I have an 04 black coupe. I love my stock sound, just seeing if there's something between 400-600 bucks that would be a little louder and improve performance

 

high flow cats/resonated test pipes or art pipes

 

art resonated test pipes would be a great option for you

 

Do you have a link for the art pipes? Easy install?

 

If you have a lift available they're a super easy install. sometimes it's a bit hard to reach the top outside nut though the engine bay, but the last time I installed a set it took about 30 minutes.

http://www.motordyneengineering.com/...roducts_id=121

 

Awesome, will it be noticeably louder?

 

 

inside car

 

I have test pipes on my 04 with a borla exhaust that sounds great but I've heard the borla sounds terrible once your boosted, I am getting the art pipes on my 03 soon and it has the HKS hi-power exhaust (which I think I like better than the borla). Honestly you will just need to go to youtube and start listening to sound clips of the different ones and you can usually find a video with the exact combination your thinking about. If you are planning to do more later you want to make sure you like the sound of the whole setup versus just liking the test pipes for example but then when you get an exhaust you don't like the new sound.

For the price range you are looking at though you should defintely replace the cats.

 

ART pipes are a good option, and anything to replace the restrictive OEM cats is going to be beneficial. Don't get used to spending $500 and getting a great bang for your buck on this platform though, not a lot of ways to do it and most things for this platform are definitely not cheap.

Also in the price range are a lot of single exhausts. I got a used Motordyne Gamma single with the XYZ pipe for $500 shipped from a guy that was parting out and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that exhaust to anyone.

 

Gamma single is discontinued.

 

ART pipes are illegal in every state! HFCs are legal in most states and Fast Intentions are the best adding 6 to 8 whp over OE cats!
Gary

 

Yup, has been for about 2 years or so. That's why I stated I had found a used one

It was considerably more when it was new, especially with the XYZ. The point I was trying to make for the OP which I will now spell out in excruciating detail is that there is a good bit of money to be saved on used parts. Single exhausts are less expensive than duals, even very good singles. When buying used parts, if you're able to find someone parting out and in a hurry to get back to stock, you can get even better than normal deals and they might throw in extras (such as an awesome y-pipe upgrade). Ergo, my friends, if you're attempting to ball on a budget, keeping an eye out for used equipment that is still serviceable is a fantastic way to maintain positive control of some of your benjamins.

 

I had Berk HFC with stock exhaust and it was louder but still stock sounding, I did enjoy it. I added the MotorDyne TDX2 exhaust system recently and now my car is insanely loud lol.

Heres just the HFC (and JWT Pop Charger)