At the auto-x this weekend, there was a guy there who's Z sounded awesome. I asked what he had done to the exhaust, and his only mod was removing the muffler completely (still had resonator)!.. He had dyno'd it with everything removed, from the cats back, with and without the resonator, and with and without the muffler. Every configuration was within 1hp of each other.

As for sound, I was working the course while he was driving. His 1st lap around, while feeling out the course and taking it easy, he really sounded no different from jtree007's stock exhaust, who was also running in that session. Once he let loose on the subsequent runs, however, it really sounded great. He also said there was no noticeable difference in the car at normal cruise speeds.

So, for about $0.00 you can simply unbolt the muffler and decide if you like it. He had cut off the muffler and turned the cut part down towards the ground, but you could also just run tips from the bolting flange

 

Would that make it a little more difficult to get my car to pass inspection?

 

depends what they inspect for. If a muffler is a required item, you could probably get away with saying the resonator is the muffler. The new Neon SRT-4 comes from the factory without a muffler and I'm sure it will pass.