pretty sure running without a cat back is illegal now isnt it? at least it is here and u wont pass emission... and seeing your from Cali im sure there laws are lot more strict

 

It's legal the way it is. Thank You.

 

This is from the California Highway Patrol Bulletin.. In general, exhaust system piping, tubing, fittings, cosmetic tips or other passive devices placed behind the muffler have minimal impact on exhaust system sound levels...... You happen to live in Maryland, so you should know the CA. laws...... My Muffler is not loud, and more tubing is going to cut my exhaust emissions when the air has already went through the catalytic converter, OK now I get it, thanks for pointing that out. You know whats next door to my buddys Muffler Shop, a Smog Station.

 

Cat back is fine but everyone makes their own choices

Unfortunately the Patriot has an emissions set up that prohibits installation of a truly tuned exhaust. Can you put a muffler in line neat the catalyst? Sure, as long as it is skinny enough to fit and hopefully not rattle your teeth when it vibrates.

The cat back I installed works fine, improved gas mileage by almost 6% and provides a noticable bump in acceleration, and it tucks in higher than the stock unit. Sound, for thost that care, is OK neither too loud nor too quiet.

Good investment? Hard to tell, did it because I have had success with multiple vehicles using cat back products. Investment value depends on cost of fuel and life of the cat back system. My system has a stated life time warranty but I discount that and expect it to last longer than the stock since it is stainless. Do I really care what it cost? Nope, and I did not pay anywhere near the list price.

So, make your own decisions after reading the experiences of other owners.

 

I make my decisions on my own, still say it's a waste of money. My Hushpower is nice and tight, no rattle. Your back where you started with a bunch of garbage in the back. Now the Muffler is just a little higher and breathing better.

 

Anything behind the c converter like just a muffler is Ca. legal. That is called from the cat back, get it. Why do you think they call it a catback, just because I don't have a tailpipe, doesn't mean its not a catback.

 

I'm confused... Earthworm, are you saying that you removed the big clunky stock muffler and (after the cat) just put in a tube type muffler that dumps out under your patriot?

Essentially, a home made cat back system? If that's the case, then all of the factory smog/emissions gear is still doing its job and you should be fine and legal.

When installing my hitch, I pulled my exhaust system off from the cat back and fired up the Jeep to see how it sounded. Not too loud... I think some type of straight-thru muffler and a tail pipe would be fine. And get rid of that big blob of a muffler.

Doug

 

I think part of the cat-back benefit is it usually has better flowing pipe bends (mandrel bent) then factory exhaust which usually has the rippled metal on the inside of the bends. In the case of our Patriots, I think we have mandrel bent pipe from the factory so your assessment on it's benefits may be fairly accurate earthworm. Up to a point, there is usually some benefit to enlarging the pipe diameter and smoothing bends to allow free flowing though.

 

IN needing to do something about the lack of power / economy, I am considering replacing the muffler with straight pipe all the way out, endin gin about 6 inches of 1 1/2" with no extra muffler at all. THoughts?

 

It's been done of course, ie "muffler delete". The question is whether it has any effect on power or economy and as far as I know no one has done a dyno before and after run. Fuel economy, similarly, would need before and after testing under exactly the same conditions. Anecdotal reports don't really prove anything -- the increase in exhaust noise, for example, might lead a driver to ease off the gas in some conditions thereby causing a fuel economy 'increase'. All you can be certain of is that it will be louder. On the positive side, although I haven't done this myself but from reading various postings about it, the "muffler delete" doesn't cause any problems.

 

I know a guy in the UP that did a muffler delete on his last Patriot, and did pretty well. I went with a catback myself and am very happy with the result.

 

On most modern vehicles, you will not see any real performance increases from a cat-back exhaust system. First, you would need to be able to get into the PCM and change throttle and timing curves to benefit from a better flowing exhaust. And, second you would need to flow more air into the engine in order to take advantage of a better flowing exhaust.
The biggest reason "for" cat-back systems is they are generally made of superior materials (stainless steel vs galvanized) to factory exhaust systems, and they are generally built using superior methods (mandrel bent vs pressure bent). The other single biggest advantage is that as vehicles age and the factory exhaust system breaks down, a cat-back system offers an easy solution to replace a large portion of that system at one time and are easy to DIY.

