This may seem like a stupid question to some people, like I should already know. But no one has really answered this question that I've seen, and I really have been looking. Please don't flame me for asking. I have a 3.1L v6 1990 Firebird Base. It has "Single Muffler dual exaust." Mine's COMPLETELY wasted. Rusted to crap. It has holes all up in it and the car runs loud and I feel like it could be performing way better than it does.... I wish it would. I just want to fix this problem for NOW, until I can put some actual money in to the car. The cheapest thing I could find that's car-specific was this - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/WLK-17493/ If there's something I could do that's cheaper as a temporary fix for NOW, please let me know. It needs a new muffler too it seems. I just want to clamp these on. Maybe 6 months and I'll be putting on something that I will have welded proffessionally, please help me get my top dollar for a cheap-arse exaust. Thanks in advance guys.

The loss in power seeing that you have holes is a lack of backpressure.

How many holes do you have from the muffler to the headers? (Including the muffler) Might be an easy fix depending on the amount of rust.

How big are the largest holes?

It was rusty enough that I backed softly in to a piece of plywood and one of the tail pipes ripped off from a soft touch. The entire thing is messed up and rusted. I guess I could look at it and just go to auto zone to patch it up even if it's full on redrusted. It is Christmas, I'm 19, so I did get some money. And I'd like to put it in to that.

I'd just like a non name brand I pipe or whatever I can use. My dad says buy galvanized and it shouldn't rust like they did. But he also said it rusted because the car was running rich. Or is.

This problem is causing my car to idle between 700-800 rpm, and I'm pretty sure it messed up the old EGR valve. I just bought the car. I want to fix the exaust and after that make sure the timing is right, then shoot some sea foam through the system. Even though I already took apart the throttle body and cleaned it up and resealed it all. I'm looking forward to making this car run like new. It only has 80k miles on it. I bought it with the owner saying it needed some TLC. But I think when I'm doing with that, seeing as to how it was driven by a grandmother, it will drive like new.

And the holes are all over it. I haven't checked to see how big the biggest is... But I will. Good idea for now. Then I can spend a little more on an exhaust later on.

From a performance standpoint backpressure is always bad. No such thing as a lack of backpressure making you lose torque. Read up a little and stop spreading myths, okay?

yea, but you do need some backpressure to get the full effect. for example. right now im running headers open, nothing from the Y pipe at all (until i get my exhaust hooked up) and trust me it feels loose, real loose like im not nailing the torque down..thus backpressure..sure maybe a few holes wont cause it this bad..but how bad are your pipes rusted? is it just the muffler? is it the whole cat back? has your motor had a recent tune up?

Nope. Read the sticky about backpressure. (Called "More than you ever wanted to know about BACKPRESSURE...")

Yeah behind the cat the pipes are all rusted. It definitely needs a new exhaust. All the pipes including the muffler, the pipe going from the muffler to the catalytic converter and the two tail pipes. Like I said, one isn't even there any more because it got knocked off. I also believe the muffler might be clogged. I drove a Camaro with the same Engine recently and it was much more "responsive" when I hit the gas primarily, and that camaro sucked the big one, died after a few minutes and had 2--,--- miles on it, so I figure my 80k mile firebird should be just as responsive.

And yeah I just tuned it up.

New spark plugs/wires/dist cap/rotor/oil change/EGR valve (Not part of the tune up, the old EGR valve was making the RPM hit 600-1200 on the TAC)

The car still has "Uumph," I just think the exaust having holes everywhere could be a problem, and if the air could flow... straight? It would make it a smoother ride. And like I said, I still want to sea foam it and make sure the timing is all good. But both of those come after the exhaust is done!

there is no reason that "holes" in your exhaust will make it a rough ride, it might be loud. again, the air flowing "straight" has no effect on the car's ride, just know that more bends in the exhaust will reduce how loud it is.

i think you should seafoam the car, get it tuned up and running well before concluding little holes in your exhaust are making the car ride rough. if the whole system is SO bad that your convinced its the problem, replace it, but i bet your just not used to the rough ride of a third gen

Let's hear you explain why the car is losing power. How would YOU explain holes in the exhaust causing a loss of power? I know from personal experience that a hole in my truck muffler caused a large loss in acceleration. You opened your mouth so back it up. I am curious to hear the "real" reason.

backpressure is bad, period, there is a HUGE sticky on it. read it.

the only reason a motor will lose power with open headers, is because an exhaust works off of tuned length, and open headers with out a 12" -18" tube off the end of them are too short to produce the "frequencies" required for proper scavenging, which can lower tq/power.

it has nothing to do with back pressure, back pressure is resistance to exhaust flow which is good for one thing, loosing power.

he just corrected you to prevent the spread of misinformation, relax man we all have things to learn

Quit y'alls bickering.....It is one of those subjects, that wil NEVER be 100% agreed upon, no matter what Stickies are read.

But back to the OPs original pressure.

That Dynomax system wouldn't be a bad system to go with. Nor would you really need to replace it any time soon, until you made a lot of of engine changes.

Rusty, holey, falling apart exhaust needs replacing. Sure sounds like it is beyond patching.

I did a little reading and it actually was pretty interesting. My first response is what has been passed down from my father. Gonna have to read up some more on this. I'm not always right, and open to learning more. A fact merely marks the point where we have agreed to let investigation cease.



Either way,enjoy your new exhaust

Check at the counter at a local autozone - they can special order ALOT of stuff at the same price or sometimes even cheaper than summit - PLUS there's no shipping cost, is usually available for pick up in 48 hours, and easily returned if it's not what you like.

As a referance, I paid $70 for my Hooker Aerochamber muffler which is really nice - loud with foot in it, soft when cruising, flows way better than most (even better than Flowmaster). And the Aerochamber will be V-8 ready. Think I paid another $70 for a new stock I-Pipe, and $20 to get it installed.