there's smog/emissions testing, but it's not required.
i think it is only required if you are importing the car from another state, but it is only required once, during the import.

but either way, don't remove your cat, convert to EX exhaust.
if it comes down to HP for you, just get an EX magnaflow high-flow cat from summitracing.com, they're like 100 bucks
otherwise, just hit the junkyard and get a used EX cat

friends don't let friends go catless

 

The stock cat on your car is built into the exhaust manifold that you remove and replace with the header, so there really isn't any practical way to save it. What you should have done was buy a header for an ex and also a cat for an ex then they would both bolt up together to the stock exhaust then you could have the header upgrade and keep a cat also.

 

ah crap. so i pretty much have to spend more money to get this thing to work. last time i buy something for my car before asking about it in here =D

 

yea, but your first mistake was buying a generic ebay header
you'll be lucky if it holds up
50/50 chance

 

yeah man. at least, so i read. i feel like an idiot, but i might as well try to put the wasted money to use lol.

 

Go to advanced auto parts and get some duplicolor 1500 degree paint and paint the header. If you don't it will start to look like crap after awhile.

 

damn man. lol seriously?!

does the chrome like flake out or something?

 

Its not crome, its metal. The header I took off my last car that the previous owner put on it was more rust than metal.

Here is a picture of it next to the nice new DC Sports header I replaced it with:


Another Picture:

 

yikes. umm all i can say is wow. and thanks for the heads up. i sense a trip to the auto parts store in the near future.