Exhaust advice, how much performance can be gained by a 2.25 exhaust Options

[94CeliGTguy]

Hi, I am new to the site and I have had my 94 gt since january. I enjoy the site a lot. I have searched the forums about this but stilll have a few questions. I have a ebay cai (mostly for the sound as I dont know if it helps performance much), but I want to try something else to improve the cars performance. My celica has 112k miles on it and I cant afford to turbo. I have read about different members exhaust setups and I think I want a 2.25 with resonator and magnaflow muffler. I am graduating at the end of may and will have some cash to spend. Can anyone tell me about the performance to be gained from this exhaust set up or if there is something else i can do to the car that will be a better use of money(possibly ebay headers?). The car is my daily driver so it has to pass emissions. Any advice would be appreciated. thanks

[Galcobar]

Sorry, but I have to step in on the resonator question.

A resonator is not a muffler. It is not a baffled muffler, such as what you'd find on your stock car. It is not a straight-through muffler packed with sound absorbing materials, such as you'd buy from MagnaFlow.

A resonator is an entirely different form of noise suppression. Where mufflers either slow the exhaust flow down (baffled) or absorb the noise (insulated), resonators use sound cancellation. They are echo chambers designed to bounce sound waves into each other, so the two waves cancel each other out.

Cars as a rule come with a resonator somewhere under the body, not a secondary muffler. Even round mufflers are not resonators. Here's how to tell -- tap it with a fingernail. A muffler will absorb the vibration and produce a dull response. A resonator will ring like a bell. Just because a muffler is round and goes below the car does not make it a resonator.

It is the lack of a resonator which is often responsible for the annoying buzz of poorly done aftermarket exhausts. Mufflers will significantly lower the volume and somewhat smooth the tone; a resonator will somewhat lower the volume and significantly smooth the tone.

A resonator can be purchased from just about any reputable exhaust shop or supplier.

When planning my exhaust, I chose a MagnaFlow straight-through oval muffler, a MagnaPack straight-through round muffler and a CarSound catalytic converter with a resonated core (a combined high-flow cat and resonator). Lots of sound suppression, good tone moderation, and low flow impairment. Never did buy it all -- few other things came up -- but it priced out well from hottexhaust.com