I have just finished the installation of a Hot Shot header. I still have stock exhaust. I think my car now sounds a little bit like an old VW bug (slightly, not real bad). I only notice it while accerating (it sounds very good when I just rev the engine). Is this the result of the new header, a CAI, and stock cat back? Or, is something wrong? My friend and I checked for leaks but could not find any. Of course, neither of us are mechanics so...

LIKE AN OLD VW??? thats odd.
I got the ol' trustable rust Pacesetter and it didnt sound like that!!
Sounds like a leak somewhere. HMMMMMM..............

Hey Spudnex, if by old VW you mean a ringing or high pitch rattling sound, then I think most of us with the new HS headers are experiencing this. ITs the product of a bad flex pipe design. WE need to call John at HS to have him send us newer secondaries that have been reworked! :mad:

You'll get used to it. I don't even notice it anymore. Just turn up the volume on the stereo and makes all your worries fade away. :D

What?????
Originally posted by spudnex
I have just finished the installation of a Hot Shot header. I still have stock exhaust. I think my car now sounds a little bit like an old VW bug (slightly, not real bad).

Sounds like an old VW bug???:confused: :confused:
My 72 Bug never sounded like an "old bug." I had a sweet balanced 1641 with dual Kadrons ending with a 4 into 1 tucked single exhaust. :D :D

maybe your ride sounds more like a classic Mazda RX-3?????? I would dump the stock exhaust to go with the HS header.

Brian

Does this happen to 1.6's too?

Yeah, I just installed my gen4 HS header this weekend. It makes the cricket sounds. Everything was installed right, and no leaks. Besides the weird sounds, everything runs great.

Hmmm, no it doesn't make a "cricket" nose, or a high pitched ratteling. It's more of slight buzz mixed in with the nice deep sound that should be there. I'm thinking more and more that there is a leak somewhere. I've got a Greddy SP in my garage to put on next weekend. After I get that on I think I'll take to whole set-up to a shop and see if they can somehow test the exhaust system for leaks (and fix them). Does this seem like a good idea?