I have had no luck finding a cheap Z28 takeoff exhuast and don;t wanna dump a load of money on modding this car. Is there any cheap replacements or things I can do to make the Y87 muffler with downturns look better? Also i don;t wanna do a crap load of work...like welding and all.

 

Just to give you a response, you could saw the turndowns off and put on some new bolt on tips... This would be a lot of work though. And I'm not sure how much luck you'd have with finding nice bolt on tips. I used to have some edelbrock ones but they just rusted and flaked (b/c I didn't take constant super care of them). I switched to a stainless (no maintenance) catback since then.

 

Heres a cheap one on ebay:

Here

 

I wouldn't fool with getting a z-28 mufler unless you're going to end up with the tips anyway, you're going to pay atleast $100 for that muffler and it will need installing,

I would just get a catback system and when it is done you will have spent $450 but you will have a good system, i love my flowmaster catback, it takes a few months to break in but it sound pretty good, it may not br the best for fit and finish but you can't paint it black and it looks fine. I paid $280 for the parts and $130 to have it installed, then ibought some nicer tips for $30, a z-28 won't do much except for apearence and it would be cheaper for you to have your y87 pipes extended.

 

How can a Flowmaster get "broken-in"? There is nothing there to break in. They are hollow with welded metal baffles. They would sound the same from day 1. The only mufflers that get broken-in are the ones that are packed with something like fiberglass, cereamic, or metallic fibers.

 

A WS6 or T/A SS Z-28 takeoff is cheap, compared to the prices of most exhausts now adays.

 

It breaks in by rusting inside out. This opens up the passages even more and it does less muffling.

 

it breaks in by the metal getting hot and cold so much that the tone changes

 

My GF has Flowmasters on her Mustang...def sounds better now than when she first got them installed. I have sound clips of then and now, so it isn't a mental thing. They do def. "break in".

 

So by your reasoning it will always sound the same at a given temperature regardless of age?

 

All the porous areas of the metal and the gaps in the pipes get filled by burnt oil or whatever shoots out the pipes and smooths everything out reducing air friction and making it less raspy.

It also seems like the temperature makes a difference but i don't think that has anything to do with the exhaust system, just the way the engine is running.

 

Ya, it could get coated by carbon deposits, but I wouldn't consider that breaking in just build up. I doubt the heat has anything to do with it. If so, the welding process would heat the metal. I've been around cars running Flows since I was 16. I'm now 31. I have never heard a difference in one that is new or old, unless they rust or change something with the engine. The diff you hear may be catalytic converter related or a placebo effect per say.

 

bingo!

 

Placebo? what the hell are you talking about? How would the Cat convertor change because you put a new muffler on?, I think you all are full of crap.

 

WHOBETTER hit the nail on the head on this one. I have seen flowmasters change tone usually with in 10,000 miles their tone changes.

The sound is also dependant on the how the engine is running as he also mentioned. Notice your car is a lot louder when you first start it up, due to the choke.

Flowmasters are known to open up over time. Some people like the sound after it "breaks-in" others dont. This is why you see so many flowmasters for sale with about 8-20 thousand miles on them. that or the owners fear the rust from flowmaster aluminized construction, or a factor of both.

As for cutting the turndowns off the Y87, if you do that the tips will not clear the rear bumper in a straight line. They will point downwards, unless you lower both the hanger on the intermediate pipe (right rear) and the hanger on the left tail pipe so that the tips can clear the bumper. I am not sure, but i belive that this may cause clearance issue on the rest of intermediate pipe. So i still recomend the Takeoff muffler. Get it from SLP, its the best deal. As one of my friends is finding out, getting one cheap from someone can quickly turn into a pain in the ***, when they saw off the tail pipes to ship it. It turns out a takeoff he found for 60 bucks is only gonna save him about 30 bucks over the SLP that comes shipped for 119.99.