How to Beef Up a Car Exhaust

If an engine could be considered a thing that needs to breathe, then the exhaust system can be instrumental in allowing the engine to breathe out more easily, giving it more power. Beefing up one's exhaust system is a very effective way to improve your engine.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Decide the extent to which you wish to beef up your exhaust. Do you want to stick with a better muffler, or do you want to go whole hog and do headers as well?

2. Check out sites such as Flowmaster. They have a wide range of mufflers that give a variety of sounds and are made for import or domestic vehicles. There are even mufflers for antique cars. Check out the muffler that will suit your needs best.

3. Decide if you wish to have an exhaust kit. The kits come in single or dual exhaust, and include hangers, pipes, pre-bent mandrels, tips and more, as well as custom mufflers.

4. Explore headers at such sites as Reward Header, Magnum Force and more. Headers provide air more evenly to your engine, allowing the engine to breathe even more freely. Combined with a custom muffler, this gives even more power to your engine.

5. Choose whether to get a header made specifically for your car, or to get custom headers. Headers are available for every-day driving as well as racing.

6. Pick up a performance catalytic converter that works with your exhaust system. A high-flow cat can go a long way to improving your engine's performance.

7. Have someone help you install the mufflers and headers should you be unable to do so yourself.

Resources

• Reward Headers has many headers.
• CarX Auto Service has custom exhaust.