Although you can't quite tell in this photo, the factory piping has some very large "pinches" in the turns.  If you are considering a cat-back exhaust, make sure the pipes are mandrel bent to avoid this problem!  

For anyone's information, John (at MAXSPEED Motorsports) is removing the nuts from the catalytic converter which is the unit closest to the front of the car with the louvered shield. The "bulge" in the piping just downstream of the cat is the resonator (or mid-muffler).  As you may have guessed it is used to keep the exhaust quiet.

Some people replace the resonator with straight-pipe seeing it a performance hindrance.  They reason that due to the fact that the air must expand to fill the resonator, it slows down the exhaust process which decreases performance. This is true to some extent, but since the resonator is only about 20"-22" in length, it only has a negligible effect on the exhaust velocity.  

Cat-back systems still implement resonators, but the length of the resonator is much shorter (~16") than stock version which allows the exhaust to flow through faster than the stock setup.  

NOTE: this size variation of resonators may only be applicable to the '96 and newer Probes with the OBD-II exhaust!  Earlier models' resonators may only be ~16" in length from the factory.

Unless you are really into LOUD exhausts (or own stock in Excedrin®), I would strongly recommend against this.  The gain is not even measurable and the increase in volume is tremendous. A friend of mine did this on a '93 PGT and it was nearly impossible to carry on a conversation in the car while driving.  The car was not any faster, just MUCH louder.

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