Questions about headers and bypass

[Stunin_Stud]

So Im thinking of getting an exhaust and thought while Im at it get headers. Been doing alot of research and Im kinda confused about the cats. I hear that the headers are attached to the cats and if you remove them the CEL comes on. So If I change the headers would i get CEL ? and would it smell funny? I live in California so I need to be able to pass smog so Im not sure if changing the headers would affect it or not.

Also I have been seeing videos and hearing people talk about the secondary Bypass, such as the one fabspeed sells. Can someone explain exactly what that is and why people get it? does it just by pass the secondary cats? do you keep stock headers get a bypass and exhaust to prevent CEL or what.


lastly what type of headers would you recomend? the ones on ebay all seem to be the same and rebranded with some selling for more. Theres also an NHP one with cats attached to it, which is $1K. Ive heard they are all the same so what do you guys think.

sorry for sounding ignorant on this. Im just trying to be sure before I know which direction to go with my next project.

Thanks