Having had a whole series of exhaust mods, from a snakes nest header on a VW Bug to an Ansa on a Scirocco, I gotta tell you to think twice about a louder exhaust. If you are mostly short hopping and enjoy the sound, go for it.
But if you have long highway miles, the louder exhaust gets drony and tiresome. The Fit has a fair amount of road noise as-is; I'd hesitate to add more.
Moon

 

If you are on cruise control you can hardly hear it. Listen to the video. The only time you hear it is when you open it up.

 

Lyon, I hope your're listening to the audio....

If I want racket on the road, I'll take the Wrangler; that is something I really like about her ladyship's panzer...really quiet at 80.
Doubt there is much of a performance increase with a more open exhaust; comes down to what makes us happy.
Always liked the notion of a manually operated cutout that lets the you select the exhaust sound from the driver's seat. Who has that from the factory? Corvette?
Moon

 

You know I think I've just gotten used to it. I finally let a friend open her up around the parking lot at work while I stand outside and listen. It's so... beautiful. It is the most refined, deep, sound I've ever heard from a 4 cyl. The iphone's crappy microphone just does not capture the beauty of it because it doesn't seem to pick up the low frequencies. My gf says it sounds like a little car trying to be a big car and if she didn't know it was a fit she would expect something much larger to turn the corner. I mean we all know what a fart can'd civic sounds like. This really is the exact opposite. It is DEEP.

Muscle Car fuc^#$ a Hayabusa. That's how I would describe it.

Alright I'm done gushing now. Praise lord Honda.

 

Laughed at you gf's remark, being surprised about what turned the corner.
A million years ago, couple of us were standing on campus, and we heard a melliflous six cylinder exhaust behind the library. There was a 3000 Healy around, and a couple Jags in various states of repair, so we were expecting something interesting, and bets were quickly laid.

Then, around the corner came a really ratty Dodge four door sedan with a glasspack...that slant six did sound mighty fine....

At least the Fit is a great little car to go with the rippy exhaust.
Best,
Moon

 

I had a 61 3000 and it did sound great.... 4th gear overdrive at 75 to 85 MPH was heavenly....... I did this straight pipe thing to my car over 4 years ago. Using 2.5" pipe and a short bullet shaped glass pack muffler creates an even lower frequency more mellow sound for just a few bucks more.

 

Its kinda sad but, its sounds good enough that I'm nervous about buying the WR test pipe (they call it a 'header' but only 2 inches of it qualify as a header) I'm afraid it will create the evil honda 'rasp'. I suppose a good glass pack could fix that though.

 

DO IT!

10char

 

I have the Megan header, "test pipe" (cough cough) that has a built in resonator along with the Megan B pipe with larger than stock resonator and a muffler shop fabricated axle back into an AeroTurbine 2540i muffler.... I am desperately hoping that the 10" Vibrant resonator and Apexi exhaust control valve I have yet to install will adequately lower the noise levels on the highway and when driving at night in town.... I understand that the GE cars have a cat as part of the head assembly and that should quieten things down some but it is going to be louder.... With the header, test pipe, stock B pipe and 2 1/2" axle back with a short glass pack was a blast of popping and flames from the exhaust tip when lifting off of the throttle from wide open at high revs... An 18" glass pack or maybe a little longer may be needed to prevent people from thinking ricer when you drive by if you are removing part of the cat and improving exhaust flow from the head.

 

What's a glass pack?

 

Glasspack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I think I'm going to do the same thing but from the cat back...just figuring out all the costs and parts.

 

This deserves to be bumped.

 

thats going to be loud. basically straight pipping it, mad echoing lol

 

tempted to do this now and just get a s2000 tip. i might take it down the street to this muffler shop by my school. says they do bends

 

Someone asked this earlier in this thread, but it wasn't answered.. How would changing the pipe diameter effect both horsepower and tone?

 

From the cat back you will lose exhaust flow velocity which is need to pull the air fuel mixture into the combustion chamber as the exhaust valves and the intake valves are partially open at the beginning of the intake stroke... I'm not sure that you would want to use a much larger diameter pipe when you replace the stock axle back or not... I saw a 5MPH loss of top end speed by using a 2 1/2" pipe on my axle back... A 2 1/2" axle back will give you a much deeper sounding tone though...If I was to do up one again I would step the diameter of the pipe to the muffler up to 2 1/2" 4" or 5" before it is attached to a muffler with a 2 1/2" core....I presently have a 2 1/2' pipe into a muffler with a 4" core and outlet... Or you could go with a straight pipe without a muffler and one of these like I had to use with 3 resonators and muffler to quiet my car.YouTube - apexi exhaust control valve But it's like $150 or so.

 

So, the cabin noise isn't that bad? I had a 1987 E30 that was an axle back and at 75 it was hard to talk haha. But my god when you opened it up did it sound amazing.

 

What's the easiest and most affordable way to do this and be able to throw my OEM muffler back on? I live in CA bay area so I don't know if a DIY axel back would pass inspection. Sorry for my noobieness. and thanks in advance.

 

Earlier posters said a shop did for $50. Then swap it out before inspection. It’s 2 bolts and a couple hooks