on my word I ran low 14 N/A. It blew up at a stop light one day. what a shame. I had a lifted cam and stiff valve springs, and replaced the timing belt with a stock type durralast belt one day. 10,000 mi later it decided to eat itself sitting at a light. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

btw I only got a body kit becase a car hung a left in front of me one day destoying my bumper and a fender. body kit was cheaper than stock

The only dynosheet I ever saw for an OZ had it at ~85WHP stock. I posted this when I first got my car, and some of my views have changed. I agree, larger tips DO look good on this car, especially since the stock exhaust cut out looks the way it does. A dual tip would look awkward for the same reason: the stock bumper cut out is a partial circle (I don't wanna call it a half circle cause it isn't one). I'm really more interested in an exhaust that doesn't SOUND like a canon. A friend of mine put a 4" tip on his '05 SE-R (an Apexi I believe), and while I was reaming on him at first for it, it hardly makes noise. It isn't even loud when he floors it...

Most likely I am going to end up getting the Magnaflow Cat-Back from RRM, which is a 3.5" tip. I'm just going to mount it as close as possible to the bumper without risking bumper burn (which my stock tip has already sucessfully done T_T). As long as I don't sound like a hemi coming and look like a limping horse going, I'm fine.

In so far as weight reduction: I'm big on it for a race car, but for my DD, I am ignoring it. I just want more oomph, not real power. I'm hoping eventually to do a Header, DP, and HF Cat as well as the exhaust, and possibly add resonators to the exhuast to keep it quieter and give it the type of note I want.

One last note about body kits: I've never seen one for the Lancer I liked, cause EVO kits annoy me...which is why I am against them...plus most of the people around me who have them have fugly ass kits on fuglier ass cars...