Im working on replacing the exhaust system in my 1984 Gsl se. It currently has a single cat with a presilencer, the air pump is still hooked up and the stock manifold is on. I ordered a pacsetter monza muffler, and a new midpipe. I was wondering if anyone has experience with the pacesetter header, (http://info.automotix.net/bodyparts/...p40701070.html, or the same one from black dragon). Does it fit with a stock cat system or better yet would it fit with a racing beat cat removal pipe?

 

you'll hate yourself in less than a year.

 

It's garbage, as is the muffler. Super loud, sounds crappy, and flows badly.

 

don't be cruel they already bought the muffler

 

You could not give me pacesetter headers and muffler. What's the return policy? The quality really is that **** poor.

 

What would your suggestion be for a muffler setup that isnt too expensive youre talking to a poor college student here.

 

RB Power Pulse muffler dude.

 

Or custom. Get a Borla ProXS and have a muffler shop weld it on. I doubt it would be much if any louder than that Pacesetter crap, and would definitely sound and flow a lot better.

 

I spent $550 on mine. Very Very solid exhaust.
RB header $150 used
RB Cat delete pipe $150
Magnaflow Muffler $200
Installed $50

Dont go cheap on rotaries...you'll hate yourself later.

 

i'ma magnaflow guy myself. they have alot of different designs and i find that they give the rotary a nice rumble. as for header.....ditch the "pacemaker" and find a used racing beat.

 

I canceled my order for the pacesetter mufflers, i would personally like to go with the RB exhaust system but it costs more than i paid for the car so i dont think i can dish out that kind of cash. I might just go with the power pule muffler and leave the single cat and presilencer i have on. but the midpipe and muffler are just about rusted away.

 

gut the cat

 

not a bad idea, i was thinking about getting the cat replacement pipe from RB its my understanding that if fits between the stock exhaust manifold and the mid pipe. is this correct?

 

I have one on my SA, as I recently purchased the car and instantly swapped out the motor, which was all orignal and i knew i was not going to put that thermal reactor and air pump back on so the pacesetter was the cheapest alternative. i am satisfied with my pacesetter it hasn't started rusting....yet, as all other pacesetters i've owned have done. i will say this, it fit quite a bit better than some of their stuff i have installed on other vehicles. i know when the time comes i will certainly repalce it with a RB header, but until then it will have to do. i would say if you're not like how i was when swapping out my motor, ya know trying to cut costs where ever you can and want to buy a header for you car one time, then i would go with RB. previous experience has taught me pacesetters don't last and you can just tell that the quality is there with RB.

 

I had a pacesetter header....

I winter drove the car in Canada, 3 yrs total... then sold it in great shape... Just because I went turbo...

I had ZERO problems....

 

I've found that the people that bash Pacesetter headers the hardest are the ones that have never even laid a finger on one. I had one. While definitely not the best out there, the gains from it over stock are undeniable. Mine lasted many years before I finally cut it up an integrated it into other projects. It never rusted out and I certainly didn't hate it in less than a year. It also directly bolted up with no issues at all. Just reuse the stock exhaust gasket as the one it comes with is paper. Bad news for hot exhaust. If you can afford better equipment than by all means go for it but if you have a tight budget and need a reasonable gain, don't be scared of it. It's not as bad as people make it out to be and definitely a noticable upgrade from stock.

 

I dont think so. I believe it fits between their header and the mid pipe so I would double check.

 

I have a pacesetter header on my sa, it's been on there for about a year and a half. I haven't had any problems yet, no rust. As mentioned above, the only thing I did was order a new gasket from mazda instead of using the one that came with it. I decided to try the pacesetter over the rb one because I knew that I would be swapping in a t2 motor at some point, I'll hopefully start on that next fall.

 

The cat replacement pipe is designed for the collected 12A header (Street). Its a direct bolt in to that header. Not sure about the stock manifold.

 

No disrespect intended, but get used to that; that's par for the course whenever working with older sports cars, and goes double for relatively 'exotic' ones like the 1st gens.

Especially when the initial purchase price was a bargain; there's always a reason why the seller was selling.

 

In that case it will NOT work with the stock manifold, a the stock manifold is like 12 inches long vs the header which is ~30" long

 

I admit I've never experienced just the Pacesetter header. I'm sure it would be a nice bump in power over the stock exhaust manifold. It doesn't really take much to beat that.

But I can tell you for certain that the full system is utter crap. I knew a guy who had it on his car, and I'm not joking, it was like listening to someone shaking a chain-link fence. It made my GLC seem quiet, and my GLC would give me headaches on the freeway. Plus, his car just wasn't very fast, even with his dual Weber setup. It's easy to see why. The header isn't all that well designed, the mufflers are louvered-core, and the bends in the pipe are sub-standard. It's just not worth it. Leave the stock system on there for a little while longer while you save up for the RB system.

 

When I had my Cat replacement pipe on my 85 12a it did exactly what your saying. Bolted to the stock exhaust manifold, then connected to the midpipe. Mine looks just like the one posted above. What you have to remember when comparing it to the RB header's length is that the RB Header then has a presilencer which goes between the header and midpipe. When I bought mine it was because the cat that was on the car was rusted out and I needed something to fill the space. This was the easiest solution for a poor college kid. Held up great till I got rid of the car due to salted roads eating the rest of the car. The cat replacement pipe till looks pretty good sitting in my basement.
The cat replacement pipe is built to the same quality standards as the RB headers.

 

If a RB unit is waht you want then WAIT. Shop around I just sold a complete RB exhaust system for 500$ only 3k miles on it too. This was the SP setup at that. So if you shop around and be patient youll find one.

 

I personally have a RB header, stock pipe from there to the muffler, then my Apexi N1 that was off a FC.

I will be doing a custom pipe from my header to the N1 that is under the axle. I have heard that you can just go under not over. I will be using 2.5" piping!