A little late to the tread, but... I took off the entire stock exhaust, only running a high flow cat on each side and a high flow muffler. It sounds great. The only thing I'd make you aware of is the increased vibration inside the car.

I am thinking about taking mine off tomorrow, if it will unbolt, if it has to be cut off, well then, I probably won't attempt that.

Ok, more randomness. I feel like a yo-yo. I got so excited about this car purchased I missed things I've never missed before. I have a high flow cat going into the original exhaust and it looks retarded, larger pipe going into smaller pipe, smart move. It's a shame carfax doesn't report the age of the previous owner, I have some thoughts on the subject.

So I've been thinking about doing this for a while. I've had my 98 a4 2.8 for a little bit and was wondering...

1) Emissions, will this be affected at all by taking out the resonator?

2) Sound, what comes out of this for sound if you have stock piping and take out the resonator? I'm looking for the throaty sound... Not anything tinny or ricy. I wish I could run the car just off the cats again... >:)

3) Loudness... Just looking for something a bit louder, nothing too crazy that would wake someone up if they were sleeping in my car.

4) Revs, I've heard at highway speed it revs really high, like 5-6k rpms? Is this true or has anyone experienced this?

Let me know... thinking about doing this pretty soon. Putting the car back on the road in a matter of days.

Thanks guys

post below...

Exactly what muffler did you use? I'm a single guy with no family :p

so what if i wanted to keep all stock piping and muffler and put a glass pack in place of the resonator

Just get a system where you delete the resonator and have 1 muffler and you will be fine...there are tons of shops that will just cut out your resonator and from there back bend you some pipe and attach a muffler for you...it will sound great.

Lou's Custom Exhaust Waltham Ma
 

So I stopped in the other day at Lou's Custom Exhaust and got an estimate to fix my leaks. One of his solutions was to cut out the resonator and replace pipe from there. An option he offered was to go back in after and add in a short turbo tube that is like a short turbo muffler, but it is small and round. After hearing some say that the noise in the cabin is unbearable, I think I might just have him drop that in to start with. The nice thing is, the turbo tube has better air flow than the resonator so I hope to gain from it.

My new setup... 034 3"custom piping, straight test pipe, only one small cat and a magna flow muffler. Loud as hell, no ones sleepin in my car anymore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2EFlUba_sw