So I bought a jet dynamic for 1996 Formula 5.7L to be able to tune it. I want to delete egr and air because its a pain and additional $$ to replace. Questions are:
1. How hard is it to install shorty headers? And does that require tuning?
2. Catalytic converters...Im pretty sure I need new ones, should or can I delete them, or pay the crazy price for new ones?
3. Can I delete o2 sensors so instead of 4 I have 2?
4. What cat back is good to install, deep rich tone?
5. The factory wheels for my car are 17 according to door label. The ones on here are 16s. What would be the most cost and affective way to deal with this? (Rims flaking on inside from lack of care).
6. Any advice on tuning? Ive heard jet dyn. tuner can be complex....and seems to be hard to install on windows 10?

Any advice helps and thanks in advance.

 

Let’s take the easy one first.

WHEELS:

Is your car a WS6 (Ram Air) option. Is your car a coupe or convertible? Is it possibly a very rare Comp TA (silver color)? Or possibly a Firehawk?

The only LT1 cars that got 17” wheels from the factory were the WS6 option coupes, the Comp TA and theFirehawk. Every other 4th Gen Firebird had 16” wheels. The factory 17” wheels were 17x9” 50mm offset, with 275/40-17 tires. WS6 Convertibles got 16” wheels. There are a large number of 17x9.5” wheels available. Anything from 45mm to 55mm offset will work. Many Corvette aftermarket repro wheels are made in that size. Tire would still be 275/40-17. If the car is a WS6 (or either of the very limited cars mentioned above) I would use the correct factory wheels, to keep it authentic. But they will cost a lot more than aftermarket repros.

 

TUNING

I have never used the Jet DST, so I don't know how hard it is to install/use, or whether it can do what you need done.

To answer your questions accurately, what emissions do you need to meet, if any: tailpipe, SES light and PCM scan, visual? That will affect what you can and can’t do, and how you do it.

And, just curious, what makes living with EGR and AIR “a pain”? AIR only operates for 2 or 3 minutes at startup, and then shuts off. Has no effect on performance. EGR only works from off idle to 3,600 RPM, and only when combustion temperatures start to rise, never at wide open throttle. EGR, No effect on performance. in addition to minimizing the formation of the pollutant oxides of nitrogen, also help by minimizing engine knock (detonation). Sure a faulty EGR valve can cause the engine to run rough, but that's easy to diagnose and fix.

 

Im in ohio so no emissions testing here. Well the shorty headers come with the egr setup anyway so Im going to keep that. So what is a good catback thats rich and deep?

 

They're 16s...I miss read it. Heres the labels.

 

With no emissions, long tube headers will provide the most performance. Additionally, if you need to replace the cats, long tubes make it easier to eliminate them.

Shorty headers are only slightly better than the stock manifolds, and from experience make everything harder to work on; mainly plugs and wires.

EGR and air can be eliminated if you are looking to clean up the engine bay as Fred stated, but there is no power gained, and only a couple of pounds dropped. This is needed info when ordering headers. In my opinion, headers without emissions fittings are much cleaner.

 

No one has answered your q re: the cat-back, but for good reason: it's really idiosyncratic. What sounds good to 1 might not to another, and there are plenty of options. I'm running the Magnaflow Street Series--not as loud as the Comps, but still a nice growl, enough to be noticed. You can check out youtube and listen to some of the options, but it's really not the same as hearing 'em in person. It's a start, tho.

I hear ya re: deleting the cat, but FYI, you no longer need to "pay the crazy price" to replace them. Use to be they had much more platinum in 'em (why some companies like Magnaflow will pay to get old ones), but that's no longer the case. They still have precious metals in 'em, but the prices have come down considerably. FL stopped inspections a while back, but I still run mine; ya just can't tell what FL might do. If I were still living in OH, I might well have deleted mine.

For the work involved alone, long tubes are a better option than shorties, as Drew notes. There are some good write-ups that cover all the little gotchas.

 

My first headers were JBA emissions legal 1-5/8" shorties. Engine just had a few bolt ons. I didn't feel they were worth the aggravation. They seemed to help breathing at low/mid RPM, but they seemed to choke the engine at high RPM. A tune is not an absolute necessity. But to me, shorties are not a good choice.

Currently running AS&M 1-3/4" mid-lengths, and they are amazing. Not sure if AS&M even makes them any more. And I bought mine used from a buddy who maxed them out at about 800HP. The left side had the collector modified to point straight back, so they can be run with true duals.

Shorties specifically for a 96/97, at least those that were emissions compliant, were a disaster. The driver side cat had to be kept in the stock location, so the primaries ended up sweeping up above the valve cover. Grossly overheated the engine compartment, often melting plastic parts. I had a friend who picked up a set of the AS&M dual-cat emissions legal headers, and even with putting heat shield everywhere to prevent damage, they melted stuff.

For my car, knowing I had to meet emissions, and just trying to be a responsible citizen, I installed duel cats on my Y-pipe setup. At the t9me, I think the two 3" Carsound cats were only about $150 each. And since I would be running leaded fuel at the track, we flanged both ends so they could be dropped out and replaced with 3" Borla XR1 race mufflers (local track had a 90 dB sound limit}.

Actually, I thought theft of cats had skyrocketed because the cost of rhodium had jumped to $28,000 per ounce. Even the tiny amount i a cat can bring a couple hundred.$$$

If you delete the cats, the after-cat O2 sensor are no longer needed. They can be programmed out of the PCM to avoid codes.

I ran a Borla adjustable. You could adjust the sound with different size bypass plates that allowed some exhaust to bypass the muffler. Worked well. With the stroker/nitrou, I ran a Mufflex 4" catback,, with a Flowmaster Race Series muffler. It was a miserable drone at about 2.500RPM. The guy who owned Mufflex had the same catback on his LS1, with a Spintech 4" muffler, and it was throaty, but much more civilized. The Magnaflow is probably your best bet.

You'll find a larger selection of tires if you go with a 17x9.5" wheel with 275/40-17 tires. Wheels require an offfset of ~49 to 56mm, based on my exerience.