Well, I have had my 2002 Camaro SS LE now for over a decade and lived with the junk Flowmaster the previous owner put on it (he replaced the original SLP exhaust...yeah, I know). Anyway, after living with this for 12 years, the muffler has finally began dying. I can hear its guts rattling around inside itself and now it really has to go. Trouble is, with so many options and opinions out there, I'm not sure what the best choice for me is.

Here is my situation, I am hoping someone can give me some advice.

The car has 115,000 miles on it and is currently my daily driver (has been since 2008). I plan on using it as my daily until I buy a new car sometime next year. At that time, this car will become my "weekend fun car" and might experience some additional performance modifications. For right now, the car is a bone stock SLP car except for the cat back Flowmaster.

I'd like to do cam and some minor engine work in the future...but I live in a commie emissions state so I can't delete cats or do anything too fun with the exhaust.

I'd like something with decent performance flow but most importantly that sounds good. Sound is my #1 priority. I don't want it to be obnoxiously loud...I just want a good performance sound. Back in the day, I had thought about getting an SLP LM exhaust...but I'm starting to wonder if that is going to be more obnoxious and less good sounding.

I could use some advice. Thanks.

 

A lot of people (myself included) that went with a LM with headers changed it out for something not as loud. It might sound good with stock manifolds, but with longtubes the drone was kinda too much for me.

 

Back in the day a lot of SLP Dual/Dual's were tossed for loud poorer performing exhaust. Good sound is subjective but to me, Flowmaster produced some of the worst sounding catbacks. Most of the Flowmaster stuff was pretty restrictive. Basically the Worst of both worlds. My wife's 02 Z28 had a Flowmaster and at idle it was loud. It was louder than my heads and cam TA with a SLP D/D.

#1 ) To m, Corsa made the best sounding catback for the fbody but its expensive. One of my friends regretted having his SlP D/D replaced with a Corsa as the great sounding Corsa proved a little loud for him. I rate the Corsa as nearly perfect.

#2) Borla made the next best sounding catback for the Fbody and its expensive. With built-in cut out plate to adjust the sound is pretty neat to tailor it to what you like.

#3) The SLP 2OTL - Two on the Left. Excellent sound and louder than the D/D in my opinion.

Sometimes the old vintage SLP stuff shows up for sale at a fair price but usually its over priced. I kept my old SLP Dual/ Dual and it ended up on another car.

Hooker BlackHeart - excellent fitting 2.5 inch true dual exhaust that sounds good. It does get louder over time. I think BH has a version that will bolt up to the stock cats & manifolds. If you have to deal with strict emissions this could be a good choice if keeping cats etc. I like this set up with headers on my 416 stroker.

I have two car's with catbacks and both are SLP Dual/Dual's - the tips are sort of plain but they are quiet even with a stroker motor unless you really get on the gas. Few people could tell my car had heads & cam plus LT headers with the SLP D/D until you nailed the gas.. I think Magnaflow makes a very similar type exhaust that's fairly quiet until you nail it.

Good Luck

 

Corsa or Borla!!

 

I put a Hooker Blackheart on my 02 T/A a year ago and about 8,000 or 9,000 miles later it is a little louder but not obnoxious. I kept the factory manifolds and convertors. Still sounds good.

 

I looked at and listened to quite a few systems before I swapped out my exhaust. I got the car with a Dynomax "race" muffler already on it. Didn't sound that hot to me. Magnaflow was too quiet, Flowmaster too annoying and loud. I ponied up for the Corsa and could not be happier. Drone doesn't exist in my car. I can have a normal volume conversation while driving casually. When I really get on it, it's nice and loud on the outside and not bad on the inside. Gotten plenty of compliments on it from people with performance cars too. My setup is pretty much stock exhaust plus the Corsa cat-back. Only downside is that it's expensive.

 

I would love a Borla or Corsa but they are a bit out of my price range.

On an otherwise stock car, would a SLP LM2 be really loud? I felt that Flowmaster was medium loud but sounded terrible. The other option I was thinking was the GMMG exhaust but even that is a bit spendy. I feel that as a factory SLP car, an SLP or GMMG exhaust also feels natural. Thoughts?

 

On a stock car the LM2 might not be too loud, but most people I know end up doing long tubes later at some point. Then it would be too loud. I have a Magnaflow and Hooker Aerochamber muffler if you want to buy them for cheap and take them to an exhaust shop to have a custom system made.

 

Unfortunately, I live in a state with strict emissions laws. So I don’t think long tubes are in my future.

 

I put a magnaflow catback on my Z28 with stock manifolds and stock y-pipe. It was louder than stock but nothing crazy. Sounded great at WOT. Very mild at idle and no crazy drone. Very free flowing and affordable. Definitely better than that Flowmaster.

 

Here's a video I found of a magnaflow on stock exhaust

 

I've got the Loudmouth II with long tube headers. It sounds pretty good to me, but it's loud. That said, Borla always sounded the best on these cars in my experience.

 

I've got stock manifolds and stock Y (for now) with a Magnaflow cat back. I love it. When I bought it years ago I had done a ton of research on LS1sounds.com as I wanted to a good sounding exhaust but didn't want it to be "stupid loud" at idle or drone badly on the highway. I felt (and still do feel) that the Magnaflow is a great option. Car sounds real aggressive when you're on the throttle and doesn't drone on the road in real world applications such as your daily driving.

 

If I decided to go with the Magnaflow, is there a specific muffler that people like? Also, since my car already has a Flowmaster catback exhaust, I would just need the muffler and new tips if I want them (which I do)...right? I wouldn't need a whole new catback setup would I?

 

The hooker sounds great on my car. Although it's built so it should be tame on a stock car and sound great outside but quiet inside. You could also run the dynomax super turbo catback which will be very quiet and the tone will be more stock like. The magnaflow is quiet but got raspy once I modified the engine.

You could get any shop to fit up a muffler as long as the in outs are the same. Might take a little work to do it. Extend a little here and take off a little there sort of thing.

 

Could always keep your tips and existing pipes and just replace your Flowmaster muffler with my Magnaflow muffler.

 

I really like the sound of my TSP catback.

 

Highly recommend the TSP catback with included cutout.

 

A friend of mine did this with great results. A cheap fix that sounds good and has great flow.