Im just now gettin around to getting my cuts cut off and now im starting to think about the rest of the exhaust. my first question is why should i buy a full cat back when my stock stainless steel pipes are perfectly fine. Should i only buy a muffler? Is a new muffler and tips the only thing a catback really offers?.............what do you guys think

 

Why?
Less restriction=more power. Stock plumbing for you is 2.5" (IIRC). Catback is 3"

 

There is definitely some air to be freed up by putting an entire cat back on. Not that this provides any evidence, but I felt a major seat of the pants difference after swapping out my stock system with an 80 series flowmaster for an entire magnaflow system.

 

either way its not that huge of a dif if your only going to do boltons. but in the end a catback is better

 

Unless the 96 is diff than a 97, stock is 2.75". I considered the same thing and was told almost unanimously that the .25" doesn't make much if any difference - the muffler is probably the most restrictive part of the stock exhaust, and it really isn't that bad if you have a stock engine. My car is stock, so I just went with a $100 magnaflow and $80 dual tips. Cheapest Magnaflow catback was $350 and it has the ugly "truck cannon" tips.

 

If you take it to the track, just have a cut-out welded in. If you plan on future mods, you at least need a 3'' and a cut-out. Like I said, "IF" you take it to the track.

 

Stock intermediate pipe is a 2.75" crimp-bent pipe. Most catbacks include a 3.0" mandrel-bent pipe, for improved flow. I ran a Borla "rear section" only, stock intermediate pipe, and it did nothing for the car.

 

Sorry, I was thinking 3rd gen for some loco reason......

 

simple.
the more air you get to the engine the better, the more fuel with more air, the better. now if you have a restrictive exhaust then well...

so.
1. more air to engine.
2. more fuel.
3. easy exit for exhaust.

 

Very true about the mandrel v. crimp-bent. I figured since I wasn't going with headers, the big price difference wasn't worth it.

Here's something interesting. I did inquire about buying the individual 3" pipe pieces from Magnaflow, meaning the catback pipe and over-axle pipe and they wouldn't do it. It was either the entire catback or muffler only.

 

Its been a while since I had the stock exhaust system on my car, but I'm 99.9% sure the stock system is 2.75" mandrel bent.

I'm also fairly sure that the pipe goes down to 2.5" at the muffler inlet... and thats where most of the restriction lies.

Anyone have a stock exhaust on their car or layign around where they can confirm this?

 

Sorry, but these are the best "before" pics that I have:




I went with the Magnaflow muffler with the 3" inlet.

 

There's no way the stock exhaust plumbing is crimp-bent. The bends are exactly the same as aftermarket mandrel-bent pipe except that the pipe dia is marginally smaller. And, FWIW, a cat-back exhaust on a stock motor is a waste of money. Get at least a cold air intake first. Now if you got that, plus cam and LT headers then you definitely need a 3" pipe.

 

there's no way the stock exhaust plumbing is crimp-bent. The bends look exactly the same as any aftermarket exhaust except that the pipe dia is marginally smaller. And, FWIW, going to a 3" pipe over a stock 2.75" pipe on a stock motor is a waste of money. Most of the improvement you feel is from the freer flowing muffler. Now if you got a CAI + cam + LT headers, then you definitely use all the flow you can get.

 

I saw a much bigger improvement going from stock exhaust to a magnaflow catback than I did from a stock airbox to a K&N CAI.