Stock exhaust without cats?

[302GTS]

Just curious to see if anyone here has ever done this before? I'm really dieing to get that stereotypical 5.0 exhaust note, but I really want to avoid spending money on exhaust until my clutch is taken care of. This brought me to an idea of hollowing out the cats on my stock h-pipe, and leaving the stock mufflers on there. Anyone tried this, and if so, does it sound good/bad?

 

[donkey_punch]

a. it's not worth the sweat to do it.
b. get your clutch fix
c. once clutch is fixed buy off road mid pipe. keep stock to pass emission.

 

[HISSIN50]

Agreed. You could find a used O/R pipe before your clutch swap so you only have to play with the midpipe once.

 

[302GTS]

Guess that all makes sense, although luckily in Florida I don't have to deal with emissions. Has anyone heard the stock mufflers with just an O/R x-pipe in there? I'd like to take it piece by piece, by getting the midpipe before buying the actual catback.

 

[toyman]

Guess that all makes sense, although luckily in Florida I don't have to deal with emissions. Has anyone heard the stock mufflers with just an O/R x-pipe in there? I'd like to take it piece by piece, by getting the midpipe before buying the actual catback.

I ran that way for a year. Definitely louder and stinky as well. Just installed hi flow cats and a magnaflow cat back system. Idle is okay but still to loud for my likeing.

 

[JJ95GTID]

I ran a catted X-pipe with the stock catback for about a year. It is definately louder but the stock mufflers do hamper the sound quite a bit.

 

[302GTS]

Appreciate all the responses, and HISSIN50, I never actually thought about looking for used parts for my exhaust, so I think I'll get my clutch taken care of, and then keep an eye out for a nice used x-pipe and catback. Thanks guys.

 

[WhiteCobra95]

I have BBK unequal shorties, a bbk off-road h-pipe, and the stock cat-back on my Cobra. It just about doubles the sound level compared to stock. It sounds pretty darn good, but not as load as flowmasters or some of the other aftermarket cat-backs out there. I agree that the $110 to $160 you'll spend on an off-raod pipe is worth it compared to bashing out a cat. De-bricking a cat is WAY more work that you might think and on our cars with four cats, it's just not worth the time/effort. I also agree that when you get rid of the cats the exhaust smell is going to get annoying. I'm going to put on a BBK catted H as soon as possible to resolve this problem.

PS. Don't order the H-pipe until you're ready to install it. The first one I received from BBK wasn't bent correctly and did not fit. I called up BBK and they wanted me to send it to them to get it "fixed." Needless to say I wasn't about to ship a defective H-pipe to CA on my dime! Fortunately the guy at my local hot-rod shop remembered me and let me exchange it after it had sit in my garage for like 5 months! He opened another one in stock and we compared the two; my original one was WAY off. My friend bought a flow-tech pipe from Jegs and the H-part was about 4 inches too short and did not fit his car either. Fortunately they have a good return policy and it cost him about $30 to ship it back (one state away). The moral is, don't buy one unless there's a good return policy and easy way to get it exchanged. There seems to be a lot of variability in these even with name brands!!!

 

[Adam95GT]

View attachment 256538

few years ago i think... hollowed out cats...

 

[roundfinger]

I had stock cats and NO mufflers w/ 3inch tailpipes and 1 5/8 equal lenght headers and it sounded awesome! Lots of ppl liked it, its still my favorite exhaust sound.