2.0L RV6 Catless vs Catted Downpipe

Basha

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Yeah I ended up selling my downpipe. I believe the person who bought it has stock exhaust so I’m sure he’ll be happy with it. So my advice to anybody wanting to get one, keep your stock exhaust lol
So by stock exhaust, do you mean that If I have a muffler delete I’m not stock? And then the new RV6 catted downpipe on a muffler delete (only)will turn on the CEL?
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mvela

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So by stock exhaust, do you mean that If I have a muffler delete I’m not stock? And then the new RV6 catted downpipe on a muffler delete (only)will turn on the CEL?
Yes I think with the factory resonator and factory muffler it can clean up the sound so it isn’t so loud when installing the high flow cat.
 

10civics

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catless here with muffler delete. sounds like a honda should now. i believe it flattened the mid but pulls more freely to redline now. maybe just imaging the loss in the mid since its more linear now, just what i feel anyway.
 

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Does anyone here have experience with the catless? I just bought it and am about to install but I might not if it’s too loud.. I’m running KTuner+takeda intake and I have an active exhaust system installed so it makes it a muffler delete at the click of a button... I like how the car sounds deep and not raspy and I’m afraid that the catless will make it sound too loud even when the system is closed...
 

bluebluemike

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Catless is going to be raspy
Damn :(
Is the catted downpipes approximately the same in gains or a lot less? I'm going for power but sound is a major factor... But overall power>sound for me
 


bluebluemike

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Catless is going to be raspy
Would the sound be less raspy than a manual? I leased a CVT 2016 before owning this MT sport and it sounded notably worse than my current civic
 

youo34

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Just to summarize if I understood correctly, Catless for sure will have CEL on, and Catted wont,but wont be performing as well as the catless is that correct?
 

a c i d.f l y

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I've run catless and catted RV6, the former for about 6 months before exchanging it with RV6 for the catted version. The catless is decidedly better on performance. The zip from 60mph-100mph is wildly better. But the check engine light isn't going to go away no matter what you do with the O2 sensor, unless you live in a state without emissions testing or ODB2 checks, or no inspections. I live in Texas.... the catless is also quite a bit louder. It sounds fantastic after the interior of your exhaust gets a nice coat of exhaust residue, significantly reducing the "tinniness" sound, to more of an angry teenager growl. I miss it, but I don't miss the smell or having to swap it for inspections.

I've had the catted version now for 3 years. I was able to get through my first two inspections simply by resetting the ECU and getting the evap to cycle, and before the O2 sensor would send a CEL. This last year, I actually did what I was supposed to with the L-fitting on the O2 sensor, and it has run about 90% with the CEL *off*! It's very sensitive to the weather. Any hint of condensation or cloudiness and it'll fire off, but be gone when I start it up the next day. Using crappy 7-11 gas also seems to influence this.

The performance of the catted is definitely a lot better than the stock, though not nearly as pronounced as the catless, and stacks nicely with a tune. My K&N Intake is honestly louder than the catted downpipe, paired with a tune it really growls up the engine noise. The catless overpowered all of that and could be heard down the street. It also sounded pretty ridiculous (not good) with a CVT where the engine speed stayed relatively constant in Drive. Sport gear (S) performed "fake shifting" so it would sound better when it could cycle a little bit through RPMs, but you're typically driving in D.


Edit: I should note both were ceramic coated, which may influence performance and/or sound.
 
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long_meats

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I've had the catted version now for 3 years. I was able to get through my first two inspections simply by resetting the ECU and getting the evap to cycle, and before the O2 sensor would send a CEL. This last year, I actually did what I was supposed to with the L-fitting on the O2 sensor, and it has run about 90% with the CEL *off*! It's very sensitive to the weather. Any hint of condensation or cloudiness and it'll fire off, but be gone when I start it up the next day. Using crappy 7-11 gas also seems to influence this.
I haven't posted any updates recently on my experimentation finding the best length spacer to avoid CEL with catted downpipe + aftermarket intake, but I did wind up with the same conclusion as you did with the original L-spacer providing the best results at minimizing CEL. I did recently discover I have better results removing the hex nut from the L-spacer which I didn't do initially when I started the experiments years ago, but my conclusion is the L-spacer with hex nut removed will trigger CEL the least with only like 3-4 resets per year tops.
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