I'm new to the TL world but not HONDA. Could yall please help me out. what is the difference with the stages of exhaust for the TL?
stage1, stage2, stage3, stage4


Im totally confused about this.

 

The quick answer without the pictures, diagrams, and part #'s is this

Stage 1 - Delete "Mid-Muffler" and replace with straight pipe- applies to further stages as well

Stage 2 - Delete "Mid-Muffler" and replace factory Resonator with Magnaflow Resonator

Stage 3 - Delete "Mid-Muffler" and replace factory Resonator with Dynomax Resonator

Stage 4 - Delete "Mid-Muffler" AND factory Resonator, replace both with straight pipe


If you search the term "Mid Muffler", something is bound to come up ... matter of fact put in "mid muffler acura tl" in gooooogle, boom.

 

Thank you very much for the info. being your the only nicest person to help someone out and everyone else just looked at the post.

 

Stage 2 and 3 are the same, just diff brand of replacement resonator. Kind of silly to differentiate this in stages...

 

I wouldn't really differentiate between "stages" like that either. You have a catback, j-pipe/3rd cat, and precats. Swap out whichever you think will get you the most power/sound or accomplish your exhaust goals! You could start with our V2 J-Pipe!

http://hoa.excelerateperformance.com...i-1804833.aspx

 

Doing away with the 3rd cat would I fail an inspection? In north Carolina what ever comes on the car stock has to be on it to pass inspection supposedly.

 

It's hard to say. It varies by state and even by county. What will pass in one town, might not in another. In my experience, I've even had different shops pass me for some things and not others! What I can say is that 99% of our customers that delete the third cat, still pass emissions - even if they have a strict state. The precats are what do most of the emissions control. So leaving them in place will most likely help you pass emissions. There's no clear answer, but hopefully this helps.

 

Really depends. Here in NJ they do emissions and some do visual inspections. I had slight trouble two years ago when I had the long tubes, but switched out to the endless one and threw on a test pipe with the flanged to retain stock heat shield and no questions asked. The issues is they know one should be "there", but visually it isn't and since there is no sensor in the third cat it won't throw a code which is a grey area…if you mechanically inclined just swap it out every two years if you wanted.