I'm having my muffler cut off tomorrow. I'm going to try it for a while and see if it hurts or helps anything. I will probably end up with an Aero just to quiet things down. Hopefully it won't be extremely loud with no muffler, but I'll just deal with it. Anyone running straight pipe, no cat or muffler? How do you like it?

 

Why are you cutting it off?

 

I already had my cat removed because the previous owner destroyed a turbo and the turbine wheel went down the down pipe and shredded the inside of the cat. I drove the truck about 10k miles before I finally figured this out. It had no power and Dodge replaced the turbo and lift pump before they finally told me that the cat was clogged. When I removed the catthe inside was broken into pieces about the size of quarters or smaller and I think a lot of this may have gotten into the muffler as well and clogged it too. My mileage is still poor (only about 14 mpg) and my EGTs are higher than normal from what I can gather by reading other posts. I'm hoping this will lower my EGTs and help my mileage. We shall see.

 

without that cat. . .it's gunna get LOUD!!!!

after about a week you'll be waning an aero or better.

 

having no power to begin with, expect the power to kinda jump once the turbo spools up. your mileage may not be any better as having no restriction in the exhaust slows the spoolup time for part throttle driving. been there, done that with a 30" magnaflow & no cat. put in the aero where the cat used to live & mileage came back 1~1.5 mpg.

 

I've never heard a 3rd gen with straight pipe, so I really don't know what to expect.

By the way the guy at the muffler shop said the he has seen a few clogged mufflers, but only a handful.

 

Bekim (or Bekin I forget which) had a 5" straight pipe IIRC, after talking with him about his setup, he convinced me bigger would kill mileage. so after loosing the cat & doing the 30" mag install, I could see how he was right. Took alot of convincing from guys here (mayfair especially IIRC) to get me to put an aero on, couldnt be happier...

 

I'm going to get an Aero, but I have to wait a month or so because money is a little tight. Definetely getting one though.

 

What does this Aero sound like? Why is it so great?

 

put it where the cat used to be...

the aero is a striaght thru muffler that splits the exhaust anc causes a scavaging (sp?) effect as the exhaust is rejoined at the output of the muffler. check out their website for details on it. I'm considering one for my 1.8T jetta...