DirtyCanadian

ok as some might know I am restoring my first car after 8 years. Its an 83 Trans Am, 5spd, 355ci. I had the car restored inside and out now it is ready with motor in it and all body work is done and in primer ready for paint. Now all I have left to do is the exhaust, which brings me to my question.

A muffler shop in my city quoted 700$ to connect a y-pipe to my my garbage flowtech headers i just bought. I know they suck but i wanted to save money for some good hookers for my next engine. So now what are my options ? the car is done on friday, and i wanna book it in for work either friday or money so i can finally get paint on and drive this thing.

When i was younger a muffler shop quoted me 300$ to run true dual exhaust from headers back. 700$ for a y-pipe, that is ridiculous, I would be better off to put manifolds back on and spend the 700$ to add more horse elsewhere.

Whats the best way to go about doing my exhaust i want it loud?

Any answers will be great as i will be calling muffler shops tomorrow.

88 350 tpi formula

iTrader: (9)

find a new shop! or go buy the slp headers (used) but in good shape if the car is now that redone you should get good headers

Saber

iTrader: (2)

when i went to get my y-pipe put on my car with flowtechs i called around and got quoted like 550 at midas, i told him hell no, i called up a lical shop and he quoted me about 300, i than called a meineke and asked to talk to the exhaust tech, i talked to him about his work and flat out said look, i just put a new motor in and bought all these parts, i have 200 max to spend on a y-pipe is there any way you can Pull it off for me? hes like thats stretchin it but i love camaros so sure, 200 should be more than enough.

I walked out of there and spent 158$ on a y-pipe, he saved me even more money, charged me for like 2 hours labor and parts.

Just call up a place and ask to talk to the exhaust tech, talk to him about his work, and ask him if it can be done for a set amount.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

See why we keep saying the Hooker 2055HKR's are a good deal?

JohnC

iTrader: (1)

ryan91rs

iTrader: (1)

ya no kidding. Been looking around and those seem really nice!

DirtyCanadian

do the hookers bolt on to factory y-pipe? and i called my exhaust shops and no other shop wants to give me a quote they want to see it, like im gonna tow my car in for a price quote. So now im wondering is there a y-pipe that is made to fit my flowtech shorty headers? I have one last resort, i work with pipeline welders im sure exhaust wouldnt be much of a challenge but i dont like to ask people i know to do things even if im paying them. Any suggestions on what i can do? I'll have my car back saturday.

I wish I never bought those flowtechs, let this be a reminder for anyone wishing to add headers.Personally i hate the 350 sbc, but the motor was to good to pass up. this is why i cheaped out on headers but now im in this mess, its worth it to get a better set.

dirtywhiteZ28

You missed the ball on that order, I have Flow Tech Headers on my '84 Camaro Lg4, Buy the Flow Tech Y-Pipe from Summit Part # BIG-11102YFLT price $103.95

DirtyCanadian

crap I forgot all about that i seen that, i thought it was just an oe y-pipe.ill call gss see if they can get me one. thanks for that, pretty much solves the problem.

gcgarner

No they don't. Even better ... they COME with a 3" Y-Pipe!!! Headers & Y-Pipe for less than $500! Get you a Catco 9118 converter and the 3" catback of your choice and it's a straight bolt-up. Just bought full exhaust from headers back from Jeg's for a grand total of $850, but then I sent the headers to Jet Hot for coating for $225. I opted to have them coated instead of buying the $800 ones already coated because they have the Y-pipe coated too ... and you're never gonna see that on my car. I just painted it with high-temp coating from Eastwoods.

DirtyCanadian

i had my catalytic converter cut out, will that set still work?
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Like to pour salt on the wounds do ya

dirtywhiteZ28

In one hand $100. In the other hand $500. The projects ready to roll for paint, personally I know which hand I will still have money to spend from tommorow.

ryan91rs

iTrader: (1)

does hooker have the same setup w/ the y pipe and headers but for dual cat? then again an aftermarket cat could be enough for what i'll be doing

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

They used to, but don't offer them anymore. Hedman and Edelbrock have dual cat headers (I'd recommend the Hedmans).

But, as you imply, 2055HKR's with a Catco 9118 or equivalent will do just fine.
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Coating the y-pipe is a very good idea. You might want to reconsider.

DirtyCanadian

See what throws me off with alot of headers and y-pipe setups is i dont use catalytic converters, so i dunno what would be good to use for me.

I came up with a plan i'll get my car back tomorrow, so I am gonna take the y-pipe and the car into the muffler shop if the guy can still look me in the eyes and tell me 700$ to make two welds adding no more than 8 inches of pipe I am simply going to lose it.

