Well, this is a new one to me..
 

Alright... I was under my new '82 S today changing the oil and looking at the general condition. I look up and, what's this? Hmm.. the fresh air tube to the main cat is hanging loose. Some more digging, it looks like the pipe had rusted off somewhere in the cars short lifespan and some local hack muffler shop decided to crimp the tube off and weld the hole on the cat shut. Gee.. I bet that's gonna prolong it's life. Well, it's not doing any good, so I might as remove the whole thing. Some more checking, I reached up to feel the top of the main cat, and I felt rust and something like fibreglass. Is it possible there's actually a large hole into the cat, or was something just wrapped around it? I didn't take the heat shield off, but I'll do so soon. The car is pretty quiet, which is why I don't think there's actually a hole. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone has had experience with www.rx-7.com's "test pipe" they offer for these cars. I'm considering this as a short term solution to the situation I have right now. Also, will Racing Beat or Mazdatrix sell their long-primary exhaust system sans the muffler? I really like the look of the N1-style on these cars, and would like to go with one of those. Thanks for any help,

--Danny

I am sure that Mazdatrix will sell you a system sans muffler. I do not know how much louder it will be but I bet it is pretty darn loud. I put a cat replacement pipe I got from racing beat on my car long ago; it did wonders for the performance, and raised the sound level considerably. I used to like the sound of my stock system minus the cat, but now it is just too weedeater-on-crack for my taste. Maybe I am getting old.

I would go ahead and get the header and some sort of perfromance exhaust if you can afford it, the power gains are worth it.