With my Pacesetter LT's on the way, I've narrowed it down to either True Duals or a Hooker Catback...

They both sound AWESOME in their own respect. However, this car is my DD, and the max HP it will EVER see is 450, and that's being generous (factoring in a 100-ish NOS shot...don't yell at me). What is more fitting for my application? Do I really need the flow of the TD's, or can I get by with the hooker without sacrifice?

 

I had a Hooker cat-back on my old '94 Z/28, it sounds a lot better than my present Formula system.

 

^Are you running TD's right now?

 

If it's your DD and you don't plan on taking it to the strip much, I'd skip the NAWS and go for bigger and better mods. May give less power, but for the money it's worth it since it's constant power. ;p

I have the hooker catback on my LT1 94Z with stock exhaust manifolds and cat. I can tell you it whispers compared to the cutout when it's open. I guess the cutout is pretty similar to a TD setup, less whatever mufflers/resonators you throw on there. I love the sound of hooker at WOT, and love the cutout open all the time.

Long story short, I'd go for headers, cam, cutout and hooker catback. Best of both worlds, ungodly sound with the extra umph from a dumped pipe when you hit the track.

 

i am in the same delimma....True Duals or just long tubes no cat and catback......i dn wat to get either....mine is a DD too and i dont want something too loud that cops will pull me over for...

 

My car is a daily driver and Iam installing true duals right now. I dont think it is really loud untill you hammer it. At idle and up to 2,000rpms it is really kind not that loud. Go to ls1sounds.com and lt1engine.com and listen to their sounds clips it really not that much difference.
-Brandon

 

How "loud" true duals are depends on what mufflers are installed. A buddy of mine has a set of true duals with a pair of dynomax mufflers and the thing is almost as quiet as stock behind a cc503 cammed motor.

That being said, when he opens his dual electric cutouts, its another story.

My car sounds insanely good with the Hooker catback behind my nasty 355 and LT's. But I do have a cutout for more flow at the track.

 

I have true duals in my 94 without cats and straight through mufflers. at idle and driving "civilized" it is not loud, but it is definately not quiet. But when i push that pedal down i can make the sound echo off buildings and make ricers $!@% their pants. I like the sound, but i am about to drive 17 hours in my car from michigan to lousiana and i am not sure how i will feel about it then

 

which hooker catback is everyone using?

 

I took my existing Mac catback and welded a hooker Aerochamber 3"-in 2x2.5"-out
then inserted a cutout before the muffler.
I like the hooker catback's tips much better though, if the Mac hadn't already been on there, I'd have replaced the whole thing.

I love the sound of a Hooker
and the open cutout is perfect for the strip or anytime I want to wake everyone up at 4am.

 

I have true duals with spiral flows run out the back. It's not bad at all cruising, a little loud while accelerating, but it SCREAMS at WOT, expecially on spray.

 

I love the true duals personally. i think there is something to be said about muscle cars with TDs as opposed to a Y but that is just my opinion.

You can't beat the sound of TD. As others have said they are not that loud unless you want them to be and oh baby can they scream when you lay on it.

The real issues that i would look at if I were you would be clerance and cost. This being a daily driver clerance is a big issue, as is cost. Clerance can sometimes be spectacular and sometimes be terrible I've seen both on F-bodys. The best clerance I have ever seen for a dump system was around the height of a coke can.TD may cost you more depending if you go over the axle or not. TD are nice because it opens you up to a whole world of options for mufflers.

Good luck.
~Jim~

 

BTW, I went from a hooker catback to true duals, and I'm never going back to a catback again.
Click here to see Video
BTW, the video doesn't do it justice at all.

 

I feel like a broken record since I always chime in on these exhaust threads just cause I've been through several setups myself. First of all, I don't care if its your daily driver or not - true duals is simply the best option. Sure you loose some ground clearance - I scrape when I go over speedbumps but thats because my front end is also riding on eibachs.

Anyway...my single chamber flowmasters get compliments literally on a daily basis. At WOT the car will wake the day, however at 2000rpm in 6th gear the car has a perfect hum to it - notice I did not say "drone to it". I think this has more to do with the dumps being angled right at the ground, but nonetheless, TDs are the way to go. Y-pipes dont belong on any V8.

 

Got any sound clips or pics?
I'm interested in seeing what others have done.