Hey all, next month I'm adding some 3.73 gears and probably a Hooker catback to my 57K mile 97 Z-28 A4. I have a set of brand new cats on it from the dealer.

Is it worth going to an offroad y-pipe on such an animal? If it's only going to give me 3 HP and a ton more noise I would say it isn't worth it, but I honestly don't know how restrictive these dual-cat cars are.

Thanks!

 

It's not worth doing an off road y-pipe on a 96/97. The restriction is the manifold outlet size, and y-pipe tubing diameter, not the cats themselves.

I tried it on my car a long time ago and it was worth zero horsepower.

Your money would be better spent on mid/lengths and a single cat, or longtubes with/without cats.

 

I concur. Plus the cats help harness that raspy sans cat sound, and you don't reek like raw fuel everytime you start your car.

 

Wow, so I guess i should ditch the y-pipe idea and scrape up a little more for shortie (read : California smog legal) headers. I take it SLP or BBK's are the way to go, with BBK's being the most economical from the posts I've read.

How difficult are shorties to install on an LT1, and will I see decent gains?

 

If you need to have new headers, I'd opt for anything other than BBK with a CARB number. My experience with them was horrible. If you want a nice set of used JBA's, I may have a set for sale. They are coated, used for about 7k miles and look great.

 

Thanks for the offer man, but I don't have too much to spend, and I hear the SLP's and JBA's are pretty pricey. It's ok, I'll start with the catback and gears for now, and do the rest over the winter.

Thanks again for the advice!