First my Y-pipe rusts completely through, then the muffler shop tells me that my mufflers shouldn't be reused because they have rusted on the inside (sounds like a maraca when shaken).

So now I'm in the market for a complete cat-back system (which is just basically a Y-pipe and a pair of mufflers on an L98). Price is an issue, and I'm trying to stay away from the Walker Dynomax stuff because that's what rusted out on the car before.

I've seen the Flowmaster "Force II" at Summit for $380. It's aluminized steel, but they practically give you the Y-pipe since the whole system is hardly more expensive than the mufflers themselves. My concern with this is rust - I don't want to have to replace it again in 2-3 years.

The Magnaflow seems to be the cheapest full stainless system at about $550 (Summit again). Is it worth the extra money? Are there any better deals out there on stainless exhausts (Magnaflow or other)? Anything else I might not be considering ?

 

If your interested in Magnaflow, check out Performance Peddler on E-bay. I think you can beat the Summit price by about $100.00.

 

Talk to John @ HotExhaust. Great prices and FAST shipping.

 

Talked to John. Once I told him I was referred by the forum, he gave me a great price on the Magnaflow. Thanks Boatdoc

Hopefully it will be here by the weekend.

 

I have a Flowmaster catback on my '89 Coupe. Not too loud, but sounds good.

 

On my '90 L98 I have the Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers and my rear y pipe has the collector connecting left and right y's...this setup is sweet sounding...not at all loud in the car. The fit is as perfect...take a look at my pics in there you'll see my cars profile and how perfectly they tuck in.

However you choose, good luck!

 

Ivory's exhaust sounds good..One vote for the supr turbo

 

thanks cousin

 

I'm happy with my ALL STAINLESS STEEL catback from Magnaflow.
Who likes rust

 

I picked up the L98 Magnaflow catback from Hottexhaust a few months ago for right around $460 (including shipping). Use the coupon code "stangnet"

Ben

 

I'm happy with my header-back. Under $300 and it sure sounds good.

 

when i went shopping for a cat-back over 2 years ago, i was looking for anything BUT flowmaster. not a fan of the sound or even the looks. i settled in on magnaflow and have smiled ever since.....gutty and very throaty with LT headers

 

I ran the flowmast catback on my 86 in Okinawa, a tropical, salt air island, for 2 years, and there was only a tiny bit of surface rust on the welds of the y-pipe. I'm running the same catback now on my 88, for another 2 years, and it looks just like it did when I transfered it over.

 

Ok, here's what I have learned from this ordeal, hopefully it will be helpful to someone:

Don't assume that you can just use any Y-pipe with any mufflers. The angle of the outlets has to match the angle of the inlets on the mufflers you use or you will never get the mufflers to fit. I test-fit my old mufflers on my new Y-pipe and the mufflers pointed out in each direction about 15 degrees. Not cool. Try to get a matched set including a new Y-pipe. It's probably also easier to replace the whole thing than to try to wrestle your old mufflers off the old Y and put new ones on.

Also, this stuff rusts. Taking off the old Y-pipe, it amazed me that it stayed together as long as it did. Rust chunks literally poured out.

For those on a budget, the best deal I found was on the Corvette Forum store, sponsored by Zip. Look under "Group Purchases" and they have a whole cat-back system for $190. Probably not the greatest, but cheaper than some places charge for one muffler. This would be a great deal for that $2500 Vette you found that needs lots of other stuff, a daily driver, or for a car that you are trying to sell (particulary if it has a more expensive system you want to keep).

I thought the next best deal was the Flowmasters, because at $380 they are about the cheapest 'performance' exhaust. The thing to note is that this system comes with the more expensive "Delta Flow" mufflers. You could pay as much for a pair of these mufflers as the cost of the whole system.

The best price I could find on a stainless system was the Magnaflow. List on this is $570. I called performance peddler, and they quoted me $490. Then I called Hott Exhaust (www.hottexhaust.com), told them I was referred by the forum, and they gave me a price of $450 shipped. Considering that it was rust that killed the old exhaust, I thought that this was a good investment.

Again, thanks for all the help .

 

I'm family!

 

You are very welcome. I sure like mine.