I have a 2003 civ 1.7 with a K&N cold air intake, I want to cut out my cat, I live in a county that does not require emmisions, cat's restrict so much from the engine! Not sure if this is a substantial gain or would i be wasting time? any sugestions?

 

Do you have an aftermarket exhaust? Header? If not, you're wasting your time. And cats don't restrict as much as you'd think from the engine

 

No, I do not. What can I do to gain more horsepower? I have heard of cut outs, are they a good gain?

 

https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=30102

reeeeeeeead

 

ok, so the main reason not to cut it out, is that its illegal. are cut outs illegal also? with a cut out i could gain 20 to 25 extra horse with a push of a button.

 

removing the cat wont do anything!

 

The main reason is because removing the cat is immoral and affects everyone in the world in a negative way.
pshh
maybe like 10 max
especially with no mods besides intake.

A better idea would be to get a header, cat-back exhaust, and then instead of removing the cat, just get a high-flow cat. They're direct fit and the Magnaflow is like $100-$150 on summitracing.com
The difference between a high-flow cat and having no cat at all is 1HP. That 1HP isn't worth polluting the world more than we already do.

 

Lol. Point taken. How much horsepower would i gain if i did that set up? Which sounds good by the way! I would like to keep my civ a sleeper car, that is one of the reasons i thought about a cut out.

 

bolt on's won't gain much HP. maybe like 20hp total with the intake, header, exhaust, and high flow cat

for a sleeper exhaust you could get custom 2.25" piping and just use the stock muffler, with a nice tip. Check out addiction2bass's 99EX, it is stock muffler with a nice tip, and I never even knew it was just a tip until i saw him talk about it in a post.

Another alternative is the RS*R Exmag exhaust. It's pricey though, but it sounds amazing (relatively quiet) and the tip is nice and subtle.
Some more options are the A-pexi WS2 or GReddy SP2, but although they are as quiet as the RS*R, they look a little more aggressive. They have a pretty small tip though, just not as subtle as the RS*R. They're both good exhausts though.
If you want to see the WS2, look in my photo album (it sticks out far on my car because I had it modified to fit on my car. It won't do that on your car)

But yea, the cut-out would be alright I guess since you wouldn't have it open all the time you wouldn't be adding that much more pollution. Thing about that though is, the exhaust is loud as hell when you do that. And I mean like painfully loud.

 

^ he has a d17. He's not going to see 20 horses from i/h/e.

Sin, honestly, if you have the money ($4-5k), the best thing you could do for your car is a k20a swap. Perfectly legal for 8th gens, 200hp, and they respond fairly well to mods.


But yeah, a high-flow cat is the way to go.

(and unfortunately, d17's respond terribly to mods; you won't see 20hp from i/h/e)