Im picking up a 1997 sti v4 on saturday, does this version have a cat? If so what power gains can i expect if i take it off ?
Forgive my lack of knowledge im pretty new to this.

Thanks

 

It has a cat in the downpipe..none in the centre section.
Swap downpipes on an STI4 and you may get 20bhp? Which means 285ish bhp on a UK rolling road on UK fuel (97ron)( I've never seen a standard STI4,5 or 6 make 276BHP in England). Run it only on SUL or Optimax, chuck in some octane booster too if you are feeling particularly kind.
Chuck

 

If its a totally standard system then all bits are more restrictive than their after-market counterparts. IMO the ones that will release the most power are downpipe, centre (if you go for straight through) and backbox in that order. However if you want to hear that burble then get the backbox asap!

 

To give you an idea, my Sti 4 Type R has a full Power Engineering T75 exhaust with sports cat, and a blitz induction kit. It made 313bhp on Power Engineering's rollers on 97 Ron fuel. I'm sure the rollers are optimistic, but comapare to the other cars in the dyno section that have used PE and you can see the results are pretty damned good. Sounds awesome too!!

 

Have to say .... that bhp sounds suspicious with those mods. I would take 20 bhp off the PE roller figure. I guess 280 bhp is a kind of standard for STi4 and 5 running decent decat system and Ind Kit assuming everything else is stock.

Julian

 

Try the dyno link at the top of the page