Hey Guys,
I guess this needs to start with a little story, last fall when I bought my Trans Am, I needed to get it appraised for my insurance company. The place I brought it to is in the older part of Minneapolis and required me to drive into the building (garage) since there was no parking lot. As I drove up the concrete ramp, I heard a terrible scraping noise on the bottom of the car. I had bottomed out the exhaust on the sloped driveway (ramp). Of course, it did the same thing coming out. This was only the third time I had driven my Trans Am, so I made a mental note to be aware of the terrain in my path for future drives!
Anyway, after this incident, the exhaust system had an obvious leak in it. I had a chance to get it jacked up a couple days ago and it turns out the pipe between the cat and the muffler had some rust on the seem and split about 6 inches (along with some nice sratches on the cat!). I'm not sure if I caused the split, but either way the exhaust needs to be replaced.
I used the search feature here and read through about 10 pages of posts regarding exhaust systems. What I want to do is replace my stock exhaust system with the EXACT same thing (or at least as close as I can get) from the cat back. After reading all the posts, here is the conclusion I have come to:
- Have a muffler shop custom bend the exhaust system to ensure fit and authenticity.
- Bring the muffler shop my own chrome tips and muffler for installation.
- Get the chrome tips from Pypes Exhaust because they have the best fit, quality, and are closet to the original.
- Route the emergency brake cable OVER the exhaust pipe.
I do have a couple questions however that I would appriciate any help with...
- I still need to find a muffler. I would like something as close to stock as possbile (both sounding and looking). Any suggestions?
- Any idea where I can get a stock looking cat (I haven't decided yet if I am going to replace it or not, it does have some corrosion on it)?
- Has anyone ever had any luck having a muffler shop remove the original mounting posts/hangers and reweld them on the new pipes?
I am a total originality junkie and that is what I am looking for, the most original looking/sounding exhaust system I can get! (my wife calls me a hopeless perfectionist!)
Thanks in advance for any and all help!
Bill