As for a muffler delete, I have no first hand experience with the Patriot, but losing back pressure (provided by the muffler) can also cause a loss of starting torque. With the patriot being a turd off the line in the first place, I'm not so sure I would want to further decrease performance in that area.

 

On all of my vehicles previous I installed a full stainless exhaust solution with included performance headers, free flow cat, and non restrictive catback. I only gained minimal performance but received a few extra MPG's in economy. I will do the same when the OEM parts on the patriot need to be replaced but right now the benefits are not there for me to do it.

 

I guess there is technically a header available but for a fwd model, I can't see spending large amounts of money on the exhaust. The biggest increase in mileage came from the air intake on both my MK's

If anyone wants to go loud on their patriot, go with a flowmaster super 10 muffler, I have one on my cherokee and its probably too loud.

 

I replaced my muffler a while back, but that was only because it trashed the last one on a rock and had the next one tucked up higher to the body so it wouldn’t happen again.

No increase and firmly believe that any “increase” real or not is not worth the dollars spent. Very poor bang for buck expenditure on the Patriot.

If anyone thinks differently I’d love to see their dyno sheets - happy to be proven wrong.

 

For anybody that believes it'll give the advertised 7hp increase, it's obviously not gonna result in a happy customer.

However, there are still reasons to favor the modification.

First, off-roading. You, Tyler, rcguymike, and probably others have damaged stock MK mufflers on the trails. An aftermarket unit is usually rather small, and definitely smaller than the "suitcase" that so many people complain about.

Secondly, the look. I never minded it too much, but the stock muffler is pretty big and clearly visible from behind the vehicle, especially on a pre-2011 model. I have to crouch down behind my Jeep to see my current muffler, and the shiny tip on the system is pretty cool too. Sometimes I even forget it's not stock.

Third, MPG. I think it's safe to say we're all well aware that an exhaust upgrade, depending on how it's done, will give probably no more than 3 horsepower more, and that likely as not at the engine. But of course Chrysler never fathomed anybody wanting to modify Jeep's take on the Chevette, so between that and wanting to keep us coming to the dealer every time anything needs done, it's locked down. Everything goes to MPG, which isn't the worst thing in the world because probably 95% of us drive these MK's on all manner of 55mph highways, or faster, on a regular basis. Even 2mpg extra comes in handy.

Fourth, the sound. Of course it's not gonna be the obnoxious roar of a '70 Chevelle with a 454, or the low rumble of a '71 Challenger with a 440, but it's a proven fact that most Patriot owners like the sound of an aftermarket exhaust system better than the bland whirr of the stock system.

Granted, there's still plenty of folks content with their stock systems for one reason or another, and of course the $500 for a full stainless doesn't help motivate, but there are cheaper options and it's still a fairly decent investment.

 

I believe here in VT, a muffler is required for the annual state inspection and at the very least the additional noise resulting from a muffler delete may fail the inspection.

 

I only spent $500 because I was getting all the piping from near the firewall to the exhaust tip, and a muffler, all in stainless steel. A quick google search shows that the Flowmaster 40 series muffler that is popular among Patriot owners is a roughly $80-$100 upgrade. And just a muffler from Magnaflow can run up to about $120. Plus I myself acknowledged that not everybody finds any kind of exhaust modification at all attractive, in my previous post.

For me it was a matter of seeing what kind of power and sound it would result in, plus getting at least something of a modified look...even if all most people would see is the tip. Of course there's hardly any power gain, but research of sorts shows I'm probably getting a few MPG better than before. Granted I didn't test this, as I never actually measured my MPG before the modification, but knowing what the computer is programmed to do, plus input from other owners, gives me an approximation of sorts.

Between the looks, the sound, the knowledge that I'm alot less likely to wreck the exhaust on the trails, and of course a couple extra MPG, I'm completely happy with it. Again, I'm not saying you necessarily should, just....idk, enhancing my case? I made four points of reasons that people used either before getting their exhaust, or what was enjoyed after the fact. All four make it a worthwhile purchase for me, and if there's others who like you don't wanna pay so much, and I don't blame them, there's a few sub-$100 options that can yield much the same effect. And I haven't checked the price on exhaust tips, but they probably run somewhere in the $20-$50 range, right?