DirtyCanadian

So I learned something today, i learned 3rd gen exhaust is a .

I got the exhaust installed today they built a custom y-pipe, and upgraded it up to 3" up to where I had the catalytic converter cut out. I will decide how to tie into that later but all in all it cost me 450$ for it, I will never buy flowtech headers again not worth it. on the plus side i drove my car for the first time today in years.

As for why i did things this way let's just say I like to learn the hard way. Thats why I like this site I lose some ignorance everyday.

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

Where are you again dirtycanadian?
I have found "custom" exhaust shops in Calgary want nothing to do with 3rd gens. The difficulty of making things fit (it's not EASY like on a ... gasp, truck!) makes them not want to touch it. ^$&^(^&*&^*

DirtyCanadian

I am in Saskatoon, bout 4-5 hrs from calgary 2-3 in a 3rd gen
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I could have placed an order for a y-pipe 139$ but I dont have the time or patience to wait for it so i bit the bullet.

dirtywhiteZ28

Just remember it was your CHOICE to bite that bullet. The fact that you forgot to order the Y-pipe from Flowtech made a big difference. I have this set up on my Z and spent way less $ than you did in the end. I'm not trying to Raz you, but hope you keep this in mind every time you get the urge to hate on the Flowtech's.

DirtyCanadian

well i didnt order they y-pipe because i figured a muffler shop could just alter my y-pipe with two welds, all in all though my car is ready for three" exhaust from the cut out catalytic converter back, so thats not too bad a price for custom built y-pipe in 3" stainless

dirtywhiteZ28

Keep your eye on the headers for awhile, my drivers side header has never given me any problems but the passenger side has needed retightening four times at the back before it finally calmed down and has stayed seated in place.

DirtyCanadian

thanks ill keep it in mind, my mechanic likes to use two sets of gaskets cheaper ones and it seems to work good no leaks first time.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

here's what an exhaust shop did for my bird before i got it for the previous owner:




complete joke! just cause it's an exhaust shop, and they might even claim to be a performance shop, doesn't mean they know what they are doing. this piece cost me serious power and mileage. even throttle response was a totally different ball game when i replaced it with MY y-pipe:



hopefully for $700, they made one more like mine and not one like what was originally on my car.

DirtyCanadian

ill post pics later of it but they did something similar to your new piece but made it 3 " and it was 450$ looks good the shop was full and the manager ended up doing it for me just to get it done that day. Also they didnt weld mine in pieces like that they used mandaral bends.

1986BANDIT

everyone is giving you good advice and you go do it the hard and twice as expensive way because "you are Canadian" wtf,seriously you are as bad as me,lol.

i bought used flowtec's(new in box) i know ,yuck but they were $80 new in box,then i ordered the matching y-pipe from summit,
now i have to decide if i want to install it all now or wait until i install the LQ9 305 i just bought for $300 and ditch the smoking lg4 pile.
its a tough choice,ive got a new edlebrock rpm intake,new holley ultra 650 carb(no tpi is going back in my carbed bird)new waterpump,
new distributor.so many shiny parts,if this darn snow would go away i could be out in the garage instead of typing.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

2008. 2008. 2008.

2knight

iTrader: (1)

10 year anniversary thread revival lol

1986BANDIT

thanks drew,was a little sleepy last night and didnt have my glasses on,oh well.
seems like you have a nice stable of cars,keep the spirit alive.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

No worries. Just kinda funny when an old thread makes a comeback.

skinny z

Actually, a lot of threads here deserve a revival if only for some kind of conclusion or "closure". (Not so sure about ten years though...!)

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Can you imagine how more useful old threads would be if folks ever replied with what fixed their problem? Or how they feel about X modification after the "honeymoon" wears off?

skinny z

Exactly. That's why I'll revisit threads I've posted in and ask for anything new. Sometimes you get a hit, sometimes you don't.

skinny z

For what it's worth, the y-pipe on my old IROC (and since transferred to the current Coupe) was close to a grand. The craftsmanship was second to none. That includes two Vibrant 2.5" stainless steel U-J bends, a Magnaflow 2 into 1 merge, slicing and dicing, purge TIG welding, modifying the headers (for 3 bolt flanges instead the ball/socket and some internal collector clean up) and cutting up the cross-member to maximize ground clearance.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

well, the pics are broken in this thread but if you click on them you can still get to my old pics. that y-pipe that i built lasted 9 years before pulling the whole combo for an ls swap in that particular car.