Long tubes vs. cat deletes
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 1,245
From: Brooklyn NY
Long tubes vs. cat deletes
I was planning on buying a the Cat Delete pipes from NorCal for my Z. The claim is near identical power/sound gain with reduced install/price. The install is the big thing for me because I like to do my own work and don't want to do headers myself but the cat deletes are no prob. Am I leaving anything on the table by doing the deletes vs long tubes. The car has full exhaust/intake/cooling mods/18 lower and tune in the next few weeks.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2007
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From: Texas Hill Country
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 10,959
Likes: 2,641
From: Texas Hill Country
All joking aside, long tubes are tuned to produce power and a cat delete simply frees up a restriction.
How much either one frees up depends on who's internet dyno you choose to believe. The highest power producing parts are always dyno'd by the people making and selling them and typically the harder they try, the less you should believe them.
Personally, I would never buy a "cat delete" that's something I wanted for my 1984 Z28 in high school (it was a 10 year old car). Don't pop for a C7 and not mod it properly.
How much either one frees up depends on who's internet dyno you choose to believe. The highest power producing parts are always dyno'd by the people making and selling them and typically the harder they try, the less you should believe them.
Personally, I would never buy a "cat delete" that's something I wanted for my 1984 Z28 in high school (it was a 10 year old car). Don't pop for a C7 and not mod it properly.
Pro
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 567
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From: Arizona
From what I read on here, headers with a tune give about 25 peak hp at the wheels on a Stingray. A tune alone on a stock Stingray gives about 15 hp at the wheels.
Is the extra 10 hp at the wheels worth it?
Is the extra 10 hp at the wheels worth it?
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2007
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From: Texas Hill Country
Long tubes have been the standard for 60+ years even before cats existed, a cat delete isn't suddenly the "same thing."
Last edited by Higgs Boson; Feb 27, 2017 at 08:32 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: cookeville tennessee
That's just at full throttle on a dyno. What about all the pedal positions in between and throttle transitions where the flow characteristics make a bigger difference?
Long tubes have been the standard for 60+ years even before cats existed, a cat delete isn't suddenly the "same thing."
Long tubes have been the standard for 60+ years even before cats existed, a cat delete isn't suddenly the "same thing."
To the OP here Go for the LT headers also 1 7/8 & with the LG are the ARH is the only two set up's I would do in the car. With the 3 inch mid pipe back cats off the car. Then a good cat back set up on the car to free up some more rwhp also. Then get a good tuner to do his work on the tune of the mod's. Are you can look in here if you want a louder car do the delete muffler's on the car. Look in here that a few post with the clip on the sound. Robert
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Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 1,245
From: Brooklyn NY
To the OP here Go for the LT headers also 1 7/8 & with the LG are the ARH is the only two set up's I would do in the car. With the 3 inch mid pipe back cats off the car. Then a good cat back set up on the car to free up some more rwhp also. Then get a good tuner to do his work on the tune of the mod's. Are you can look in here if you want a louder car do the delete muffler's on the car. Look in here that a few post with the clip on the sound. Robert
Pro
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 637
Likes: 44
From: Long Island New York
I have done a lot of home work on the header purchase and have debated. the headers done give you much power. There are many other mods you can do for a quarter of the price that give you the same power. However the headers sound great. The moral of the story is if you want a cool sound go with the headers. But if your doing it for power it is not the best bargain in any way.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 29,062
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From: cookeville tennessee
Man do it your self it is really a piece of cake and save the 500.00 to what ever. No big deal at all on that job. Really the worse thing I hit was that I never had done before was unhooking the fuse panel
. Then after doing it one time good to go. Also make sure you don't get the o2 sensors mixed up front in front and don't touch them are let them hit nothing.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 1,245
From: Brooklyn NY
Man do it your self it is really a piece of cake and save the 500.00 to what ever. No big deal at all on that job. Really the worse thing I hit was that I never had done before was unhooking the fuse panel. Then after doing it one time good to go. Also make sure you don't get the o2 sensors mixed up front in front and don't touch them are let them hit nothing.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,746
Likes: 916
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,472
Likes: 1,245
From: Brooklyn NY
Sorry for all the questions but what had to be removed to do the install? How long did it take you? Thanks.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,746
Likes: 916
No problem, ask away...I don't have the link handy, but there's a YouTube video of kooks headers being installed on a C7, if you enter the right key words, you should be able to find it. It's pretty informative.
I ran into an issue with the passenger side o2 sensor threads stripping when removing it from the stock cat pipe, so that set me back a day waiting on a sensor since nobody local had one in stock. I heard that it is a common issue. Had the same issue with my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT header install.
All in all, it probably took me about 6 hours or more, but I took my time and didn't get in a rush. It was time well spent. Love the sound with the headers/high flow cats.
I ran into an issue with the passenger side o2 sensor threads stripping when removing it from the stock cat pipe, so that set me back a day waiting on a sensor since nobody local had one in stock. I heard that it is a common issue. Had the same issue with my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT header install.
All in all, it probably took me about 6 hours or more, but I took my time and didn't get in a rush. It was time well spent. Love the sound with the headers/high flow cats.
Last edited by lakemg; Feb 27, 2017 at 09:54 PM.