Hello,

I have a 96 that came to me with muffler delete. Since then the cats have gone to the crapper so they are removed and now the car is really loud.

I am thinking of this system here.

https://www.topflightautomotive.com/...SABEgK4tvD_BwE

I have used flowmaster on other cars and liked their product and quality.
Does anyone have any experience with it? Drone, installation, etc. I know the Corsa is the way to go but with this price point I can look at some headers as well or not.

Thank you
Doug

 

I've read somewhere that the LT1 is loosing torque when replacing the stock exhaust with Flowmaster

 

Those are some beautiful pipes in that set! I have been the kind of person who is happy just getting the gasses out the back. That is a lot of money for an exhaust system but that is one of the many things that makes our country so awesome. I bought both my exhaust systems at the Corvettes@Carlisle show up in Pennsylvania (every Third Weekend of August). Neither set cost more than $400 and back then they could not tax out of state people so I saved a bunch on shipping and handling bring them home from the show. They are Aluminized Steel versus the nicer Stainless Steel exhaust systems and they look great after decades of driving (in nicer seasons).

I have had great experiences with "Chambered Exhaust" systems. I put them on both my C3, 427 and C4 L98 Corvettes and still love the noise/sound that goes out the back. I was dreading the famous "Drone" that some C4 Corvettes experience when deleting or messing with their Catalytic Converters. The new High Flow catalytic converter and free flowing Chambered Exhaust system worked great and gave me an additional 14 hp and no drone at all.

I installed both of them myself and they went together perfectly. Both of them have been on the cars for over two decades and still work and sound great. Unfortunately the ceramic coating that came on my headers has looked like heck and will require replacement. I have used Hedmann Hedders and have had great experiences as they have thick flanges and good fit.

Not knowing much about your "modern" Corvette I submit my thoughts as an alternate to having to buy a complete system. I love the minimal nature of the chambered exhaust, pipes, just pipes

 

If I was spending that kind of coin on an exhaust system, it would most likely be Corsa and certainly wouldn't be Flowmaster.

 

I had read somewhere that "chambered pipes", on the delete systems made a lot of disturbance in the way of feedback to the computer for exhaust flow management. Can anyone confirm or shoot holes in the theory?

I am planning on tearing off the delete system and replacing with a Magnaflow set up.

 

I have been watching author and engine builder David Vizard. He recently posted a video on exhaust and mufflers. He had nothing good to say about Flowmaster the company or the people behind their designs . Infact he said they know very little about designing exhaust systems and mufflers. He's been doing it for 50 years . Lots of actual dyno work . So he knows what works and what does not. You can view the video on YouTube.

 

I had the Flowmaster system shown installed on my stock ‘96. I was happy with the sound and performance. The down side was as I got older (aging sucks &#129320 I found on the Highway it was too loud and I removed it. I do miss the sound around town 😒.

 

Thank you for the replies. I have been on the fence about selling my car. With the current exhaust setup it wont really be appealing to anyone older than 16-17 years. No cats and no mufflers = loud and tons of drone. Cant even listen to the radio. But that idle lope is amazing!

I guess I will keep saving go for the corsa. That 1800, give or take, price tag hard to swallow. Then another 900-1500 on headers later. That would put me about 5-6K in the hole on this car. It's hard to keep throwing money at it. But I think exhaust would be the last large expenditure. It's a 96 LT4, DoA when I got it. It's the most expensive free car in the history of man kind.

Decisions, decisions....

 

Try headers into the stock system. You're buying headers, so see how that works/sounds. I could never justify the $1800 corsa system, its basically for sound and not performance. The headers would add some performance and more with future engine mods

 

I dont have the stock system. The mufflers were deleted before I got the car. The cats went to the crapper after about 200 miles of driving the car so they are removed. I dont think there is much of anything left in the big main cat under the car. Otherwise I would do exactly what you are suggesting.

 

I saw 2 stock systems in the past few days. One was free and the other was $200....but shipping, ugh. Maybe find one local via CL or FB mktplce

 

Have you looked at the OBX systems or Maximizer systems for the C4s?? A lot of guys run OBX on their ZR-1s and love it. OBX is a knockoff of the Corsa system, except for half the price of Corsa. And it is not as high pitched and loud as the Corsa system, OBX is more mellow. The Maximizer system is the same except it has all black pipes instead of Stainless...

 

I'd find stock mufflers and put them on or get the repros from Corvette Central. Stock mufflers are good, and they don't drone. Without cats they will probably sound pretty healthy. If you want to go louder, the Magnaflow system is probably decent, but there's a youtube video where a guy puts them on his 96 and they drone. The Corsa is top of the line for a reason: it doesn't drone, and doesn't sap power, and it sounds awesome.


I don't know what a "chambered pipe" is, but the ECM/PCM doesn't manage exhaust flow in any way. The only sensors in the exhaust path are the oxygen sensors, and the only ones that affect how the car runs are the sensors before the cats. The ones after the cats only measure how well the cats are doing their jobs. Nothing you do after the cats can affect the way the computer manages the engine functions.

 

I have a stock exhaust on mine and replaced the resonator with an X pipe. It sounds way better. Deeper tone, still quiet enough at idle and driving speeds, but gets louder under acceleration. No droning that I can discern.

 

I would go Magnaflow before Flowmaster.

 

What X pipe did you get or did you just make it yourself?

 

I used a Jones X Pipe. I am happy with the result and sound.

 

I have a great condition Borla system I just removed off my 92. Only reason I replaced is I went with Corsa as the Borla system wasn't loud enough for me

 

Sound is very subjective. Some flow masters sound great on some cars... others not so much, they end up hollow sounding imo. I saw a dyno video where someone swapped out flowmasters on a c4 to a straight through magnaflow and aside from sound, the dyno showed a change that was rather miniscule... IIRC it was like 5 HP. Nothing to write home about.

Anyway, I think you'll find most systems will drone aside from stock or corsa. The flowmaster can be particularly bad in that regard.

 

The Cat Back Chambered Exhaust system on my 1988 Corvette Coupe has never had any issue with droning or anything. I also have a full set of Chambered Pipes for my 1968 Big Block. Both of the systems are still working on the respective Corvettes and both are over 25 years old. Both made in Aluminized Steel and neither has corrosion problems.

I installed a new High Flow catalytic converter (on the C4) at the same time and the exhaust sounds great BUT most of it goes out the back. I have a 700R4 with the 3.07 rear gears and this car has been able to get 30 mpg cruising down the highway. When I first ordered my chambered exhaust they asked me what "noise level" I wanted, I thought they were kidding... I bought this system after having such a great installation with my C3 system. The entire C4 system cuts off the weight as they use no mufflers but instead have baffles welded inside the pipes they use.

The lack of catalytic converters and the Drone are frequently connected to each other.

I will keep the Corvette Emissions System functional as long as I can.