Stainless Steel Intermediate Pipe?

[FirebirdHatesRice]

Hey guys,
I just went today to get my Flowmaster 80 series installed at the exhaust shop. Just as they put it up on the lift and was about to go, they told me that apparently my intermediate pipe was stainless steel and it was almost 2.5" in size so I shouldn't remove it. I listened to them and they took a cool $100 bucks off the price of install. I think it sounds great...or, as great as a 3.8L engine can sound, espescially when it idles. I was wondering if our cars come stock with stainless steel I-Pipes?

[Ted]

Our stock exhaust is 2 1/4 and it is stainless steel. If it is a 2.5in intermediate pipe someone probably put it on before you.

[FirebirdHatesRice]

I don't know about it being 2.5", but he said it was almost 2.5"...I guess that means it's the stock 2 1/4 inch pipe. Anyways, I don't notice any big sound change compared to bigger sizes. Performance is pretty much the same at low end, but it is a bit better on the high end. All and all, I'm happy with it. Why fool with the pipe if it's stainless steel? Those things last forever, so it makes no sense to replace it.

[Ted]

If you replace the pipes with 2.5-3in from the cat back it will sound a lot deeper and meaner.

[Dominic]

Well you just saved them labor and didn't gain the horsepower you should - however it'll sound okay and if all you wanted was a little more sound then you did fine.