PhoenixGTS
Enthusiast
Last week Lou Belanger removed my leaking Edelbrock headers (mid-flanges were warped which cause gaskets to blow out - all will be fixed before I sell them) and an exhaust from the headers back which can only be described as a junior high shop class project gone bad. No cats, worst welds ever, went from 3" to 2.25" by the differential, leaked and touched the frame in multiple locations. I was really looking forward to getting rid of all the pfft leaking noises, fumes, rattles, and really getting the car quieted down.
The Belanger workmanship is amazing. We went with stock cats with enlarged inlet and outlets (basically a high flow in a bigger can with two bricks of media) and four 18" Magnaflow mufflers. A good finger width gap between any part of the exhaust and any part of the car, exemplary welds, and the tip alignment is spot on. No more leaks, no more rattles - from where you sit forward the system sounds awesome (when you are outside the car you can hear that slight ping-ping sound that lets an enthusiast know the car has headers on it). But man this car is still WAY to LOUD for me. It is a good loud (all out of the tips) if you are into that, but I drove in a 97 GTS today with stock exhaust except for a Corsa cat back and it was like a quiet luxury car compared to mine.
My question is, am I asking too much for an 8 liter engine with headers and a full straight-through 3"system to be reasonably quiet? Is this just the way it is? I have some questions for those of you who have changed parts on your exhaust systems that might help me out: 1) when you switched from stock cats to high flows did that make your car a lot louder; and 2) when you switched from no headers, high flows and a cat-back to headers high flows and a cat back did the car get a lot louder? I really think the cat back is a nice piece that would be much quieter if if was being fed by the stock manifolds and cats but am looking to hear from someone with experience as to what parts of the exhaust have the most effect on noise.
The Belanger workmanship is amazing. We went with stock cats with enlarged inlet and outlets (basically a high flow in a bigger can with two bricks of media) and four 18" Magnaflow mufflers. A good finger width gap between any part of the exhaust and any part of the car, exemplary welds, and the tip alignment is spot on. No more leaks, no more rattles - from where you sit forward the system sounds awesome (when you are outside the car you can hear that slight ping-ping sound that lets an enthusiast know the car has headers on it). But man this car is still WAY to LOUD for me. It is a good loud (all out of the tips) if you are into that, but I drove in a 97 GTS today with stock exhaust except for a Corsa cat back and it was like a quiet luxury car compared to mine.
My question is, am I asking too much for an 8 liter engine with headers and a full straight-through 3"system to be reasonably quiet? Is this just the way it is? I have some questions for those of you who have changed parts on your exhaust systems that might help me out: 1) when you switched from stock cats to high flows did that make your car a lot louder; and 2) when you switched from no headers, high flows and a cat-back to headers high flows and a cat back did the car get a lot louder? I really think the cat back is a nice piece that would be much quieter if if was being fed by the stock manifolds and cats but am looking to hear from someone with experience as to what parts of the exhaust have the most effect on noise.
