Exhaust question

[fenderman]

Ok, to start off with I have a '99 Camaro 3.8 with a bone stock exhaust system. I am looking at installing a Carsound cat with a Magnaflow 3" catback system.

Does anybody know how much a new y-pipe would be and where I could find one other than the dealer? The one that is on the car is slightly damaged and I'm weighing the costs of repairing the old y-pipe vs. simply replacing it. If someone could shoot some costs my way I'd appreciate it. TIA.

[ellik]

A new Y-pipe is not going to be cheap anywhere unless you get a used one off someone who has swapped to headers. I would imagine that what they are going to charge you for a new stock replacement, you might as well look at a set of Pacesetter headers that come with a Y-pipe.

[fenderman]

Thanks for responding [img]smile.gif[/img]

Yeah, I just got off the phone with the dealership during break here at work, and they want $506.00 for the Y-pipe. Of course they don't understand the concept of separate pieces and include the catalytic converter. Forget the stealership.

[fenderman]

Ok, so I'm about ready to start ordering pieces but before I do, I need some info because I want to do this right. I have corresponded with Dominic and thanks to his help I have the components for this system basically picked out but my hangup with the ordering comes from the y-pipe and headers. I am going back and forth between keeping the stock manifolds or going with Pacesetters.

Here are the pros and cons that I've come up with for installing the Pacesetters.

Pros:
a little gain in hp
better sound
easier to change plugs
will allow me to test fit everything outside of the car and leave the stock system in place (car is daily driver)

Cons:
Chance of going from perfect stock seal to a leak problem and rattles
Possible clearance issues requiring body/frame modification


First question: I read that in 99 they changed to tubular manifolds. Is there any way of indentifying which ones I have because my 99's manifolds look pretty much like any other cast iron manifold I've seen.

Secondly, one website mentioned denting the frame to get the Pacesetter driver's side manifold to fit. Has anyone else had these kinds of clearance issues? I mean, I'm sorry but for 5 hp at best gain from this install it isn't worth beating my car out of shape.

Finally, if I keep the stock headers what am I going to be looking at with the stock y-pipe when I cut the converter off in the front? Since the cat appears to slide inside the stock y-pipe, will I be looking at removing the rest of the cat once it is cut from the y-pipe? The reason I am not cutting my cat off and looking at this myself is because I cannot afford to slice and dice the system and then order parts. This car is my daily driver and needs to be complete. My window of time for the installation is a weekend and a day of sick time from work at best. Any info is much appreciated.

[ellik]

Quite a few people have had sealing problems. Mine sealed fine. Ran them over a year and no leaks.

The onlyu clearance issue I had was having to adjust the steering linkage to keep it from rubbing. took 10 minutes.

99 were still the cast logs. I thought 2000+ had the tubular manifolds. if it looks like a turd with 3 stumpy little legs sticking out of it, then its the log manifold.

Couldnt tell you about the cat inside the Y-pipe. I took the off my old Flowmaster cat-back at the stock S-pipe and then cut as far up each side of the Y-pipe as I could and took the cat/S-pipe/chunk of Y-pipe out as one piece.

[fenderman]

Thanks, ellik... wasn't sure if I was losing my mind or not... those manifolds don't look tubular to me. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I ordered the 3" catback today and once my next paycheck comes in I'll order the CarSound cat. If finances look good this next month and I quit beating myself up I'll get the Pacesetters. Anyone else who has opinions please feel free to chime in because I'd like to make as much of an informed decision as possible.