sebe4848

Hey fellas, a couple days ago i put my backpack on the ground in the back of my car. Well I completely forgot about it and sort of ran it over, my bag's strap caught on my exhaust and completely tore off the entire left side, right where the weld is at the muffler. So, after inspection I found that the platinum in my exhaust has completely clogged it up causing bad start up, bad mileage, and decreased acceleration. I am thinking about getting a flowmaster american thunder series exhaust kit with the 80 series muffler. I have a 96 firebird trans am ws6 that has a couple bolt on performance parts, I'm currently pushing about 350-375 to the wheels at the moment, but I plan on adding on plenty more parts. Has anybody had a flowmaster set up like this? If so, could you please tell me your pros and cons and if this exhaust is worth the 500 dollars I have to shell out for the kit and install?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Platinum has completely clogged your exhaust system?

sebe4848

the interior of the exhaust system has some platinum in it, the platinum has deteriorated which has caused a huge build up in the cats and muffler not allowing the engine to breathe right. It's an old school exhaust that the previous owner had fabricated, very badly, which I'm now trying to fix. I usually don't see this kind of set up that he had on there, but that's the best description I can give you.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Platinum is a precious metal, and only a very small amount is used in a catalytic converter. There would never be enough of this material in any exhaust system to cause a blockage. On the other hand, certain events can cause the converter substrate to become melted or damaged and thus create a blockage. This would not be a "build up" of platinum, but rather dislodged or melted substrate from the converter causing reduced flow. Perhaps this is what you were actually referring to.

sebe4848

Ok I appreciate the info, but this in no way relates to the question I had asked previously. I'm mainly pertaining to the flowmaster exhaust and someones experience with it.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

No personal experience, but everything I've read on the subject says they are amongst the worst flowing exhausts for these cars, yes they sound decent, but you can get the Hooker LT-1 catback from Advance Auto online and use a coupon code to knock 50 bucks off the price which puts it around 320, which is alot less money then the 500 for the flowmaster.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Perhaps you may want to reconsider that conclusion....

A "platinum" clog/build up is certainly not the cause of your problems, but if converter substrate is melted/broken inside the cat and causing the driveability issues you listed above, then a Flowmaster catback is not going to fix that issue. You will need to gut, remove or remove/repalce the cat if the substrate has become clogged and is blocking exhaust flow. Muffler/catback replacement only will not be enough if you are sure that the cats have become clogged.

You have asked for experiences with this catback. I have owned it, and I can assure you that it, by itself, will not cure a blocked cat nor offer any power gains on a car with an exhaust system that is clogged forward of the muffler.

JD_AMG

You may want to try the search feature...
The 80 series is known to be among the worst flowing exhausts for these cars. There have been guys that lost a little power over the stock unit.
Also your LT1 car is not making anywhere near 350-375rwhp with "bolt ons".

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Technical issues aside, I have to say that this might just be the weirdest mishap I've ran across on this board ... "Backpack tears off exhaust system" lol.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

I know school books are heavy and all but, DAMN.

sebe4848

I appreciate all of the info, I went ahead and asked some of my buddies around here who also have flowmaster exhausts and they've all said that's all they run on their cars. I went with a flowmaster american thunder 80 series single in dual out, with a single cat. I've heard mixed reviews on these exhaust systems, but they've mostly been good.

sebe4848

Also, granted I may lost a 2-5 Horses by putting this exhaust system on, but I am by no means going to race my t/a. I have always liked flowmaster because they always have that old-school muscle car sound to them. I've ran a borla cat back exhaust that I paid 1100 for when it was all said and done, great flowing exhaust, but in my opinion it droned some for me. The reason I don't want to run an slp loudmouth is because in the near future I'm going to be putting on a new catalytic converter as well as new headers, which would make that specific exhaust way too loud for me. My house rumbles with the stock exhaust when it was working. I appreciate all of the information fellas, but I'm going to stick with flowmaster.

sebe4848

oh by the way I am pushing 375 rwhp the wet kit I just recently put in helps me get there , replacing it with a twin turbo set up though here pretty soon.

vanwyk99

i just dont see the point of putting an exhaust system on that your going to lose hp on? doesn't make much sense plus flowmaster 80 series is pretty worthless they flow bout as good as the stock muffler which sucks lol

guppymech

iTrader: (7)

I've got a Flowmaster 80 welded to my stock 'I' pipe with a cutout where the cat was. I'm around 310 rwhp and I only gain 1 mph at the track with the cutout open vs. closed. The Flowmaster sounds good and on the street you'd never notice the hp loss, there's also no point in racing at the track through the mufflers if you don't have to.

frez777

I just got the flowmaster #817199 stainless. It was $550 for the kit and $150 to have it installed, I'm fairly disappointed in the lack of any thunder at all. I am still running all factory ahead of it though. It looks darn near exactly the same as the factory setup. I'm assuming it's the exhaust manifolds and cats that are still muffling the thunder. Oh well hopefully it'll hook right up to the headers when I can get some.

vanwyk99

should look into the slp 1 with the factory setup sounds pretty good quite idle but when u get on it....its pretty loud nice deep tone .....do not recommend headers with the slp unless you like very very loud lol