hooker 3 inch catback UPDATED!! W/ REVIEW

[black98V6]

well I reached the point where my cat is shot, it sounded like marbles rolling around in there and after pulling it I saw the rear section of honeycomb was rattling around so I currently am running an "offroad pipe" which has a couple of leaks in it due to having to go from 3 inch before the cat to 2 1/4 after the cat.

I'm looking at getting the hooker LT1 kit, and some sort of aftermarket cat. I noticed the hooker kit has the s-pipe all the way to the cat already on it so that's kinda what's driving my decision, my only question is has anyone heard this on a v6 I really like my car quiet and if it's a little louder on the outside that's ok but I perfer to keep it relatively quiet on the inside as I do alot of highway driving. any info is greatly appreciated.

[ June 29, 2005, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: black98V6 ]

[kristen]

got to be loud! the louder the better! if you don't like noise why not just buy a stock exhaust?

[black98V6]

well since I'm having to replace the cat I might as well upgrade to get more power, but in my old age I have discovered that more noise is usually just that noise. We have enough rednecks in this part of the country with loud trucks and if I want loud I'll just jump on my motorcycle [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[99bluebird]

I am wondering the exact same thing, I need to replace my cat and want something a little quieter on the inside than my current flowmaster on stock pipe setup. Secondarily I am also looking for performance so I was wondering if a 3" hooker lt1 catback (with 18" dynomax bullet muffler and hiflow cat) will be less loud at cruise speeds than my 2.25" flow 80 series.

[99v6cam]

get edelbrock and make the i-ppe full 3", it isnt too loud, especially on the inside

[01MaroIL]

people that dont want loud cars probably shouldnt look into getting aftermarket exhaust.

[black98V6]

well I will be cutting off the old exhaust today and installing the new full 3 inch have a carsound 3 in/out high flow cat and LT1 hooker exhaust. I might have to get the cat welded in the morning just have to wait and see before I know everything for sure. Right now I'm running no cat with a 3 inch offroad pipe that transitions down to the 2 1/4 stock exhaust it's leaking but even with the leak it's not bad especially with the windows up.

on a side note I realize any exhaust that is going to improve flow is going to be louder I just don't want my car obnoxiously loud. Long trips are much more tiring in a loud car and I do alot of highway driving in my car. I use my bike for around town stuff. I just don't want to be like some of the idiots around here who feel an overly loud car or truck will make up for other inadequacies.

[loser]

sounds good. keep us updated on how it sounds. and see if you could get a sound clip too.

[Fredless]

I like my hooker LT1 cat back. I also have a high flow 3" cat on my car that I'm replacing with a magnaflow because its cracked.

With that back ground info, its a full 3" exhaust and its LOUD. My girlfriend complains about it with the windows up under regular acceleration. It does idle really mean and doesn't rice out as bad as my flowmaster 80 series did on my old 3.4

I love it, especially for the price.

[black98V6]

everything is installed taking the car on a 600mile trip today and tomorrow, will return with a full review.

[black98V6]

ok so I got back from my little trip yesterday. I proably have around 700 miles total on the new system since I installed it on thursday.

first off I am running an LT1 single cat system by hooker. It's full 3 inch and includes an s-pipe with a flange on the end for the Lt1 cat hookup. I also bought a 16inch polished stainless carsound cat. 3inch in/out. Along with this system I purchased a piece of pipe from autozone which has a transition from 3 inch id to 3 inch od.

removal of old system.
I simply cut off the old system with a borrowed sawzaw. I left the stock rubber hangers and cut off the cat as close to the weld as possible

new system install:
this is really straight forward I cut off the hangers on the new exhaust so I could tie up the new exhaust to the stock hangars temporarily.
I had the car in the air with the axle hanging down front was on ramps. started at the rear and worked forward hung the muffler on the 2 tailpipes and installed the over axle pipe.
took off the cross piece/tunnel brace. After some cussing got the I-pipe slid into the overaxle pipe and replaced the tunnel brace.
I next connected this to the new cat. The cat output has a 3 inch ID pipe and exhaust is 3 inch od so it slid on easily. I then cut the extra piece of 3 inch pipe to slide over the y pipe and into the cat. Finally I secured the exhaust with the supplied clamps and some extras I had lying around from my patch job when I realized my cat was dead.

I then took it up the road and had the cat, I-pipe and over-axle pipe welded. I left the over-axle pipe to muffler and tailpipes to muffler flanges unwelded so if I needed to I could drop the exhaust easily. a hanger was welded the tailpipe on each side and slid into the stock rubber hangers. Also a universal hanger was added to the passenger side a littler further out to help secure everything. at this point my exhaust is pretty sold and no rattles.

sound:
when I first got the exhaust I put the tips on, I didn't care for the look and was curious how it would sound without the tips so after a day I took them off. At first it really sounded like a typical 4 cylinder with an aftermarket exhaust (read ricey). With the tips off and after my trips it does seem to have mellowed out a bit. During normal driving you hardly notice much different than stock and under highway cruising it's really mellow. The biggest thing to remember is this is a 6 cylinder and without a system specifically designed to make it sound like a v8 it's still going to sound like a 6. I'm cool with that personally. I am also currently looking for some nice stock LT1 tips to finish off the exhaust.

power:
well I definitely have more power, I can tell this at all rpms. I think I may have gained a mpg or 2 also. *edit* upon further review no change in mileage

misc:
I took off the stock aftercat O2 and will not be replacing it. I have a simulator purchased from thunder racing and will be plugging that in this evening to get rid fo the ses light. I ordered the system through summit and the cat from someone I know who has an account with a large wholesaler so I got a deal on it. The system left ohio monday and was on my doorstep that wednesday.

in closing:
overall for what I spent on parts about $370 and $30 for the welding job at the exhaust shop, I'm really quite happy with the results and hope this system will last the rest of the life of my car. I have no doubt the muffler will if nothing else that thing is one seriously solid piece!

In the end I wanted a 3 inch exhaust that was relatively easy to install, will give the bird a little more pep and I didn't want to spend a grand to do it. I think I got a pretty good balance of cost, noise, and power. On a side note a flowmaster was out of the question. Personally i'm not a fan of them on many vehicles.

[ July 21, 2005, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: black98V6 ]

[grayman]

Nice review, Good job. Thanks for the info.

Something that interests me a bit is that you needed the 3"ID to 3"OD sleeve to mate the cat with the Y pipe. On my car the carsound 3x3 cat just slipped over the Y pipe. Hmm...interesting. I guess I might need something like that to make the Y pipe longer if i had to cut a second cat off the y pipe and was therefore missing some a few inches off of the stock length of Y pipe.

nice job.

[armymanforyou01]

how much more power would you get with a 3in catback on a v6 3.8

[armymanforyou01]

i have a k&n airflow system with a helix and a magnaflow dual pipe

[black98V6]

how much power you are gonna get out of any catback is gonna depend on alot of things. It's gonna depend on everything from your intake to your exhaust.