93 22RE 160,000 miles 5spd 4x4 (new to this board)

I am looking to replace my deteriorating exhaust system with an equally reliable system. I am not looking for great sound but reliability, good price, and a little more HP would be a plus. I live in AZ and was told I do not need the catalytic converter. I was also told that if I leave the cat off, I would increase HP and save money. Any downside to this? Would 02 sensors be thrown off? Any Toyota owners out there with recommendations? I appreciate your input.

Thanks,
JARED

 

Downey off road. They have some nice stuff.

 

Check with your local shops. I needed a new one for my 4runner and everyone quoted me $250+ for a factory replacement. One recommended shop said they could fab something up for me for $160 and that's lifetime guaranteed, made in the U.S.A, and done locally (to me).

 

Downey looks like the way to go.

 

well i have just a flowmaster 40 series muffler on mine with no pipes back from it and its great for a good price too. but i doubt you could go wrong with a full setup from downey.

 

You could go downey for the headers and never regret it, from what I hear. I agree with the idea of going local to an exhaust shop for fabbing up the rest. Get yourself a muffler, magnaflows work, flowmasters work, borlas work... they all sound good and its 6 of one half dozen of the other, ultimately. Flowmaster offers a snazzy diamond plate finished offroad muffler with a little bit thicker metal, but if you hang up on it, it'll still rip your exhaust off anyway, so it doesnt really matter. Don't get a big fat diameter tubing on your exhaust and ruin your backpressure, because that would cost you HP, not gain any. Oh, and sound like junk. I happen to be partial to high-flow cat converters. Even if you don't need to technically, its a good thing in my opinion to run some sort of a cat. Not only do I find it partly my own personal responsibility to keep my emissions low and my tire ruts shallow and my trash inside my vehicle and so on... I like to think that my grandkids will have the same forest trails to beat down with the old toyota they will inevitably inherit from me in sixty years! Anyhow, I hear that running no cat isnt good for your engine per say. Could just be a myth, what do I know.

Ultimately I advise you keep backpressure in mind and get a high flow cat and muffler and downey headers and to to a good exhaust shop and get them to do the work.

 

Doug Thorley makes not only a very nice header kit but also a nice cat-back system:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DTE-505C/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DTE-89205/

I love my Borla turbo muffler. Nice resonant sound, not too loud, and very high grade stainless. I installed it 13 years ago and it's still in great shape. Improved my gas mileage and gave a noticeable boost in power.

This is the 2.25" size that works perfectly with my 3.0:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BOR-40652/ Borla model # 40652

Borla used to sell it in an all stainless cat-back kit that they unfortunately no longer sell. They do sell stainless pipes, though, that could be used in a custom fit system.