Ghetto dealer mod gone bad

[Muttled]

When I was buying my car about a year ago, the dealer had told me that it seems like the exhaust was rattling a little bit, so they would put a clamp on it. I thought about it, thought hey if it fixes the problem no big deal.

Fast foward until yesterday, when I nailed something on the road that caused the exhaust to sound like something was broken. When the exhaust shops put it on the lift it turns out the clamp is located right after the curve that comes out of the cat, right above that bracket that is about a 18 inches long. The dealer had cut a hole through the bracket so that the clamp could come through, and the clamp hit whatever I hit and the edge of it is now cutting a little bit through the underbody, causing the sound of the exhaust to reverberate through the car.

I see a couple of options here.

1) An exhaust shop said they could weld the pipe and get rid of the clamp for $60.
2) My friend's dad is likely willing to sell his z28 exhaust for a pretty good price (he has not gotten back to me, I just asked him last night). I could get that welded in while the clamp is being redone for I would imagine not much more.
3) An exhaust shop made me an offer of 2.5" exhaust, high flow catco cat, and flowmaster exhaust with dual output (tips not included) for $400. Another shop offered to do the same for $550 with chrome tips included, although I doubt tips are enough to warrant the $150 extra.

I'm leaning towards option 2 because it seems like it would be the best for me in terms of money and performance. What do you guys think?

[V8 Killer]

option 3,if you ask them to throw in some headers :D

[lookout4theyeti]

if their gonna give you a flowmaster exhaust...those come with the tips, unless their talking making their own 2.5" piping for you and then throwing the 80srs muffler on there. I would go with option 3, and get the new cat and everything, it'll sound nice.

[Muttled]

Real quick, 'cause I'm gonna do this in a few hours: My buddy found out that his dad just wants to get rid of the 96 z28 exhaust. He's gonna give it to me for $25 :eek: Will this exhaust fit on a 2000?

I was figuring he'd quote like $100-$150, but this is a deal I doubt I could pass up. If I could put this z28 exhaust on for under 90 bucks with installation, that's plenty of money I have left for all kinds of fun stuff a broke college kid enjoys [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Marty85]

Yes it should work. I think the only thing different would be the exhaust hangers and any halfway decent muffler shop should be able to fabricate new hangers.

[Muttled]

Well, he said this was the stock z28 exhaust but when I got there I see it's not. It's full 3 inch exhaust with dual black tips, looks pretty good, gonna have to see if I can get a shop to attach it now [img]smile.gif[/img]