Ive heard that the downpipe sounds more tame and gives about the same power gain over stock as the header and costs less.
But really my question is will it sound okay on the stock catback? Ive heard that the header/presilencer sounds "like a tin can full of angry bees", but i dunno how it would be on the downpipe setup.
I have the money for either at this point.
As you may have guessed the car is na.

 

Put the head pipe and presil on the 86 Base with a custom tailpipe and single magnaflow 2.5" sounded fine not to loud. Good performance and light weight.
Find a pipe and single muffler, saves some weight.

I installed the full RB system, header, presil and muffler on my GSL-SE. Great sound and great addition to power.

I would go with the Header, I think it has a better sound. On my GSL-SE I made a small simple heat shield between the the top of header and LIM. The RB did not work for me. Maybe the S5 on would fit better.

 

The stock mufflers on either system is just gonna sound like poop.
I mentioned the "angry bees" a while back..
It was embarassing.Did it...saw the look of people on the street..not impressive.

I'm trying to figure out of you are going for the Noise quality or the power gain.

 

Well my only plans at this point for the car are header or downpipe, presilencer, a catback, and wider wheels and tires. Right now the downpipe and presilencer are easily in my grasp with cash to spare. Im gonna talk to racing beat on monday as they are very close to my commute and if they tell me the same as what youre saying i will just bite my tongue and keep saving for the catback

 

Talked to racing beat today on the phone. They said it should be alright sound-wise but im gonna talk to them in person before i make the purchase, IF i do

 

I also talked to FCNut, banned a little while ago, who ran the downpipe/presilencer to a stock catback for years on his na vert and he said it sounded fine. Thats enough for me hahahaha

 

So i bought the downpipe and presilencer. Will there be much of a difference in how the car feels and drives? The guys at racing beat claim the car will feel a lot faster but i cant help but feel like that might be a tad biased

 

I felt the Header/presilencer paired with stock mufflers. Don't know about the downpipe though. I imagine you will notice a difference. They did know you are talking about a n/a car and not a turbo one?

 

Yes they did know. I bought it in person. Also they do say the downpipe vs the headers doesnt really have a noticeable difference

 

there are a few reasons for that.

the first is that the manifold isn't that bad, the outlet is a good size, so its not very restrictive. the second, basically there are a couple of small construction things with the header that make it not as good as it could be.

so the net of it is that the performance between the two is pretty close, which is nice, as the manifold also acts like a silencer, so it should be easy to have a car that is quiet enough for a DD.