After I sold my 396, I realized that all of that baloney about the best catbacks, etc was nothing more than a marketing ploy. You make the most power when you have the least restrictions in your engine. After years of experience and realization, I've come to the conclusion that no catback is worth $400+ unless you ABSOLUTELY ADORE the way it sounds and don't care that you're possibly making less power than someone with a $50 cutout or $80 straight-through muffler. That's the sad truth.

When I was shopping for exhaust systems for my Corvette, everyone wanted $800+ for them.

Borla had a system that was stainless steel w/2 4" tips that included no mufflers, but simply pipe where the mufflers went. $350+ ??
It was advertised as "the lightest system around for serious racers." No sh*t the system is light... it doesn't have mufflers!

Are these companies serious? OMG. I went to the local muffler shop and had them cut off the stock mufflers, weld pipe in place of them, and give me some awesome tips that look GREAT on the car. Now the car is actually kinda quiet at idle, identical to an open Borla at part throttle/cruising, and REALLY SCREAMS at 4000+ rpm. I'll never need another exhaust system again and no other system outflows this one. All for < $250 installed.

If I would have thought like this with my Z28, I could have saved thousands of dollars.

Oh well.. live and learn

Mike

 

I think larger diameter piping is a good idea. Cut outs seem to be hit or miss, some gain alot, some gain factions. On GMMG's catback dyno runs have shown very low gains from a cut-out something to the tune of <2hp. I wonder why they used it on ZL1's and other supercars? For the price of a $200 electronic cut-out and what it would cost to have a shop weld in a few pipes, I'd rather add a bit of cash and run a highflow catback with larger ID piping. Again least restrictions make more power, but you have to value what you prefer, some cant run open headers. Each to his own.

The following poster also has alot of valid points, I have never heard an exhaust sound quite like GMMG, and I am pretty damn proud of the way it sounds. I have had compliments from just about everyone who hears my car.

-Dustin-

 

thank you captain obvious!



there are 2 main reasons people buy expensive exhaust systems

1. for a specific sound.....each companies mufflers have their own unique sound that they designed via sound cancellation and tuning in the muffler. people hear a sound they like, and thats the system they want. typically you cannot buy that same muffler anywhere else.
when you make a custom system, you cant be sure how its going to sound, unless youre just copying someone else. ive made 3 different custom setups and wasnt happy with the sound on the first two.

2. its easy.....not everyone has access to a custom exhaust shop with quality workmanship and reasonable cost. and they certainly dont want to spend the time buying materials and welding it up themselves.



btw, vette stuff is always overpriced because its a higher end car.

 

This may get a little off the subject, but I feel the same way about most of the stuff on the market(bolt on wise) for our cars. I cant believe some of the prices ive seen for a bunch of mild steel piping( mufflers/ headers/ exhaust) and my Moroso cold air kit is: a big plastic tube, some clamps and a K&N filter all for $179.00 Go figure. Manufacturers have us by the *****. Still makes me sick that I spent $275 years ago on a JET stage II chip , $95 for a 12" x 3" off road PIPE and just a whole bunch of other crap that wasnt worth the paper it was sent in.

 

thats very true to an extent. some people need or want mufflers. sure you can get a hooker cat back for very little compared to corsa, but the corsa will last much longer than the hooker since it is stainless. a lot of simple parts are over priced, but at the same time you pay for quality. most expensive headers will fit much better than the low cost ones. so theres more to it that that, but in general your right on

 

Your paying for research and debelopment, the engineers salaries that designed it. The guys who bent up the pipes. The pipes themselves. The name and marketing. Then on top of it all a lil extra so the company shows a profit and isnt doing all this for free.

Thats where your $$$ is going.

 

I think the big $$$$ spent on some of the cat back systems yield much less hp. per dollar than other mods. It seems like you can spend $400-$800 and get 5-15hp over stock for a mildly modified LT-1. I went with the cam kit, headers and pcm tune and gutted cat converter but am holding off on the cat back because I am not sure I would even notice the difference in performance. Anyone have experiance getting big power gains with cat back on mildly modified LT-1?
I think I remember some cable hod rodding show that did bolt on performance mods to an Impala SS with dyno runs to measure hp. gain cold air intake, cat back, pcm tune etc. I honestly can not remember the hp numbers but I do recall alot of money spent and not much hp. increase.

 

Expect a 10-15rwhp and pretty good TQ gain from a decent catback. I definately felt a difference when I put on my GMMG. The car gained alot of HP/TQ throughout the entire RPM range.

-Dustin-

 

I agree that its frigging pointless in buying a cat-back if you are looking for performance gains out them, dont get me wrong I like the way many of the Catbacks sound ie , GMMG, Flowmaster etc but I think its ridiculous when people shop for exhaust and will pick Catback X becuase you will see these numbers over Catback y. I feel that true duals are the only way to go If you wanna make horsepower and get more out of your car. even if your goiing for sound I feel that true duals and headers sound hella better than anything else thats out there. Granted it may be a different story if you have emmissions constraints and you have to run cats etc, Then sure Catbacks are nice But Id much rather spend my time to get around certain restrictions If possible and get more out of my car with duals.
I guess im getting at that it doesnt make sense for people who want to make more HP and TQ to purchase a Cat Back like Corsa for and example for around 700 dollars when they can get more out of thier car for less than half of that. Maybe its they ability for the owner to say "ya, ive got Corsa" but I paid an arm and a leg for it.


just my .02
-john

 

agree with this whole post
it is about sound for the most part, and i truly do like my gmmg (although it's easier since i got it cheaper on a gp)
and as a side note, if you ever want to buy a gmmg, check ls1tech.com first for a gp

 

I bought mine used, the only way I could afford it. I waited a long time for the right deal, but it paid off in the end.

-Dustin-

 

Sure a cat back won't make much power by itself on a stock or near stock vehicle, but it's the base that you will need to start making some horsepower. The stock pipes will start holding you back at some point, even if you change to a higher flow muffler.

 

Which is why summit sells various mandrel bent piping, chambered exhaust pipes, glasspacks, turbo mufflers, bullets, x-pipes, h-pipes, stainless pipes, etc. They've even got clamps, hangers, and welders for sale for the true do-it-yourselfer. Those cat-back systems are really nothing special, just a muffler with some pre-bent pipes. However, they do make sense for those that can appreciate a car but not work on it. You don't have to turn a wrench to be into cars...

 

I don't think anyone said that cat-backs were something "special". What you pay for is quality. Most do it yourself exhaust systems that I've seen (I mean true systems, not just mufflers hanging off an x-pipe with turn downs) look like frankenstein, hack jobs. I dunno what you're talking about, but I've been modding and wrenching on cars of various makes and types for the past 17 years and I can appreciate my cat-back. They also sell do it yourself header kits, but I don't see anyone commenting "why would you spend $700 dollars on headers, you must be someone who can appreciate a car but not work on it. You don't have to turn a wrench to be into cars...".

 

Way back when if you wanted a part you made it. There wasn't any CIA's,Exhaust,ect. and most everything else was self made. You had an idea you went inside and fired up some machines and built it.If it didn't work,build a different one.
The reason these guys charge what they do is damn few in todays world build anything. They want it easy and bolt on or pay to have it done. If more would do it the old way they couldn't sell at todays prices.
Back then if you weren't good at mechanical things you didn't have a fast car unless you were rich and could pay to have it done. But I guess that is progress. Today there are a bunch of things to copy.I know everybody doesn't own a shop,but its not necessary.Thats where the saying "shade tree" came from.Back then there wasn't anything unless it came from the dealer. Or was self made. Ahhh,the good old days!!!!