I am looking at doing something to the exhaust on my car to get some more sound. I realize that there is very minimal power to be had with any of the after market exhausts, so lets throw that out for this discussion. I also need emissions testing, so no CEL so I need to leave the cat in. So that leaves me with the muffler (cat back). I researched the aftermarket cat backs and I think that the Borla sounds like the best bet for me, however, the best price I found was about $770 shipped. Which is a bit steep, and I’d like to try some cheap alternatives first.

I talked to a friend of mine who is pretty handy with welding and fabricating. My first idea was to weld up a custom “Y” deal using pieces from an autoparts store. Basically straight pipes from where the cat back hooks up to the tips. I’m picturing something like this without the two small mufflers. I figure the total cost would be under $100.


So then the other idea my friend had which would be cheaper and easier would be to cut the stock muffler open and then gut the inside of the chambers from the muffler. Then weld the thing back up, might require a new piece of sheet metal to patch it up. So I would have a large single chamber muffler. Total cost $5 bucks for sheetmetal.

Has anyone tried either of these or have any thoughts? I am curious to know what this would sound like before I start cutting everything apart. I didn’t see anything on the board, but I don’t know exactly what this would be called.

 

It's been done. There is very little baffling in the oem mufflers. Have you heard my exhaust? I have the Corksport catback and I have only recieved complements on it. It is cheaper and lighter that the Borla. It is also made of stainless steel, so it will look better than you custom made one. And fit better too.
Another option is a high flow cat. With this you keep your emissions, it's cheaper than a catback and you get a higher hp gain. Sounds like a win to me.

BTW, we are having a meet on Saturday.

 

too bad you didn't have an idea to search

that exhaust in the pic cost me $900 to fabricate and if you use auto parts store piping to make it your pipe will weigh as much as or more than that exhaust plus be loud as h3ll

 

I hear pvc pipe works for exhausts and intakes

 

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i lol'd