Benefits of swapping exhaust
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Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
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Benefits of swapping exhaust I bought a 2001 Firehawk last week and I've been debating on what I would like to do to the exhaust. The previous owner obviously didn't put a lot of research on the exhaust combo he put on the car. Currently, the car has the old design slp long tube headers, their catted y pipe, and chokemaster exhaust. Actually, I was wondering if they were slp's shorty headers. Is there anyway to tell? I'm just guessing they're long tubes. Since slp or any other company doesn't make an ory to fit the headers, my options are limited unless I switch out the headers. Would I benefit in just swapping the entire system to say kooks long tubes, ory, and magnaflow, or kooks and some sort of true dual system, horse power wise? Or should I take the cheaper route and just replace the choke master exhaust with a magnaflow or whatever and save money for the clutch and cam that I'd like to put in before spring time? I just didn't if it would be worth the money, headache, and effort in swapping out the entire system if I'm only going to gain just a few to maybe 10 hp. If it's going to be a considerable amount over my set up now, then I will most definitely switch bc I dont wanna leave hp on the table when doing the cam swap. I've done research, but I couldn't find a definitive answer as to whether the kooks headers significantly out perform the old design slp headers. Now I know fitment is day and night over the two, but would about performance gains? What do you guys think?
Yes you won't see much gain but I guess you can say you'll be peace at mind knowing you got better stuff like going to 1-7/8 headers (tsp or paces) a y pipe, no cats and of course unless you like the sound replace that muffler.
My car had just a flowmaster catback from the previous owner I went with used cheap at the time dynatech headers(~$200) a 3" y pipe from my local exhaust shop($90) and told him just to replace the muffler (120). I could've and would've too gone with tsp headers, but I have different plans for the car
My car had just a flowmaster catback from the previous owner I went with used cheap at the time dynatech headers(~$200) a 3" y pipe from my local exhaust shop($90) and told him just to replace the muffler (120). I could've and would've too gone with tsp headers, but I have different plans for the car
I'm in a similar position.
The car I bought has a very poorly designed exhaust setup.
It has pacesetter headers (no problems there)
But it has some custom (hack) y pipe with no cats, one magnaflow muffler and a dump before the axle.
It is rediculously loud, not to mention it wont pass emissions.
I know I will lose power by adding cats and going full length on the exhaust, but I'd rather have a good sound and lose 5 hp than staying with what I have.
I think the sound is more important than power. In other words, you could never justify the expense of changing it up on a $ per hp rationale, if you are expecting quality.
The car I bought has a very poorly designed exhaust setup.
It has pacesetter headers (no problems there)
But it has some custom (hack) y pipe with no cats, one magnaflow muffler and a dump before the axle.
It is rediculously loud, not to mention it wont pass emissions.
I know I will lose power by adding cats and going full length on the exhaust, but I'd rather have a good sound and lose 5 hp than staying with what I have.
I think the sound is more important than power. In other words, you could never justify the expense of changing it up on a $ per hp rationale, if you are expecting quality.
For any of you who may have a crappy designed y-pipe, consider throwing on a decent merge pipe. That alone will help with sound and add a few hp. This is what I did, and it definitely made a difference. I got mine from Flowmaster and it was only $50
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
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I was thinking about swapping out the fm muffler with the dynomax muffler. It should be a direct fit, correct? Possibly some minor modification, but not much. Anybody ever switch these two mufflers out? Any gains? Louder or more mellow?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
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I kind of do want that raw sound of an ory because the firehawk isn't my daily driver. I want to make a statement when I head down the street lol. Would an exhaust shop fab up an ory for me that would be decent enough if I bring in the flowmaster merge? fm merge, ory, and change out mufflers should do the trick. Ahhhh so many decisions!
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I kind of do want that raw sound of an ory because the firehawk isn't my daily driver. I want to make a statement when I head down the street lol. Would an exhaust shop fab up an ory for me that would be decent enough if I bring in the flowmaster merge? fm merge, ory, and change out mufflers should do the trick. Ahhhh so many decisions!
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The high end headers are more about fitment and better ground clearance than performance. Go Kooks TDs with their 1 7/8" headers if you can swing it. you'll never have to worry about another system again.
11 Second Club
Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Middletown, DE
OP you'll know if you have long tube headers lol 
When I went from stock exhaust with Borla to Longtube headers, cat delete, ORY, and a cutout, I made ~363 to the wheels. Cam swap brought it up to ~400 to the wheels. It's all about free flowing exhaust. However one thing I like about the catted Y pipe is the fact that it eliminates a lot of rasp which can get annoying. Don't spend money when you don't have to. I would be more focused on getting a good head cam combo going instead of worrying about 10hp which will barely even make a difference.
When I went from stock exhaust with Borla to Longtube headers, cat delete, ORY, and a cutout, I made ~363 to the wheels. Cam swap brought it up to ~400 to the wheels. It's all about free flowing exhaust. However one thing I like about the catted Y pipe is the fact that it eliminates a lot of rasp which can get annoying. Don't spend money when you don't have to. I would be more focused on getting a good head cam combo going instead of worrying about 10hp which will barely even make a difference. Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
OP you'll know if you have long tube headers lol When I went from stock exhaust with Borla to Longtube headers, cat delete, ORY, and a cutout, I made ~363 to the wheels. Cam swap brought it up to ~400 to the wheels. It's all about free flowing exhaust. However one thing I like about the catted Y pipe is the fact that it eliminates a lot of rasp which can get annoying. Don't spend money when you don't have to. I would be more focused on getting a good head cam combo going instead of worrying about 10hp which will barely even make a difference.
When I went from stock exhaust with Borla to Longtube headers, cat delete, ORY, and a cutout, I made ~363 to the wheels. Cam swap brought it up to ~400 to the wheels. It's all about free flowing exhaust. However one thing I like about the catted Y pipe is the fact that it eliminates a lot of rasp which can get annoying. Don't spend money when you don't have to. I would be more focused on getting a good head cam combo going instead of worrying about 10hp which will barely even make a difference.
Although the setup is less than ideal, you aren't going to see a huge power gain from changing it all out.
I went from Hooker headers, ORY and Flowmaster (first owner installed it all) to 1 7/8" TSP stainless, ORY, cutout and Magnaflow rear section for sound and durability purposes (went from aluminum to stainless and I needed the Magnaflow to help quiet things down for a local road course with a tight decibel limit) and while I'm much happier with the quality of my setup, there isn't any noticeable performance gain.
I went from Hooker headers, ORY and Flowmaster (first owner installed it all) to 1 7/8" TSP stainless, ORY, cutout and Magnaflow rear section for sound and durability purposes (went from aluminum to stainless and I needed the Magnaflow to help quiet things down for a local road course with a tight decibel limit) and while I'm much happier with the quality of my setup, there isn't any noticeable performance gain.
