Hey folks, I have stock exhaust on my 1983 Firebird SE other than it being straitpiped. I am soon going to purchase some Hedman hedders with the oxygen sencor thingies for emissions as to stay street legal and such, but asside from that, I was going to go with a DynoMax 3" catalyctic converter, with this I wanted to have a 3" catback to go with it. I have heard good things about the Flowmaster exhaust kits, and I want the dual 3" outlets as well. The only problem I ran into is that the Flowmaster catback kits only come in 1986+ thirdgen cars. With this being the exhaust kit I want, where does this leave me? Does anyone have any alternative catbacks that will give me at least a 3" mainpipe with dual outlets, or any suggestions of what i should do?

I was also planning on straitpiping my catback, would you advise this, or would having a muffler actually improve my performance/sound versus a straitpipe.

Any imput would be appriciated.

Thanks

 

The 86 plus is what you want. It is the 3 inch version of your setup.

 

Since you want dual outlets, id say flowmaster or hooker is a good choice. Flowmaster being pretty loud all the time, and hooker being more quiet, and loud at WOT. Whatever suits you the best

 

flowmaster american thunder catback is what you want

 

The reason for it being post 86 is the hanging location. I have yet to look at it in detail, but I will at some point.

 

so you are saying that 86 post cat back system will work in my 83 Z/28? same hangers or no?
John

 

It won't be as easy to install as a later third gen, but it can be done. The mounting location wil be in a different place.

 

Sweet, Im glad to hear that the catback system I want will still fit on my car although its a 1983... Does anyone know where the mounting point is actually different? Or how much harder it is to install versus a later 80's thirdgen car?

And, would I get better performance out of my exhaust system with a muffler, or is straitpipes the way to go when it comes to such a thing? And you say that the flowmasters are loud, would a straitpipe give me a nice loud rumble or do you think it would be obnoxiously loud? (if there is such a thing )

Thanks for the feedback

 

Nope. I'm sorry, but my Hooker 16822 (only $200 ) fit just fine under my '92 and it is made for '83-'85 305 cars. All the hanger are in the same place. It has a 3" I-pipe and duel 2.5" tails just like the later modle cat-backs. The only difference is the flange where the cat hooks up. Blarg, My vote is for Hooker! (esp. if you are get a direct fit cat.)

If you want to see my install the go here: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=169275

scroll down about 3/4 of the way until you find my install notes and pics.

Later,
Harry