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Hi Todd,
A 3" downpipe with stock exhaust catback would actually be more beneficial than a stock downpipe with a 3" cat-back exhaust. So in answer to your question, do the whole thing turbo-to-tail for best effect. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do a 3" cat-back.
There's basically four ways to get a 3" turbo-back system for your car.
1) You can get Nick Taliaferro from GenuineSaab.com to get you a JT aluminized steel system from Sweden. These don't come with a cat or a second O2 sensor bung, so you'd need to get Nick to weld in a second O2 bung for you before he sends it (or get it welded in after you receive it), and you'd need to source a cat. Nick carries a very high-quality Vibrant metal-core cat but it costs about 2.5x more than a ceramic-core one from elsewhere. If the system isn't in stock, it can take several weeks (sometimes months) to get one over here on the slow boat from Sweden. One other thing about the JT system is that it is designed for a pre-96 car so it utilizes the earlier cat position, which is farther back. This means you'd need to get some sort of extension wire for your second O2 sensor.
2) You can get Jak Stoll to custom make you a system. His downpipes can be made any way you want - forward cat location or farther back, one or two O2 sensors, flex pipe, etc... He can also make it out of aluminized steel or stainless. However, without a model car or a jig, he's unable to fabricate the rest of the exhaust system from cat-back. Not sure where you're located - if it's near North Carolina you might be in luck.
3) You can get the stainless system from Group 9. Not sure if it's still available but it looks like it is on their website. Don't know too much about this one or how customizable it is for your situation. All I know is that it's REALLY expensive. :)
4) You can get an exhaust shop to make you one from 3" tubing and various universal Magnaflow parts (or some other brand). Since this is fully custom, it can be made however you need. Could be cheap or expensive, and many shops are leery of turbo downpipes. The best option might be to go with a Jak downpipe and then a custom cat-back.
As for horsepower, a turbo-back adds 10-15 horsepower to a manual Aero or 98 CSE, a bit less to the 200hp models. It also makes the engine very free-revving. A cat-back with a stock downpipe adds very little.
Hope this helps!
-John
'96 9000 Aero 5sp (with a Jak Stoll/JT 3" hybrid)
Indianapolis, IN
, Fri, 6 Oct 2006 05:54:33
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