Ive been reading a lot about the true dual set up and all the controversey about "dont do it, its pointless" and "you wont gain more HP" well anyway I dont care about that. I think it looks nice and its different. I wanted to ask about how exactly does it work? I see a lot of people that post about it already have aftermarket headers, I have stock headers and I plan on keeping them for some time, also a lot of people take the cats off but I want to keep them on. So to anyone who is familiar with the dual setup can you tell me exactly what I should do if I want to keep my cats and dump after the axel?

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2002 Camaro Z28 A4, 3.23
Monterey Maroon Metallic
Stock for now until I decide what to install.

 

The first question, for me, would be why do you want the X-pipe set-up? Are you wanting it for looks or power? If you want HP, then start with Mid or LT headers and add the X-pipe later. Also (the reason I chose a different route), most everyone dumps the exhaust on duals right before the axle. You can run them out the back, but both pipes have to go over the pass. side of the axle then the left bank bends hard to line up at equal lenghts. If you must keep cats, get some Random techs or ask about the different Cats available from SLP, FLP, etc. For bone stock, there are a ton of other things most would do first. Check out my sig. Hope this helps ya.
Tuc

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99 Hugger Z28
FTRA, HPPIII, Holley Powershot, 160 stat, Whisper Lid
Thundervolt wires, NGK 55 plugs
B&M Ripper, Skip shift elim
SLP Resonator, Mac True Fit Headers
BMR LCA's, BMR STB, SLP SFC's
Bilsteins all around.
17x9.5 Boyd Coddington Shysters, Kumho Ecsta 275/45-17s back, 245s front
MTX Thunderform
"A mans got to know his limitations." Harry Callahan
MyHugger

 

i just finished installing my duals. i fabricated the exhaust myself, so labor was cheap, but time intensive. here's a break down:

6 90 deg. madrel elbows aluminized - 90$
1 10' aluminized 2.5" exhaust tubing - 32$
2 12" bullets - 64$
2 heavy duty muffler hangers - 8$
2 2000 model stock cats - 50$
2 manifold gaskets - 15$

total - 259$


it took me two weekends to build the system, but it was the first exhaust i have ever attempted to fab. a day was spent just determining exactly how i wanted to run the tubing. i was also misinformed that the 2000 cats would bolt up to my 98 manifolds, wrong! the right side manifold/cat was changed ever so slightly enough to totally screw that idea. so, i had to make a down tube for the right side and located the cat in the '98 position. not so bad, but i wasted alot of time cutting off the flange and trying to located it right under the manifold '00 style. won't work. since you have a '02, you could get a used set of stock cats very cheap and work from there back.

if you're wondering why i left the cats, well, i made this system mainly for the sound and to see if i could do it. i love to fabricate. so, 50$ for used cats instead of 200$ of O2 sims was worth it. plus the cats probably don't even rob 5hp from a stock car or modified for that matter. they also keep exhaust fumes bearable when driving with the windows down. alot of people don't realized that the stock cats are high flow cats and waste dollars on aftermarket high flow cats. if you cut off the 2.25" inlets/outlets from the stock cats and replace with 2.5 or 3", they will flow just as well as aftermarket units.

later