TLCthc420

Being a 18 year old im on a tight budget only making roughly 250-300 on a good week. I want my car to be louder and a wee bit quicker. I just would like to get fellow members thoughts about installing aftermarket jpipe before catback.

zachlone

Jpipe is one of the best performance mods you can do for the money. If you are looking for sound improvements you aren't going to get any with just a jpipe. Since u are on a low budget look into the stage exhaust mods. Most popular is stage 3 which is the straight pipe mid muffler and swap factory resonator for a dynomax resonator (24215 or 24235)

breck569

iTrader: (1)

If you only plan on getting one or the other, id get catback. I had stage 3, and when i got a j pipe with test pipe, it got a little louder. But if you plan on getting precats in future, there will be plenty of rasp with catback and stock exhaust does a good job of taming it. (Or adding a resonator to catback) So i guess it kind of depends on how much money you want to eventually put into it. Because unfortunately catback is the most expensive part of the exhaust

Excelerate

iTrader: (1)

J-pipe = more power a bit of exhaust tone change
Exhaust = some power and a fair amount of exhaust note change depending on the brand

Of course we recommend our XLR8 exhaust products. The j-pipe will be half the price of an exhaust.

Mrtastygoody

iTrader: (1)

I just bought an XLR8 V1 pipe off of paperboy. You notice the nice little bump in power, it's not anything crazy but you can tell for sure. Also, I have the mid muffler removed, everything else stock, and the jpipe with 3rd cat delete definitely woke up the sound of the exhaust. I get a beautiful sound from about 2000 to 4500, then after that the sound of the engine itself drowns out the exhaust. Can be heard from inside the car, haven't had anyone do a driveby for me yet so I can hear it outside.

Look for a used jpipe on the black market if you really want one, they pop up every couple days or so.

zachlone

^ def search the BM every now and then

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

The TL's jpipe is undoubtedly the most restrictive part of the exhaust with possible exception to the "functional" parts of the exhaust such as the cats and mufflers. I highly recommend replacing the jpipe first if you're looking for the best performance/cost. As far as performance goes, I believe jpipe first, hi-flow cats (HFPC) second and catback last. I noticed an increase in output with all three but the catback was the least noticeable. I believe the TL's stock catback probably isn't all that restrictive to start with.

None of those are cheap but good investments that will yield better power output, sound and efficiency (ie. the less power the engine has to expend pusing exhaust out, the better the efficiency of the engine overall).

stvtec

iTrader: (2)

"good investment" Now that might be a bit of a stretch. :P

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^investment of happiness!

tomlinsonj

iTrader: (2)

^jpipe was definitely an investment of happiness for me But the OP wants more noise with maybe a little bit of pep. OP - look for a used catback first then jpipe second, unless your priorities change.

pohljm

your 18! just enjoy the fact that you driving a very nice car. a j-pipe isnt gonna change the fact that its still a heavy honda 4 door grocery getter. plenty of way quicker cars. put your money in an investment account and in several years you will be able to get into a condo or something. save your money and pay for your education

1black_seven

iTrader: (2)

^THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE.
If I could rewind time to when I was 18.. I should have saved money. But the need for instant gratification is a bitch when you're young.

TLCthc420

Thanks all for the responses. I think ive came to my conclusion. And XLR8 for posting because that was my first initial choice And as of saving and education. I already have a good college fund from my grandparents in Savings Bonds from over many years. Plus i make most than most kids my age do in a day than they would in 3 >

TLCthc420

But also what is the blackmarket? like where can i find where the people are selling it. like on the forums? or a website..

SharksBreath

iTrader: (33)

you make $250-300 a week...that isn't good money (no offense, you are young...i get it.) i would encourage you to save YOUR money (not your grandparents or parents) and once you have a nice cushion saved up you can start modding your car piece by piece.

the TL is somewhat expensive to modify, especially if you're trying to gain power on this heavy FWD sedan. what if you buy a jpipe and spend all your money on it and then BAM! flat tire next day? what do you do? you can't get a replacement tire bc you blew your wad on a piece of metal.

the black market is on the forum. go to the upper left part of the screen and click acurazine community and then on the new page scroll down near the bottom and you'll see a tab that says black market. people buy/sell/trade all their parts on there.

