I just bought a sweet '96 SC400 with 49K miles on it - it's like right out of the show room.

I was thinking about was replacing the factory cats with the Magnaflow cats, losing the resonators and using the Magnaflow mufflers as well. I guess that's about as good as it can get. And frankly, it's not that much more money for two Mag cats.

1. What do you folks think about replacing the factory cat's with the Magnaflow Cats? Any improvement there?

2. I assume that losing the resonators is a no brainer as far as gaining some sound and preformance.

3. It seems that most folks are using the Magnaflow Street Series 14829's - any ideas on others? Or are these the ones to go with?

4. Lastly, I am curious to know what the X pipes are for and why not just run true dual exhaust? It seems most systems use the X pipes. There must be a good reason?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Next on my list is probably cold-air intake, Auto Couture MAGNIFIQUE wheels, new tires, maybe lowering 1" and replacing the Nak speakers with something hot.

 

as for the intake, it may be best to stick with the stock air box. 96+ have different MAF setups than the 92-95, but it seems that most people with 92-95's get the best performance with the stock air box and NOT a K&N cone filter. i have a 96 as well (pearl white, what is yours? post pics!) and i changed out the stock air box with a k&n cone filter and weapon-r cold air box. i've noticed no drop in performance, but really no gain either. our engines get plenty of airflow in stock form, and with the newer MAF/ECU setups i'm not sure that the engine will actually take advantage of any extra airflow or not.

 

Crongrats on the 96 SC400 and welcome to CL.

Exhaust wise, I have posted quite a bit of info that you may find helpful.

You may wish to do a search on my posts for lots of tech detail.

Exhaust wise, you can start here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=62581

As far as intake mods go... a modified stock box is best. Go here for all the details:

http://www.users.bigpond.com/pgscott/BFIDIY/BFIDIY.html

Heck, read the ENTIRE site at http://www.users.bigpond.com

Also, I am working on some headers that will bolt in with the stock catalysts. This project is 60-90 days out but rest assured, I will keep CL up to date.

Here is my latest exhaust manifold post for reference:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=70132

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=&threadid=712

http://photos.yahoo.com/the_ikon1911