I'm just getting started on all this.

What does it mean when they say installing long tubes on an exhaust?

What about cats on the exhaust? Does that mean the catalyc convertor?

What about a cat-back system? What's all that about?

 

long tubes are the headers- their are shorties(little gain),mid length, and long tubes that gain the most hp

cats are the catyletic(spelling?) convertors as you said

and cat back exhaust is just that an exhaust system that is from the cats back

hope this helps a little

 

Here's some pics to get you a visual idea...

Shorties - http://www.lmperformance.com/images/parts/jba1807.jpg

Mid-lengths - http://www.lmperformance.com/images/...mac-tf4398.jpg

Long tubes - http://www.lmperformance.com/images/parts/jhd2253-0.jpg

Basically, it just has to do with the length of the part. Shorties tend to be the same size as the stock manifolds. The mid-lengths get a bit longer and the long tubes are the longest. Performance increases as you progress from short to long.

The cats (aka catalytic converters) make your car emissions legal. They are mounted at the base of the header/exhaust manifold. The stock cats are restrictive...so, moving to a high-flo cat or no cats at all gets more power.

Cats - http://www.lmperformance.com/images/parts/slp-31037.jpg