So my car was at my cousin's (auto mechanic) today to finish up my front brake job. While there, I decided to check out the exhaust on the car to see what I could do simply and cost effectively to give the car more growl.

First point, if you don't already know this, is that the exhaust is welded from the pipe at the tips up to just past the single center rectangular resonator/center muffler box. Nothing can be unbolted up to that point. So, even if you find an axle-back exhaust, be prepared to cut your factory exhaust.

The first thing we did was unbolt the exhaust at the bolted/banded connection which is after the two resonators but before the single large rectangular muffler. We opened it there and then I took it for a drive. It sounded much louder but certainly unrefined, somewhat "blappy" and I could tell it would get annoying on the highway after long periods. I could also tell that the sound needed to be moved backward and away from the center of the car.

We put that back together. Leaving the resonator in place but removing the mufflers seemed to be the way to go. So we did that. We cut each muffler off, welded in a 45 degree pipe (bender would have been better but we got it to work fine) and then welded a straight pipe that finished behind the factory "tips." We even crushed/ovaled the end of the pipe which is what the factory did - this helps the pipe not tap the inside of the tip or make a rattle sound.

As for the sound, I like it. It's not as loud as my old Pontiac G8 GT's 6.0L V8 that had a Borla catback (eventually headers and high flow cats too) but it has a nice aggressive sound at start up, very slightly extra touch of noise at cruise and normal driving and a very nice extra growl at WOT. I will try to get sound video/sound posted here. I can't wait for a cold startup to see how it sounds.

This was definitely worth doing. Gave it that little extra I was looking for.

 

Videoes ASAP please and congrats