I have my headers and have been reading for the last couple of days about setups. I have to say my favorite is Gripenfelter's.

What I want to run is the pipes all the way back and have some nice tips. My car is going to be lowered also, so keep that in mind. I gather that having the X-pipe is a good thing in equalizing the backpressure, but I'm worried about ground clearence.

What would this setup even sound like? Basically gonna be pacesetter LT's to X-pipe to 3" pipe over the rearend to some tips. Anyone have any sound clips with basically just straight pipes? Or some good pix showing routing and rear exit?

Sorry for the long thread, kinda long winded sometimes.

Finch

 

You can ask 12 people and get 12 different answers when it comes to exhaust. Here's what I found. Straight pipes and no mufflers will sound like crap. If you keep the cats, you have a much better chance of getting the sound you are looking for when you put the right muffler on. If the cats are gone, it's purely a crap shoot which muffler sounds the best.

I've had Borla's in 2 different vehicles, headers, straight pipes and now all of my vehicles have Flowmaster mufflers. The only one with cats left sounds the best. My friend had a Tahoe with cats but no mufflers and it sounded good as well.

I recommend keeping the cats. Unless you only intend to race the vehicle.

Ask the oldtimers that have tried several things over the years. See what they say.

 

You can tuck it up a bit better with an H-pipe if you put it behind the tranny pan.

You should definately put on some kind of mufflers. Its VERY loud with just pipes. The mufflers tone it done a bit and take the raspy bite out of it.

If you do mufflers like mine, you have to massage the floor beneath the rear seats. Otherwise you can mount mufflers after the axle.

I've yet to see someone do a dual inlet dual outlet single muffler in the stock location.

 

I know a 99 LS1, Pacesetter LTs -> Bullet Resonator -> SLP Loudmouth and that sounds awesome.

 

Also depends greatly on the pipe sizing. 2.5 duals and no mufflers would be ok (to me) 3 or bigger is going to be nasty.

I run 2.5 with glasspacks (yes glasspacks) we went through a ton of them to find some with really tiny louvers(sp?) inside that were spirals. I like the way it sounds, only sounds like a truck if you bog it around @ 1k.

Idle is pretty loud, you can def hear the cam.
2k cruise is pretty quite, little drone.
4k is loud
6k+ is mean and raspy and sounds like open headers. I like.

(I don't mind a little rasp up top, its the flowmaster 80 + no cats rasp at 2k that I can't stand)

 

I had an Lts with H-pipe w/ 2.25 pipe from the h-pipe back w/ no muffler and it sounded awesome!. Wasn't very loud when cruising, just when you nailed it! put sweet thunders on there and it sounded like crap. My advice is to try it w/o mufflers first. You can always put them on later.

 

I don't think you will like straight pipe without cats....it will be EXTREMELY LOUD at all RPM, not just when you want it to be loud...if you want a sound similar to a Nextel Cup car in the PITS (Low RPM, but wide open exhaust), go with open, but I know of ZERO areas (even here in Michigan) where straight pipe is legal or accepted (except for some stinkin' reason on ratty sounding Harleys). Even if you like that sound, in your car you will probably like it for a grand total of a WEEK, tops....then you ill be back to square one of picking out a muffler. The only time in Michigan that I know of that you can get away with straight pipes is during the Woodward Dream Cruise. I have seen several cars at the Dream Cruise with open ZOOMIE headers on the STREET ! Most states are MUCH stricter than Michigan. Personally I like the 2 chamber Flowmaster with NO cat sound.

 

w/out mufflers or cats...yes it will sound like crap and annoy the hell out of everyone, espesially you.

 

AGAIN!! It depends greatly on the size of the piping. 2.25" All the way back is going to do way more than a bullet muffler does on 3".

 

Hey guys, thanks for the advise. To tell you the truth, my flowmaster fell off(yes, fell off) about a month ago and it has a nice rumble and is a bit too much. Little info, I have a single cat stock manifold Z28 with 3" catback without the flowmaster. I will try and get a sound clip up soon. I don't mind the sound, but Grandview police do.

Trying to match up the best sounding, least expensive, and best ground clearance for a lowered car with my long tubes going on in the future. I would like style, performance, and most importantly the sound to be at it's best.

I appreciate the attention guys. This is the place where I hold the most value for opinions. Keep um comin'.

Finch