Z28LS1camaroguy

iTrader: (3)

i have been hearing tons and tons of people dissing different catbacks and i am just wondering what does the catback really do, does it just muffle the sound so it isnt too loud or does it serve a real purpose. could you just run the Y pipe back and put a downpipe on it without a catback system, or will this damage anything???

Axltransam

The ultimate purpose of a catback exhaust system is to help your car breathe better due to restrictive stock exhaust piping. Many of them flow similar and see similar gains except for Flowmaster. People diss catbacks usually based on sound preference. If you like loud get a cutout, SLP Loudmouth I, or TPS Rumbler. If you are looking for quiet, go with Hooker, Magnaflow, or Corsa. Please bear in mind also that many of these systems sounds will change (get considerably louder) with mid length or long tube headers and the deletion of your cats. Some combination of exhausts are intolerable (i.e. SLP Loudmouth, long tubes and no cats.) Personally, the combination I will be going with is mac midlength headers, catted y (with random tech hi flow cats replacing the mac cats), cutout with electric opener going into a magnaflow catback system.

JohnnyC

I suppose you can do that Camaroguy if you want your car to sound like a chain saw... These cars get real raspy without a muffler of some sort.

jrivera04

I love my Magnaflow catback. Nice rumble under normal driving but sounds mean when the car is being run hard.

I run it on both my cars.

LT1 sounds realy mean with it.

Luna

iTrader: (6)

I just put a new hooker catback system on stock y pipe and headers, when i first got the car it had a pipe coming straight off the y-pipe and boy was it loud! but it didnt always sound so good either, I put the hooker on and it sounds nice and quiet at idle or normal driving but really mean once you get the RPMs up plus the price was right!!

JohnnyC

I think that somehow another "which cat-back is the best" thread has been created, so I will play along: My cat-back can beat up your catback! Flowmaster sucks and whatnot

BottleRocket

Buy a cat-back ONLY for the sound and the look of the tips. Other then that, they all produce the same (minimal) gains. Yes the stock cat-back is restrictive, but the place you will see the most gains is when you replace the headers and Y-pipe. The cat-back is good for a few HP, but thats about it. Dont expect it to win you any races. Also, as was stated before, some cat-backs sound great on stock manifolds and Y-pipe and then sound like complete ******* when you put Longtubes and an off-road Y in front of them. There are also catbacks that have the complete opposite where they sound like crap or marginal on stock manifolds but sound great on a nice set of headers.

Check out LS1sounds.com

240M3SRT

Im running an open y pipe on stock manifolds i think it sounds good. My friend does the same with headers but his is signifigantly louder. Good way to clean up the underside of your car and save weight(and money).

However, with the windows down you will smell the exhaust sometime. And my friends car drones inside pretty bad.

SouthFL.02.SS

BTW, our cars have 346 cubic inches.

And yes, the Flowmaster is THE most restrictive catback on the market.

cyphur

iTrader: (10)

LOL thats funny.

i ran an open y-pipe w/LT's for a couple weeks here and there, and its loud as all hell. sounds good WOT or idle but thats the only time it sounds good. if you want loud and powerful get true duals.

240M3SRT

I will be going true duals with x-pipe as soon as my header arrive!

Z28LS1camaroguy

iTrader: (3)

i heard that flowmaster catback systems sound really awsome with long tube headers and a offroad Y-pipe, and i am gonna get a cutout also when i get my headers and offroad Y-pipe just to make it louder when i want to lol. and what headers should i go for at a reasonable price under about $600, i know i am getting a SLP offroad Y-pipe. but not sure what headers yet i was thinking hooker or QTP.

SouthFL.02.SS

Get the Y-pipe that mates up to the Long Tubes you're getting.
If you're getting Hooker or QTP LT's, then get the QTP Y-pipe, as it's one of the free-est flowing Y-pipe on the market, as it has a true merge in the 4" Flowmaster Scavenger Merge Collector.

Z28LS1camaroguy

iTrader: (3)

ok so now i am thinking hooker headers with a QTP offroad y pipe, and buying cutouts to put on since the offroad Y-pipe with the cutouts is way to expensive. should i go with EGR or no EGR on the headers since i still have EGR and Air hooked up on my car.