OK you all...For the break down here..Last night went for a pretty hard drive on some back roads and kept the rpms mainly between 4500-5800 consisently for about 4-5 mins whiles crusing the back roads...I know this is hard ware and tear but its been awhile...BUT anyways so i stoped at a gas station directly after finishin my run and both the cat and header(stock) were glowing red..I get about 25-28mpg no matter how i drive and performance seems ok..hasent really changed since i got the car..So any clues? Am thinking about buying a new header now simply for have a clogged cat maybe...Thoughts?

 

you'd get a check engine light if there was something wrong with your cat, and a noticeable decrease in performance if the cat was clogged up and chocking the engine.

what year and mileage is your tc? and also, 5 minutes of spirited driving isn't enough to do damage.

 

2007 TC with 31k..But what about my MPG....Do mainly highway driving..at 60-70 on cruise..and i cant get better then 28?

 

that is fairly typical. the tc is only rated for like 29 highway anyway.

 

reasoning for header getting glowing hot like that? Like i said i have never in my 4 years of working with aftermarket parts and cars seen that...Only when they had a clogged cat..which i thought maybe i had the begining stages of?

 

you cruise on the freeway at 60-70 and only get 28mpg? you using cruise control? I average a hell of a lot more than that in cruise control at those speeds.

Is that the only time your header was glowing like that when you do some hard driving?

 

The back pressure in the manifold and sustained heat from that much rpm would cause that to glow like it does. Also the conservative timing curve that is put into the engine creates high EGT. You can definitely damage a cat that way, but I'm sure it was fun!