Topic: Exhaust and Performance Chips

[dunklervogel]

So I'm looking into a few performance mods for the 2.5 and am in need of some opinions.

The Jet chip stage 2 requires a 180 degree thermostat and a less restrictive exhaust.  Okay, the thermostat is no biggie.. now I am looking at replacing my exhaust.  I want to get something that will work with this chip, but what brands would I need to be looking at?  I'm having a hard time figuring out which is considered a "free flowing" or "less restrictive" exhaust as opposed to ones that maintains quite a bit of back pressure.


So I guess the questions I have are...   
What kind of exhaust should I be looking at to work well with this chip?
and Does anyone know if a less restrictive exhaust would completely destroy my low-end torque or gas mileage?

I'm not set on anything at the moment so I'm just looking at my options I guess.  Any help/opinions are appreciated!  Thanks!

[dunklervogel]

Just talked to some shops around town and the general consensus is that opening up the exhaust is a bad idea on the 4banger... saying losing back pressure is a bad thing for the smaller engines and also it would be extremely loud.  One shop I talked to was really into the flowmaster exhaust but said it would not work out well on the 2.5 and that if I wanted to go that route I'd be better of with a straight pipe!

Is all this talk just nonsense and these ppl don't know squat about smaller engines??  or is there really some truth to all of this?  I was thinking that replacing a stock exhaust with 100k on it would be a good thing but all this is making me wonder now...

I've read up one some older threads and there seems to be quite a few with experience dealing with aftermarket exhausts.  What are your feelings on all of this??

[Jeffy]

They are right.

[lax22]

I just put a jet stage 1 chip on my jeep and i cant believe how much more power it has with nothing other than an arraid intake. I put on a throttle body spacer today and this week I'll have the electric fan all finished and installed, just waiting on a new radiator mine was starting to leak bad . So far my jeep is running like a new machine and i cant wait to see how it performs with the e-fan and later on in the week i am putting on a dynomax exhaust with a 2.5 inch pipe from the muffler out the back. I say go with the jet chp and find a good exhaust, you will see some great power increases. 

[dunklervogel]

Yah  I'm almost for sure getting a chip just wasn't sure if I should modify the exhaust and go for the stage2 or just leave it stock and get a stage1

decisions.. decisions..

[lax22]

I am getting the exhaust done but the only reason i didnt go with the stage 2 chip is because they recommended a low temp thermostat and premium fuel. However i have read that there are a few members who run the stage 2 chips without running premium fuel and they have no problems so i think you should be ok with the stage 2 if you want to get a new exhaust.

[cmgorman94]

I ran the stage 2 for a while. don't waste your money unless you have an automatic. I had an intake, throttle body spacer, flowmaster 60 series, and then added the chip and thermostat. I felt almost no difference except that it ran smoother in the higher rpm's. every one seems to be happy with the stage 1's so if I were you I would probably go with that if that is what you are looking to do.