Mod gains
 

I recently picked up a stillen gen. 3 intake and am looking at what's the next best route. From what I've seen berk hfc, stillen catback, f.i. catback all make around the same gains individually. Semtex made well over 30 at the wheels with hfc/catback combo but others are seeing minimal additional gains when adding hfcs to a catback. (Fast intentions only sees another 5 whp when adding hfcs to their catback) If that's the case then I dont' see the reason to go through the hassle of taking the cats off and possibly dealing with a cel other than having a more aggressive sound. I think a cai, catback and ecu flash is going to net you pretty darn close what others would with headers/hfcs in addition to those mods. I'm just a college student so don't bite my head off about being cheap but if you can get 40 at the wheels without headers and hfcs I think that's a pretty good way to go.

Do you have a question? Or were you just making a statement? I would definitely forgo doing the headers. Not sure I'd pass on the HFCs though. But to each his own.

I would do the HFC combined with the stillen exhaust system. You'll like the gains.

Just meant to bring up the fact that some have been discouraged that gains from mods after catback or hfc and intake are minimal. It seems that the majority of gains seen on the exhaust side can be realized by just replacing the cats or catback instead of having to install both. Headers seem to be a pain to install and not worth the gains. There's alot of choice out there now so just making an observation on what I've seen on these forums.