Resonator Questions

question. I'm kinda planning out my exhaust . To those of you who have removed the resonator, what does it really end up doing in terms of sound / performance. I mean should i for sure take that out or what.

I took mine off and it seemed to me to add a little power and torque and changed the tone slightly not a major diff tho not loke i was hopein !!

I was looking forward to do it but someone turned me off the idea. I hear it sounds great at idle but you hear drone at hiway speeds, 3rd gear IIRC.

Maybe David or someone else can chime in about that?

NO !! NO highwat drone, jus mid range tone difference ! If u didnt know it was done u probably couldnt tell.Thats my opinion.

Explain this "drone" or range difference. Is it bad or just different? I just don't want a passanger to be like "wtf is that?"

U can not hear any drone, all i am saying is that, the sound is different ,not much if any louder. Take it off and if its too much for u put it back on, but in IMO its worth takein it off.

so im kinda getting the idea that this thing really doesn't do much at all which makes me wonder why they bothered with it at all...

turtleman wrote:

so im kinda getting the idea that this thing really doesn't do much at all which makes me wonder why they bothered with it at all...

Resonators are designed to muffle certain frequencies, people who buy new Buicks do not want exhaust noise.

True. I heard someone on this board or RegalGS actually put it back on. But maybe I;ll remove the cat and res for shits and giggles

LOL found a word for the language filter!

When I removed the resonator, I had higher drone at around 2-2.5K. You could hear it from a stop and while crusing at certain hyw speeds. The riv is so quiet it isnt that noticable. Both my brothers have GSs and their cars with the stock exhaust was louder then with my res removed and a 3in DP.

When you have the guy cut it out, have him leave enough pipe on the res so it could be welded back in. I held on to mine until I was sure I didnt want it.

Imo, removing the res will make some noise, but will not give you any noticeable power increase. I've still got mine.

how can you remove the cat without problems?

I am wondering the same thing as I am looking to delete cat and res. What is done with that sensor?

The resonator will not create any 02 sensor problems. The only problem you get is when removing the cat... a DTC which will illuminate the SES light. This will not effect the operation of the engine.

If you don't like the SES light, you'll need to turn it off in the PCM (need PowrTuner), or you can remove O2 sensor #2) and purchase a dummy resister to trick the PCM into thinking it's still working correctly. This costs $25 or so.

AA wrote:

The resonator will not create any 02 sensor problems. The only problem you get is when removing the cat... a DTC which will illuminate the SES light. This will not effect the operation of the engine.

If you don't like the SES light, you'll need to turn it off in the PCM (need PowrTuner), or you can remove O2 sensor #2) and purchase a dummy resister to trick the PCM into thinking it's still working correctly. This costs $25 or so.

does anyone else here besides me have to be able pass emissions?

I love Ohio.

I hear there are 8 counties in OH that have echeck. I don't live in one. But I am sure you won't pass. If you change the PCM to not throw a code or use the dummy resistor, thats one step in passing echeck as they scan via OBDII. However they will also likely check under the vehicle to see if there is a cat there.

For OBDII vehicles I do not think they hook up the exhaust pipe to an analyzer, but they will physically look under the car.

Guess you could install some dummy cat that looks legit. Then if you are not throwing any emissions codes and they think there is a cat, you would be good to go. But if your state or county actually analyzes exhaust then there is nothing you can do.

8 out of 88 counties.

Inspection is a joke around here. To get an out of state or salvage vehicle title, all they check is that serial & VIN numbers match on various parts of car. Takes about 5 mins.

Ha, yeah my "inspection" was was about 45 seconds and even the lady from the BMV said it was a farce as all she did was check a number or two and make sure the color I said matched the car.

if you tune your OBDII pcm, with powertuner for example, and turn off the MIL and change stuff to tune and whatnot, does the nocturnal emissions place know that? And if so, do they fail you for tuning when you pass emissions?

I don't see how they could know. The DHP BIN re-writes the PCM with the same code as OEM, except the values are changed. Unless they have a stock BIN for a Riv to compare to, they wouldn't know what differences to look for.

Not saying they couldn't find out, but it would need to involve some leg work, someone with the expertise, and a reason to employ either.

well ive kinda decided im going to put a pair of thrush glass packs in, oem mufflers out. for now, keep res. and cat. i measured it and although those glasspacks are long, they will just fit if done right and im going to be a little bit creative about making the tips of them look kinda normal instead of goofy ass red that they are. I'll take pics when i do it.

AA wrote:

8 out of 88 counties.

Inspection is a joke around here. To get an out of state or salvage vehicle title, all they check is that serial & VIN numbers match on various parts of car. Takes about 5 mins.

Here in NC they only do emissions on '96 and newer, OBDII, so my '95 isn't tested at all. There are places it doesn't take too long but if you want a decently placed sticker, mostly straight and smudges from the old one removed, you have to go to the ones that do it the correct way. Those guys say that by state law they have to spend 20 minutes on each vehicle! On the '99 they hook up the tester that is wired directly to the state capitol and keep you there for the required amount of time. Granted with the condition of my vehicles they don't look at much of anything, but they keep you there the whole 20 minutes.

quote: "Those guys say that by state law they have to spend 20 minutes on each vehicle!"

That's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while, but not surprising. Government jobs can be non-productive, and it doesn't matter. And as long as they keep wasting our time, it's nearly impossible for the employees to loose their jobs.