exhaust upgrade
 

first off i am sorry if this has been posted before.

i'm looking to upgrade the exhaust of my 1984 c4. I'd like to remove the cat, replace exhaust manifolds and maybe change the mufflers. shoul iigo x pipe or straight pipe? as i am from Slovenia, there are almost no competemt experts on the subject here, id like to ask you guys to weigh in. what to do, where to buy stuff etc. please bear in mind that i don't want to go high end in terms of price, but i'd like a bit more oomph from my baby. the car itself is in great shape otherwise, everything works.
thankyou for four answers.

let me add that the smog is not a problem and that the car is a manual if thats important

Hello there SUJO!

I have a 1988 C4 that I have upgraded the exhaust on. I installed a High Flow Catalytic Converter and a Cat Back system for the L98 I have. It picked up a whopping 14 horsepower with the entire exhaust changed out. I used a Chambered Exhaust System which is basically connects to the output of the catalytic and lets two 3" pipes go out the back of the car. The baffling inside the pipes makes a really nice sound even from an "anemic" L98 and the system I bought came with the rectangular LT-1 style exhaust tips. Chambered Exhaust systems do not have mufflers like regular systems, they look like straight pipes but sound better. I bought mine from Allen's Stainless Exhaust Systems in Indiana, the cat back system was $400-500 (15 years ago) as I picked them up at the Carlisle Corvette Show. The parts are not that big and easily assembled when you are ready to put it on the car. The system I bought was not made of Stainless as I was trying to spend wisely, I bought their Aluminized Steel system, I figured that I better clarify this point.

You can buy the Y pipe for the manifold connections without the pre-catalytic converters installed from ROCKAUTO.com. I guess that you do not have any type of emissions testing over there? Here in the United States there are Federal Laws preventing us from removing the Catalytic Converters, that does not stop people from doing it. I like the performance gains from the High Flow catalytic Converter and Cat-back system I installed and the exhaust is still within the original specifications.

Have you tried Summit Racing or Jeg's Racing online? They have whole exhaust systems at decent prices.

Be careful doing this exhaust change as you will find lots of people here who are not happy with the "Droning" that comes with many aftermarket exhaust systems.

There are headers to replace the exhaust manifolds but then you have the issue of excess heat under the hood, on my C3 with it's 7 liter engine the headers actually damaged the paint on top of my hood from the excess heat. If you do buy headers for your car be sure to pick "Long Tube headers" and for the L98 Corvette they are not cheap ($450). I would strongly recommend that you consider the Ceramic Coating on your new headers if you go that direction. The ceramic coatings can lower the under the hood temperatures a little and they look great. That is the kind I have on my C3 and they still destroyed the paint on top and underneath the hood right over the headers. Just for reference the headers for a C4 range from $175 on up. The kind I am recommending are still not that inexpensive, they are $625 in the shiny silver Ceramic Coating. I am a big fan of the quality of the Hedman Hedder company. Headers are big and bulky and probably expensive to ship. The exhaust they can ship fairly easily.

Good luck with your Corvette In Slovenia! It must be fun having a rather unique car in your country! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask away!
Best Regards!
Chris