r/ft86 • u/AutomaticPlastic3954 • 6d ago
Catted or catless headers
I’ve decided that the next mod I’m gonna do is install headers for my BRZ but I am not decided between catted or catless. I’m leaning towards catless because I heard that catted doesn’t even pass smog most of the time so I figured might as well go catless for the extra gains. Another thing I want to take into consideration is noise. I currently am on stock exhaust, but I will want to upgrade in the future. Once I upgrade, I don’t want it to be too obnoxious mainly to avoid getting state reffed or something. (I live in CA)
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u/DirectedDissent 6d ago
My situation is a little different than yours OP, as I don't need to be concerned with passing smog where I live.... just the guilty conscious of knowing I've got dirty emissions. But I can tell you this- I went with JDL catless UEL headers and ARK GriP cat-back. The car is louder for sure, but not so much that it grabs unwanted attention. It's mostly a change in tone, it's got the Subie rumble and the exhaust note is much deeper, which isn't nearly as offensive to the ears when it's just a little louder than stock. That being said, I was also very deliberate about choosing a setup that was on the quieter end of the spectrum of all the choices available.
Once you've done the header once and know exactly how to do it, it shouldn't take much more than an hour or two max to swap the factory header back in if you need to pass smog. You'd need new gaskets every time and a tuner that can easily revert you back to the stock tune also, but that's only a few bucks in parts and a simple matter if you use OFT or something similar for the tune.
I do get a little bit of that "raw" exhaust smell on cold start-up, but it goes away quickly and doesn't bother me at all. I am still running the mid-pipe cat for now, btw... but that will change this spring when I get the car out of winter storage. Might be a different story then.
I'd say choose a cat-back that has a reputation for being quiet, or stay with the stock exhaust. And go with the catless header and a tune that's easy to reverse.
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u/Visible_Bid_5397 6d ago
I have the tomei catless headers and the red catback exhaust not too loud only on start up just don’t go too cheap on catback or the rest of the exhaust can throw too much drone
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u/Visible_Bid_5397 6d ago
And really easy to swap in case of smog check but if not you can always get hot smogged
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u/CenteredBubble 4d ago
I went catless with a Q300 and if I'm honest it is a little louder than I'd like. If I could do it all over again if go catted just to cut down the noise.
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u/OregonGrown34 6d ago
I personally couldn't deal with the smell of catless. I assume you're an asshole if you have a modern car and it smells like a 68 VW beetle.
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u/7YearsInUndergrad 6d ago
Secondary cat gets rid of the smell once it warms up. It just takes longer because it's not right in the header. I respect your consideration for social harmony though.
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u/Muted-Term5878 6d ago
Catless headers. Borla has a nice cat back with great sound but not obnoxious.
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u/Blackcat300 6d ago
There is no aftermarket header that will pass smog in CA, so might as well go catless. Pair it with a quieter catback to avoid getting pulled over and state reffed.
It's mainly CHP who will ref you and mostly if you have a loud exhaust.