Anyone using summit cat back systems?

MY 85 GT

10 Year Member
Mar 7, 2008
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New Jersey
I see summit sell a cat back complete for around 160.00 bucks..anyone using it what does it sound like?....what type of mufflers are they...Also is there H-pipe ok to use how is fitment issues i have BBK sorty headers do you think it will work with them?...Thanks...
 
I bought the summit H-pipe on a previous fox and it fit like crap. the driveside hung quite a bit lower than the passenger side. It would have cost more than I paid for it to fix it so I left it. walking up behind it you could see it hangiing down. My coupe has a bassani x pipe that fits perfect. I had a mac "H" on my 01 gt also fit excellent. (all were o/r pipes)
 
Well, i guess to the muffler's defense, i've never heard a Chevy engine that i thought sounded good...so that could have a lot to do with it.

They sounded like a cross between stock and Dynomax Super Turbos.

Come to think of it, this truck was running true duels too so with an X or H they may well sound better. I guess the only way to know is you to buy them and let us know :D
 
Well, i guess to the muffler's defense, i've never heard a Chevy engine that i thought sounded good...so that could have a lot to do with it.

They sounded like a cross between stock and Dynomax Super Turbos.

Come to think of it, this truck was running true duels too so with an X or H they may well sound better. I guess the only way to know is you to buy them and let us know :D



Yeah i think with a H-pipe they might sound ok....i think im going to get the Summit h-pipe and Cat back for now its pretty cheap...actually..
 
The only cat-back I saw in that price range on Summit's website was one made by Thrush. I'd imagine it sounds (at best) like a Dynomax Super Turbo cat-back. The tailpipes will be aluminized and not stainless, and they're probably straight-cut tips rather than slash-cut. Probably not the best fitment in the world, either.

I'd only get it if you're dirt-poor (like me) and you just need to have SOMETHING for a cat-back just to pass inspection or make the car drivable. (I only considered that set simply because I have the crappy stock single-outlet exhaust on my '84 and I don't want to sink a ton of money into my DD Fox.) Otherwise, even if you swap out the mufflers later on, you're still stuck with ugly, poor-fitting tailpipes. :notnice:

You're better off piecing together your own cat-back, IMO. Buy a set of Walker 2.5" flowtubes, a paif of 2.5" offset inlet/outlet mufflers of your choice (I'd recommend a pair of Magnaflows, or something similar), a set of Dynomax stainless tails, and some hangers (if needed), and then assemble it. Actually, if you shop around and get the right stuff, you'll more than likely come out with a setup that costs the same or even less than a packaged cat-back system and will look good, sound just the way you want it to, and fit nicely.

Tailpipes - about $150/pair
Mufflers - anywhere from $15 to $75 apiece ($30 - $150/pair)
Flow tubes - $40 or $50/pair
Hangers (universal clamp-on hook-type to work with stock rubber hangers) - $10/pair from Autozone

TOTAL: Anywhere from $230 to $360

:shrug:
 
I have the Summit catback, I bought it years ago because I was a broke kid with a rusted out stock exhaust. Sound wise I never got a bad complement, everyone says that it sounds healthy and deep, you know a 5.0 is coming. The downside is that the pipes fit like crap and they have to be custom cut, and from the quads back are pipes a bent too wide so they either clank on the frame or rub the tires, some ingenuity on my part fixed that. The pipes are aluminized and they still look good.

I like that there is no drone at highway RPM; and its loud but not to loud which coincidentally is what I wanted in an exhaust... if I ever redo the car I might just have the tails redone. ...For the first couple of days when that catback was installed it sounded like an old truck, I guess the packing in the mufflers had to "settle".

Plus if you don't have an 87-93 GT bumper to cover the pipes won't look good.
 
You could always just buy Dynomax Bullets if you like it loud...they're only like $35 each. Then have a muffler shop do the rest...couldn't cost more than another $100 to get flow tubes and tail pipes made up.
 
It's your lucky day, normally I wouldn't be able to do this. I did it on my cell phone so the quality isn't that great.

I say get the mufflers and have some pipes bent up, because the tails aren't contoured to go around the tires very well.

Mac shorties
Magnaflow catted H-pipe (I'm sure it would be louder w/o cats)
Summit cat back

View attachment 253611
 
Sounds like the '91 Trans Am 5.7L I once had with a 3" Hooker Max-Flow muffler on it - not bad, really, but it doesn't actually sound like it has duals. Maybe it's just the video's sound quality, I dunno... :shrug:

It definitely sounds like true duals in person, the poor phone can't pick it up. Plus it doesn't sound a thing like that under load, it sounds a lot better. The "Mustang sound" isn't there in neutral; maybe I'll tape my phone to the spoiler and go... nah.