is it worth doing a dual exhaust on an lt1 ??? does anyone have any proven gains or coments on it ???? i was told a single 3" exhaust does better..... comments ?????


kris

 

I have duals on both my LT1s, BUT they are in b-bodies and the LT1 b-body cars came true dual from the factory, one has an x-pipe added the other an h-pipe. IMO this is a "grass is always greener" argument, everyone with true duals balances them with an x or h-pipe so they are no longer true dual, and everyone with single wants dual.

If the 3" single fits well I would go that route on an f-body from those I have talked too the duals are a big PITA with your lesser room to work with.

 

I went true duals (no xpipe or h pipe) and I would never run a cat back mess ever again.
Mine are simply purple horny header mufflers cut down to fit my DD subframes and running turndowns.
I absolutely love them but I like old school glasspack sound.

 

I think they sound like it should be driving around a dirt track somewhere.

 

I have true duals and I have yet to hear a better sounding exhaust for a stock LT1.

 

I have long tubes, bullets and then dumps and it does not cross. I had my friend drive it the other day and it sounded bitchin from behind. I can't wait to hear it with my cam.

 

long tubes, x-pipe, 24" thrush magnums, wouldnt trade the setup for anything.

 

My 1997 has true duals on it. Prior to true duals, the car made 300rwhp/310rwtq with the Hotcam kit, CAI, SLP shorties and Flowmaster muffler only, untuned. After long-tubes/true duals replacing the shorties and the muffler, and very minor home-cleaning of the heads, the same car put down 340rwhp/350rwtq, again untuned. It was on the same dyno so you can sort of compare the results. I don't know how much of it came from switching out to long-tubes or the head-cleanup, but the improvement was there.

But with that said, I am in the process of getting rid of my true duals since the obnoxious loudness has started getting to me. I will probably go with a Mufflex 3.5" single system next. I would dyno it to get a comparison, but the car has a 383 in it now Good luck.

 

why would a 3 inch exhaust for better?

2 2.5 inch pipes = a 5 inch exhaust by numbers.

 

It's actually a little more complicated than that. Flow is equal more to the force applied and the velocity. I hate this stuff too. But just because the pipe is bigger doesnt mean you will flow more faster. Essentially 2 2.5" pipes would equal more like a single 3.5".

 

Simple math alone would show that two 2.5" pipes is actually 1/2 the area of one 5" pipe.

 

well now im just confused

 

area of a circle = pi*radius^2

[pi * (2.5/2)^2] * 2 = 9.82 square inches
now reversing the equation to figure out what single pipe diameter would have the same area as true duals...
[(9.82/pi)^.5] * 2 = 3.56" single pipe

so 2.5" true duals have the same area as a single 3.5" pipe

[pi * (3/2)^2] * 2 = 14.14 square inches
[(14.14/pi)^.5] * 2 = 4.24" single pipe

3" true duals have the same area as a single 4.25" pipe

unless I made some major mathematical error.

edit:
I have two hours till class and im bored... soooo heres a nice visual representation lol


you can see why two 2.5" diameter pipes don't equal the area of one 5" diameter pipe

 

Ya I knew it wasn't 5". So there you have it by math. LOL 3.5" pipe from dual 2.5".....

 

I cant believe I was right.... LOL