Exhaust Advice
 

I need a inexpensive cat-back exhaust system for my 86 Z-28 Camaro with a 305. I just need something that I can pass inspection with, whats are some cheap systems out there that still sound good? A performance boost would be a bonus.
I'm new around here, but your help would be appreciated.

get some turbo mufflers and buy some pipe much cheaper than a cat back, and is the same thing (usually you can have the pipe installed for less than a decent cat back runs)

hooker cat-back.. i think its under 200

2 turbo mufflers about $20 each, and some pipe and the same thing can be had for under $100 a bit higher installed. The kits are for people who don't want to do any work

or for people who dont want to run into problems. what do you mean by running two turbo mufflers?

the cheapest way would just to get the catback, breaking it down peice by peice by peice might be cheaper but its a pain in the ***, i know a few people that ordered like the dynomax cat-back where i work at advance auto and broke the part numbers down on each peice then brought it back, then ordered everything seperate peice by peice, sounds weird but it is cheaper doin that way.

and i agree what stated above hooker cat-back would be your best bet, they sound good and are decently priced, dont go with flowmasters unless you just want the legendary sounds they hurt horsepower from all the reports i heard so far

I think I will stick with a kit, the reason being my most extensive amount of exhaust work was putting a muffler on my 93 chevy lumina (which turned out to be a pain because the slip in part of the old muffler that rotted off was stuck in the pipe). I checked out the Hooker system, it was around $280 which isn't to bad. Does anyone know anything about the Dynomaxx cat-back system, or the Edelbrock one? Thanks for the help guys.

they are all pretty much the same, have a nice sound and should be under 300. i would search around for a place where you can get teh cheapest catback for your car. they are all very similar so just find the cheapest one.

stop at your local advance auto if you have one or just call for a price on a dynomax one we also carry eddlebrock and hooker, best part goin that way no shippin, so do your research your goin to pay a good chunk to ship it off online. they are farely cheap for the cat-backs at advance auto, i work at one but i dont work again till wensday morning or id give yah a price

turbo mufflers are the dynomax style, you can buy them cheap. and few catbacks ship in one piece, plus if you find piecing it together a pain you don't need to be working on a car that is monkey work

I would get a flowmaster cat back. That is what I have for my 305, it is very deep toned and runs for under 300 I think. Interior resonance is descent also. Most of the time if you just buy pipes they are not mandrel bent, it isn't 100% necesary but it does flow a little better and might be worth the extra couple bucks if you decide to make your own. Also it is very difficult to make real dual exhaust with 2 mufflers on 3rd gens. Just get a muffler with one inlet and two outlets.

Flowmasters dont all have to be legendary sounding they make a couple of different series to get the sound that you want, and they definetely dont hurt power.

flowmasters don't hurt power, if they did would everyone copy their design? not to mention the pro racers using them

the ones the pros use are not chambered however

My local auto parts store has a Merrit system for cheap. I dont know if its any different then the rest of the cat backs.
The reason im lookin to save money now, is if I dont pass emissions then I will have more money to put in a new engine, and possibly just make it for the track.

the ones that I have seen are (mufflers are either a chambered or glass packed)

k well then who do you consider a pro

my old neighbor (in GA) his initials are WJ he runs NHRA and I bet you saw him and his son on tv

guess ill believe it when i see it, just off flow #s alone id stay away from chambered mufflers

Yea flows sound good on older cars like with the 40 series but from my own experience it seemed like flows hurt my power a lil i didnt have it dynoed but it just felt a lil sluggish granted i did my new tranny, slp loud mouth, lid and tuned it good with my predetor programer it runs a lot better now, but from stock to flows it just felt a lil more sluggish just my opinion

hooker aerochambers are chambered, as are edelbrock 9edelbrock even says they copied flowmasters basic design) flow numbers of a muffler are pretty well meaningless (from all the research I've done) so far noone has proven on a dyno one works better than the other, just the chambered is a couple hundred times more reliable since the packing starts to break down as soon as the car is started, and on a race engine that runs a bit rich will only last about 2 runs before either being junk or starting on fire from excessive fuel

thats like saying flow #s on heads dont mean anything cus you saw another car with different heads make the same power, if they didnt mean anything you might as well get a 1" cat back while you're at it

mufflers don't flow in traditional methods many are designed to scavenge (wich lowers flow numbers) again anytime someone has done a test of mufflers with 1 car the difference is less than the margin of error on a dyno.There is a reason no big manufacturer of mufflers touts their flow numbers

dynomax does, ultra flow mufflers are the sh*t, i remember getting mine and they compared their muffler to a bunch of others including flowmaster and if i remember correctly one 3" in/out ultraflow muffler would outflow two 3" in/out flowmaster mufflers

yea ultraflow mufflers are good im thinking about runnin 2 ultraflow raptor mufflers on my bronco they come with cut out plates on them

dynomax=civic (they are a low end brand) the low end companies do tend to brag about things that have no meaning, I'll say it again there has been no dyno proof that one works better than the other

low end brand lol what ever

they are the cheapest of the brands (and garbage I know a few dozen people who have had their "stainless" systems rust out in 2 years from the outside)