Hello,
I have a 4 door 1995 Suzuki Sidekick JX 5-speed 1.6 16v with a K&N filter.
I just purchased a Doug Thorley Header and is on it's way to my house in the next couple of days.

I have a couple question:
1) Do I have to replace my Catalytic Converter?
2) Which exhaust would sound best? (without sounding too high) I would like a deep mellow sound.
3) I also live in CA and need to be able to pass SMOG.

Thank you all in advance for your help. Any help would be great.
John

a resonator and a turndown lol

ive only heard my exhaust 1.3 with a calmini 2 inch it sounds good but im in the middle of hooking up a streetbike exhaust on it lol

flow master with dt header sounds great.............

I'm a big fan of QUIET. A lot of muffler shops will have V6 mufflers they took off newish cars laying around, and will sell them for cheap. A good shop will mock up a muffler for you so you can hear the sound and decide for yourself.

I'm a big fan of QUIET....

X2

NOBODY wants to follow the guy with the loud exhaust down the trail.  You could find yourself at the end of the end, driving in everyone else's dust.  Besides, mine's a Daily Driver, and needs to stay street legal in Calif. 

wow... my gen is way different lol sound is where its at!!! i got a 1.6 thoryley long header, mag high flow cat, and spin tech exhaust, they all come with life garuntee, heres my link i dont have me just revin it but it will give u an idea.

<embed src=" " width="428" height="352" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br/><a href="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Wazuks-evans-run-snowday_160265.htm">Wazuks evans run snowday</a>

got one with out music

I'm a big fan of QUIET. A lot of muffler shops will have V6 mufflers they took off newish cars laying around, and will sell them for cheap. A good shop will mock up a muffler for you so you can hear the sound and decide for yourself.

Do lawn jobs without being heard I used to like noisy pipes, but if you can get a muffler that is quiet and flows good, then whats the point of noisy ones, other than to be obnoxious (at least on an off roader or daily driver).

i like loud exhaust but not something thats tinny. i love the sound of a resonated samurai exhaust, they sound like a beefy 4stroke dirt bike.  when im done my 1.6 swap im putting on a honda street bike exhaust hopefully ill get some nice tones coming out of it

I have just a cat on my samurai at the moment(cruzed over a water bar and ripped the muffler in half) and it pretty much just makes a sh** load of noise....with very very little action.
I have a super turbo muffler, just have to put it on.

Some people think a loud ass muffler is going to wake up there 65 hp motor and throw them back in there seat....

My .02

Amilla

Ok, Let me restate what I am looking for...

I am not a Trail Guy and this is my Daily Driver...

What would give me the best free flowing system?

Good MPG and good HP...

Sorry if I wasn't clear my first post...

my calmini cat back exhaust isnt loud but i really dont know about mpg i bought the car with it

I just went down to the local exhaust shop and had them put me together a 2" exhaust from the cat back.  The cat forward was already the metric equivalent of the 2" so it was pointless to replace that on my 96.  Standard turbo muffler for 2" exhaust, it sounds great.  The only time it is a little loud is right around 3 grand there is a sweet spot that resonates a bit. 

What would give me the best free flowing system?

"Best" by what measure? Flow (straight 2.5" pipe - back pressure isn't needed for low-end torque on 1.3L / 1.6L engines because there's enough restriction in the exhaust valves already), exhaust tone (depends - do you like quiet, loud or somewhere in between - if so, where in between?), price (I covered this in post #4)?

The most common setup is usually a 2.25-2.5" cat-back system with a muffler that fits the person's version of "good sounding" exhaust. Turbo mufflers are popular (free flowing, but louder). I've already mentioned the V6 muffler option (good for free flowing & quiet). There's another muffler gaining in popularity due to it's price & construction, but I can't find the link (generally sold on e-bay, reportedly sounds good & is build stout).