New to Forum: Exhaust Advice

[onefastman]

Greetings,

I am new and but have been reading for the last month and would like some advice on exhaust.

Currently I have a 98 and am considering headders (already have sitting at home) and cat bypass pipes with a stock muffler.

My goals are to have a throater sound under power with more volume but not to drastically affect the sound at cruse. Slight changes dont bother me (other car is a completely strait piped 135i) but as this is one of my primary drivers, I want to keep it mild.

Also, any other advised modifications?

Tune wise I have been looking around and havent seen much for the 2.5L cars, just fabspeed and Pedro's tune. I am heavily leaning toward the latter unless someone car give me a reason why not to.

Finally, are there any forseeable issues with running my car catless with out a tune (other than the cel being illuminated on the dash)?

Thanks for all the help and reading!

PPW