Most of you are going to tell me not to but I want to go back to an OEM style setup like shorties and hf catted y pipe and im looking for suggestions.. too see why read below-

After using many setups on my car ( stock, stock w/magnaflow catback, stock with ory and magnaflow catback, edel lt's w/ory and magnaflow catback, pacesetter lt with ory and hooker catback, pacesetter lt with true duals then later added hf cats, and now back to pacesetter lt with ory and flowaster catback... I would have to say that the true duals offered the best sound with the flowmaster a close second.. however I do not like that any LT and ory, catted y, or true dual I have heard of and used has its own set of problems. I overlooked alot these things with one thing in mind when I started - more HP lol. a rookie mistake i know.. but i intended to race alot more then i accually ended up doing or wanted to. I pretty much just drive the car for pleasure and run it for fun once in awile at the track. I do not like that since going to LT's i have had alot of problems with fitment and sound.. bare with me here LT lovers... I love the sound of LT's and true duals and always got compliments, I also got alot of crap from the cops.. My mods are in sig and all of those thing have contributed to things happening i did not like. 1. Fitment... I have not had a setup since going to LT's ive used that did not bang on something or cause the Y pipe to do so (going to replace the motor at some point and im not doing motor mounts until then.. no thank you they are still in decent shape..) 2. Sound... I do not like the sound of lt's with ory. sounds good without a load and up high but terrible with a load at low rpms. Also since going to lt's ive heard just about every engine noise there is to hear and it drives me crazy, not to mention the banging headers/ypipe. 3. Tuning.. because of my cam.. and lt's short of an open loop tune i have had terrible luck dialing the car in.. SO I am asking for some advice. I am seriously considering going to a shorty header and HF cat setup so that my car sounds mean and smooth again without the dam banging! This would still allow enough flow for a small cam or ls6 motor swap and with the clean sound that I like. I was considering a Ypipe with cats but the banging issue would still be there if I dont do motor mounts before im ready too. I know that id lose some HP by doing this but right now my exhaust is just annoying and i dont drive it much because of this.. I love my car too which is the sad part.. At this point im ready to go back to a stock style setup and dont care about the difference in power since this could be made up by other means if i ever decide to run at the track more like a stall finally... I was looking at jba shorties and a random tech Stainless factory HF cat replacement Y pipe.. Are there any other setups you guys know of that would work well or any issues with the one im looking at? any other advice is welcome as well.

 

I see you've never run an oem style catback whether slp dual dual or stock ls1 catback with the LT/ory setup.. They are significantly quieter..

Also, were you running a merge collector, I dont have personal expierience with them, however, they are supposed to cut down on rasp significantly.

Just a couple ideas for you, good luck.

ps. personally I'm ordering parts to have a custom Y w/ 3" to 4" flowmaster merge collector with 4" run to the axle with a 4" cutout into a stock ls1 catback.

 

Friend of mine has that exact same set up. He made 408 closed and 441 open. Car sounds great open and closed too.

 

I only briefly scanned. Can someone give me the Cliff Notes? Best I can tell it is noise? I run the stock WS-6 muffler and it is quite but sounds good... makes good power.

 

Sorry for the long post .. lol but if you read it you will see what ive been dealin with.. poor quality sound and pipes banging everywhere. true duals were nice but too loud and not legal.. running pipes under or over the axle had its own set of issues. Im looking for setups with shorties and cats for a clean sound and good fitment, a simple oem style setup that works well so i can spend my time working on other things.. I dont care about max HP numbers at this point. I have not been happy with the LT's on my car. I have spent more time and money trying to make them work for me then driving it really..

 

Only problem at all I have with my exhaust is speed bumps and stuff. Main reason is being lowered. If it wasn't I would have no problems. I love my exhaust!

 

The 2 styles of Y pipe i have used were not the flowmaster style merge so im sure that has alot to do with bad quality sound but i still have the banging y pipe issue every since going to LT's. My car was stock when i bought it. the stock setup sounded , to me, very good with just a catback had no problems. I chose to jump on the LT bandwagon.. If it was a drag car id run LT's -dumped all day.. but they have caused nothing but trouble for me since putting them on since i dont just use the car to race..

 

Went through many set-ups myself. Duals were loud and causing me problems with the cops. Corsa sounded OK but muffler was for **** quality wise. GMMG sounded good but was a rip for the price. I went with a catted Y, cutouts and a Magnaflow. Loud when I want it otherwise quiet and the fume deal went away with the cats. KooKs LT up front. Zero clearence issues for the most part. Good tune and all is well power and driving wise . SpeedInc. was/is a great shop as I see you are in Illinois also. Maybe they can help? Sponsor here also.

Good Luck!!

 

Here is my opinion, please take it as just that.

Poly or solid motor mounts should have been installed with the first LT install. Regardless of how many miles are on your car, if you upgrade your mounts you are eliminating the potential for a problem. Some don't, and seem to get away without any trouble. Others, such as yourself, are not so lucky and have exhaust banging issues. Replace the mounts and that will solve your first problem.

Problem number two, the sound of your exhaust, again is a matter of opinion. And fortunately since this is your car, your opinion is the only one that matters. If you aren't fond of the way an ORY sounds, don't run one. Install a nice set of high flow cats in your Y-pipe and along with the upgraded motor mounts you won't have to worry about them banging the floor pan. The cats should help to eliminate some rasp as well. You said you liked the way the Flowmaster Catback sounded. Awesome. Run it and have an electric cutout installed in your I-pipe. This way you can be obnoxious loud when you choose to be, as well as improving flow for some HP gains.

Tuning? Mmm... I haven't much experience with this yet. (None, that is.) My only advice would to be spend some cash and have it dyno tuned. Maybe you could sell some of the no longer needed exhaust parts you have lying around to pay for the dyno session. You seem to be in no short supply of that. LOL

Again, this is just my opinion. Good luck, man.

 

most of my tune issues come from the cam... LT's dont help much with 02 readings.. I may have better luck with a different LT setup but it doesnt change the fact that i would have to buy more stuff (different LT's-ypipe) and do alot more work (motor mounts- header and Y swaps) that i really dont want to do again (should have done the mounts first but was unaware of this at the time and will when a new motor goes in) and possibly end up still feeling the same way. This is why if I have to spend money and tear into it again I want to go to an OEM style setup that I was pretty happy with like shortys and oem style HF catted Y since i dont have my stockers anymore and ill still retain some decent flow, and get sound and clearance that im happy with so i can start driving my car again and spend time and money working on the exhaust for other things. I appreciate the responses 2002 and mumbles and I hope someone out there will have some input on the setup im looking at and if it will give me the same headaches or not.. I had no issues with banging pipes until LT's and except for duals i have not liked the sound either but maybe thats just me..