I've read so many different friggin opinions about exhaust and what to do and bla bla bla, right now on my ARI 3.4 I have just stock exhaust(except for ported manifolds) minus the cat and I don't really want to spend $500 for 3-4 hp, and less torque. But my question is this... isn't it the same to have, instead of a really high flow cat and high flow muffler, just have no cat and have a regular muffler... isn't this cheaper while offering roughly the same flow, while still having some back pressure so it dosen't kill the torque? Or does it matter where in the exhaust system the restriction is? Never heard this discussed before and was just wondering...

I am no expert in this area but this is my experience; When I bought my 86Gt the muffler was blown and the cat was a hollow shell. It sounded like crap and ran worse. I replaced the exhaust system with a used oem and used one of Rodney's hi flow cats. Man what a difference! Not only sounded great but performance was definitely improved. I think the engine, V6 at least, is tuned to run with the cat. Just my opinion but my car felt and sounded a whole hell of a lot better after.

When GM designed the exhaust system, they did a pretty good job creating a stainless steel system that worked and produced nice tones. Since these systems are now 16-20 years old, they are in need of replacement. You can do anything you want because it is your car. The cat is for emission control to burn up unburned hydrocarbon emission. Do you really need it? Probably not if your car is tuned properly, but if you care about the emissions it would be a good thing.

You can go to Midas and get a cheap muffler and pipes that will last a year for $160. Then next year you can get another, then another. Each costing $160 for the pipes afterall the mufflers are crap and are free.

You can get another stainless steel system exhaust for your $500 that will last for 10 years. These systems are designed for the Fiero and are not pieced together parts so that the exhaust just exits the back of the car.

The amount of HP gain or loss from different exhaust systems don't have a lot of real dyno data to support what is the "best". Most of the proponents of any specific set up tell us the "seat of the pants test" says which is one is better than another. That is just BS. You wont feel 5 HP difference one way or another.

Again, it is your car and you can experiment all you want for your "best" exhaust system. It all takes $$.

I got a real surprise at the wreckers. I mentioned it on another string.

They were parting out an 86 GT. The engine was out, and the yahoo who cut the exhaust off, cut right thru the centre of the crossover pipe Y with his torch. Bad move, but good for me.

I could see the actual insides of the joint.

What I saw was the crossover pipes compressed down into a D shape to get inside the 2" pipe. They weren't more than 1" across. Lesson learned. When porting the exhaust change or port the crossover.