ChrisMelton

Hello everyone! I'm new to this site and I'm kinda new to mods. I currently have a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am. So far I've only added a flowmaster exhaust, SLP Lid and cold air induction, smooth bellow,and did throttle-body by-pass procedure.
I want to purchase a set of long tube headers and I think I need the respective Y-Pipe too. Where I live in TN we don't have emission testing, but I would still like to drive the car on the street and pass emissions if I had. I'm ok with doing a few mods if I HAD to pass emissions though. Here's the catch though. i've only got about $500 to spend. Am I wasting my time? Any recommendations?

Jon@Texas-Speed

iTrader: (18)

Good talking with you Chris. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks again!
Jon

skopers3

iTrader: (3)

I picked up ceramic-coated Pacestters and a matching Y pipe from Texas Speed a few moths ago. I think with shipping it was jsut slightly over the $500 mark. A good deal IMO. If you want a catted Y, that might be tough to do for under $500.

thegodfather899

iTrader: (1)

^^yea thats probably one of the best deals. if youre really trying to cut back you could get the painted pacesetters and ORY and do your own coating which would drop the price a little more

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

I would recommend not even bothering with cats

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I would agree.

You mentioned there was no emissions testing where you live, so cats are not needed to keep valid plates on the car.

As for what is technically "legal", putting cats in the Y-pipe won't help you there, since all LT headers are federally illegal on these cars since they move the cats.

If you ever move to a state/area that has emissions testing, if they do a visual inspection you may have issues because of the LT headers whether you do cats or not. And if they do testing, but not visual (OBD scan only is becoming more and more common), then you don't need cats to pass; all you'd need is custom tuning or O2 sims.

Overall, if you're going to do LT headers, then cats are a waste. It will cost you more money, reduce power (over an ORY), complicate the exhaust system with more joints to leak and more objects to hit the ground - and you'll still be technically illegal.

ebeard

I'm not too framiliar with OBDII but i belive pcmforless or madtuner should be able to tune it so the emmissions scanner thinks everything is fine. If you need cats for the visual inspection, just weld a heat shield around where the cat should be so it looks like there is one there. Couple of my LS1 buddies have done it this way, as we have to have to pass here in wilson county. What part of TN are you from?

garygnu

if you have low mileage cats you could sell them to some one who needs them for extra cash.look in the used parts section for headers and Ypipe.

ebeard

+1 ^^ Youll need several more posts to be able to do so though

ChrisMelton

It was good talking to you too Jon! I bit the bullet and went with the coated Pacesetter LT race headers and the TSP Y-pipe. I searched and searched and searched for a better deal than Texas-Speed and I simply could not find one. You guys had the best deal hands down.

I chose not to go with the cats. I've talked to a lot of people and I think I'm good to go. Now I have to cough up another $400 bucks to get them installed and get it tuned. I can't complain about that though. James at Speed Shift Performance seems to have his stuff together and the price is reasonable.

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone!

nolo200

iTrader: (3)

forget cats if you don't need emissions....technically it's illegal to get rid of them, but I've never had any problems in MO. If you have the money, put them on, they don't hurt performance as long as they're big enough and sometimes give a gain of torque, plus they help the environment.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

A "good" cat may only cost a few HP, but all else being equal, they will never add power or torque.

DeLaRosa25

iTrader: (10)

Are you talking about the high flow ones?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Yes. No matter how "hi flow" the cats are, you will never gain power by adding them to an ORY.

And, even the best/highest flowing cats will cost you a small amount of power over the ORY.

Jon@Texas-Speed

iTrader: (18)

Good deal! Let me know if you have any questions or need anything else and we'll get you fixed up!

Jon

98z28CamaroJG

iTrader: (7)

Can always do the install yourself! Took me with a helping hand about 5 or 6 hours following the EXCELLENT write-ups we have on ls1tech! It'll save you 400 bucks you can use for more important things