Comptechtl2367

Best advise I have ever seen on this site! I totaled up all the invoices I have kept for all the cars I have built since highschool (Im 26) and it totaled just over 65k! Thats not including the cars and invoices I lost. If I would have invested all of that I would be a pretty wealthy guy with a nicer car then a TL!

zachlone

^ this is sad but true... but if all we do is save money then you arent having fun and enjoying life! plus spending money helps with the economy as long as its not put on a credit card

350

iTrader: (4)

When I was 18 I dumped way too much money into cars. I dug a hole that took me a while to get out of. I still spend too much money on modding cars but at a much slower pace now. Based on your income and user name (420) you really can't afford to do much more than maybe a muffler delete and put gas in the car. And if you delete the muffler your odds of being stopped and your 420 discovered just went up. Focus on school, instead of wrenching on the car volunteer somewhere if you have the time to build networking for future jobs. I've been out of college a few years now and good jobs are hard to come by. I probably would have ignored this advice at your age too.

Comptechtl2367

This is the exact arguement I use with my fiance trying to justify the Comptech S/C on this TL now too.

But to answer your question, get the J-Pipe, Delete the 3rd cat, and do a mid muffler delete. Cheap and you will get good sound out of it, which seems to be your biggest reason for doing it.

Turbocoop

iTrader: (3)

HAHA, dude we have just about the same car history and I was gonna give the OP the exact same advice- but when I was 18 I wouldnt have listened to anyone either...I had a turbo civic (ended up selling it for the same amount I spent on the motor alone), a top mount SC61 SR20 240sx (sold it for less than I spent on the motor by itself), Lexus SC300 (sold it before I could blow 10K on the 2JZ swap thank god), Silverado SS (still paying off credit card loans to make it half as fast as my old civic), and now I have my 2nd TL which I didnt plan to do much work to... that didnt work out either because I just bought a comptech... Fuck, its an addiction.

To the OP- you are going to mod your car no matter what anyone says, at least you are here asking questions before you just go out and start buying random shit, which is exactly what I did with my first car- the civic. My advice: make a plan for what you want the car to look/perform like, decide what mods to do in which order and stick to it. BTW- I have a stage 3 exhaust now and the sound is perfect for my taste, not loud at all but noticeable over OEM. Good luck

pohljm

yeah! its the rare 18 year old that will listen to that advice, But I had to put it out there because when we look back I think we all wish we had someone give us that advice and would have actually listened! I thought I was gonna get flamed...........

Mrtastygoody

iTrader: (1)

^I'm 20, and I wish I would listen to it now, but I'm not going to. Don't know why, but I won't. At least I've saved SOME money

zachlone

I normally regret purchases when it comes to selling the car and realizing that it hurts value but everyone likes to make the car that they drive everyday look/sound good or we would all be driving Prius's or something of that nature. its all about pleasing our needs.

socal3

Why not an intake you can get 1 for under 200 and get the mid muffler delete, it will sound great.

cazio

iTrader: (3)

Agreed^^^^^^^ I'm not here to brag about income but I make considerably more money and I struggle finding money to mod my TL. why would u blow ur whole wod on mods? spend it on girls u little fruit lol

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmIUQ...ature=youtu.be

TLCthc420

Already have AEM v2 ;D and yeah, Turbocoop you are the man. I'm glad you see it the way i do. Money is of no issue right now, i don't mind blowing money. I'm a kid. My family isn't wealthy nor poor. But school will be good, Going into computers so there we go. and Cazio, I wish! but this man is taken by my gf. and 350, smoke one. Have for 5 years and only got in trouble once and didn't even get a ticket while i was driver. Always drive safe and avoid sketchy-ness. Its been dropped to a civil infraction in my area just recently

Grand_hustle17

His responce is just like n 18yr old, cant really tell teens anything.. but with that said, i think its o.k if he spends on his car if its a hobby... If we all think of how much weve ever spent on cars we would be a tad more financially stable, at the means of unhappiness.. having money brings happiness, why?, cause u can spend it... We all do it.. its life... Good luck on the J pipe.. wish i could mod but this thing called bills seems to always be up my ass lol... N it hurts rofl...

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Get a jpipe and do stage 1 or 2. Or if you can't afford the jpipe spend 50 bucks and just do stage 1 for a little extra sound.

Comptechtl2367

Weird considering you said in the original post that you are on a budget and one would assume that if money was not an issue you would just buy a full exhaust and J-pipe.

That being said I expected a 18 year old answer to this thread, I would have said the same thing back then. Im glad your going with the J-Pipe and exhaust mod, I think you would be happiest with the results.