I have been putting off the exhaust work for some time, but I need to get it done. I have a 99' formula ws6, with Pacesetter long tube ceramic coated headers, with the O2 sims. The guy I bought the car from had a custom 3" Y-pipe with (2) 3" high flow cats made to attach to the factory pipe . It still has the factory exhaust from the Y-pipe back. I want to eliminate that Y-pipe and cats, as well as the rest of the exhaust, and if possible run a "off road" style 3" Y-pipe, and 3" pipe back (no cats). Has anyone else done this with Pacesetter long tube headers, where they could buy pre-bent parts that bolted right up? The existing Y-pipe with the cats hangs too low on the drivers side, with the car being lowered. The car sounds great, but with the headers, and other engine work, I want to open the exhaust up a bit behind the headers, without making it unnecessarily louder. Its been my experiance that with the larger diameter pipe running back it wont necessarily make it much louder, but perhaps a little deeper tone.


I am trying to avoid buying parts, and either having to modify them, or have a shop install it.

Thanks, Henry

Any change you do is likely to be louder.
Going by what you said your current setup is bottlenecked due to your stock catback which is only 2.75"
That is why it is relatively quiet. Even if you remove the cats only it will still be louder.
Larger tubes will increase HP and maybe slightly alter the tone but the Muffler ultimately changes the sound.

Pacesetter should sell an Offroad Y pipe for your headers (it should of come with them)
Then you would just need to decide on a Catback system that you like the sound of.

Once yo have all the parts you can assemble it in your driveway.

I do NOT recommend removing the cats. If you have emissions you will fail without them, especially if there is a visual. Beside, removing them will not free up much horsepower and will add a rasp to the sound of the exhaust. It will make it louder as well. You can get a cheap high flow cat for about $30 from summit or jegs. A good 3" will flow all that you need. a good, reputable exhaust shop can fab a nice system with your existing parts for a good price. Here in MB, I can get a 3" done for about $200. If you think about it, a good CAT back system will cost at the least $400 new.

Matt

Thanks,

I have (2) 3" high-flow cats on the car now, and the problem is that the drivers side does not have enough clearance for it after the header, and before the cross member without hanging low like it does. The car is lowered 2", and hard left turns, or speed bumps cause the cat to drag badly. We don't have inspections to
worry about, so that is not a concern. The Y-pipes I have seen are "flattened" out under the drivers side cross member, but I'm not sure if these are made to bolt
to the headers (there is no "flange" on the headers) withouh mods.

Henry

I hate to tell you this, but no matter what Y-pipe you end up using/getting, with having long tubes and with your car lowered 2" you're going to hit/scrap on speed bumps, uneven pavement, driveways that aren't level, etc. Our cars when they're lowered and have long tubes are known for having clearance issues.

But you are correct that the aftermarket y-pipe, both the ones with cats and the off road y-pipes (ory) have flattened spots on them. It's so that they have the clearance over the k-member so that the don't sit so low. As for an aftermarket one working on yours, if you don't mind lossing the cats I'd just get a Pacesetter off-road y-pipe (commonly called an ORY for short). It'll hook right up to the Pacesetter long tubes that you already have without any problems.

But like I said, with LT's and a 2" drop, you're going to have clearance issues with whatever y-pipe that you use. Sorry.

You are still going to have clearance problems either way but I am sure going with the pacesetter ORY will help. I have pacesetters with the ORY on my 2000 at stock height and I rarely scrap. I have pacesetter with the Texas Speed Y pipe with 3" cats on my '99 and I can't drive the car without scraping on something. It is also stock height. Now about the sound difference. Removing the cats will definatly result in a lot more noise and a very raspy tone. If you decide to do it I would recommend putting as long of bullet muffler / resonator in the intermediate pipe as possible along with a normal muffler of some kind in the back. That will help cancel out the raspy sound and quiet it back down some. Check out LS1sounds.com for some ideas of how it will sound with different combinations.