I have gotten a little money set aside. i do have a stock exhaust system but i want to be able to go from very quiet to very loud any ideas on how much a cutout would run me? i dont have a credit card to order a flowtech one, so i was going to have my muffler shop fab me up one, then get a powerplate from mccord or qtech later. would it be possible to relocate the cat farther back towards the end of the car and put the cutout where the cat was or possible on the y-pipe? i dont want it to be noticeable on the side. btw which power plate is better? any ideas is highly appreciated.

 

Cutout with CATS. This is pretty easy.

1st, when you buy your new cat buy the Carsong CAT. I bought mine off Ebay for roughly $32.00 When you order the cat there are two that fit the Fbody. Get the shorter one. The shorter CAT will Flow a little better but being shorter will leave you with about a four inch gap between the Ypipe and the inlet to the cat. put your cutout here. You will have to fill that four inches with something!

I would not move the cat from it's stock position. First, some member of law enforcement might give you crap about it not being where gawd and cheverolet intended it to be. Second, the cat operates at high temperature. There is shielding under the car right over the stock cat postion to keep that heat out of the passenger compartment. Third, if you move the cat it just makes your install unnecessarily complicated. Keep it simple and you will have less aggrivation and it will cost you less at the muffler shop...

That's my $.02!

Good Luck!
Speedy

 

[QUOTE
1st, when you buy your new cat buy the Carsong CAT. I bought mine off Ebay for roughly $32.00 When you order the cat there are two that fit the Fbody.
QUOTE]

Pardon my stupidity, i have never heard of carsong? by any chance do you mean carsound/magnaflow? they have one on ebay for 31.50. if this is it, which ones fit my firebird??? i see many different diameter lengths. maybe a part number??? also is 4 inches enough for the shop to fab up a cutout?? thank you so much for responding!! -chris

 

My BAD, the correct name IS Carsound.

I will see if I can find the invoice from where I bought mine and get you a part number. I also have the Carsound web page address somewhere...

As far as the cutout goes you would have to check with your muffler shop on what they think. I've never made or installed one but I would think that four inches would might be a bit tight.

there is about two inches of pipe on the CAT it would be no problem to gain an extra couple inches there and if necessary it shouldn't be a problem getting some more space from the Y-pipe end.

I'll try to get you the PN and the web address...

Speedy

 

Thank-you tremendously! if there is not enough room between the cat and the end of the y-pipe can i just have them weld it on the other side of the y-pipe plange? ie: on the actual y-pipe itself. sorry for exessive posts, but i am quite a visual guy and a planner. im not sure how my cat will end up doing this year for emissions(after 15 years the ORIGINAL cat might finally have gone south, and yes i know it is the original cat ) if it passes, and the y-pipe cutout is possible, then i might be able to overlook the cat. however i would like to be able to keep the number on hand for future purchases when i get headers,catback, etc. -chris

ps- do you know of any pontiac clubs in georgia, i saw your from albany. im in atlanta

 

Still looking for part numbers...

Here is a cut and paste of a posting I did a couple months ago. It has links to manufacturers and information... If the links did not migrate with the cut/paste let me know and I'll get them for you...

--------------------------------------------

LINKS
I have recently gone through researching and purchasing an entire exhaust system for my car. I was looking for the best parts I could get at the best prices. My purchasing decisions were influenced to a large extent by the opinions and reviews of people on this site. To follow are some links to the venders of the parts I purchased.

I won't try to tell anyone that the group of parts I purchased were the best. I don't have first hand experience with other systems so that would not be a valid opinion.

I purchased a set of Hedman headers from American Coating Specialties. They are a ThirdGen.org sponsor and give Thirdgen.org members a discount. My headers arrived today. The finish on them is better than I expected! At this time ACS does not have a web page. I understand that they have one in the works. Their contact info: American Coating Specialties 1329 South Houston Ave., Humble, Texas 77338 Ph 281-446-6203 Email dhamil@texas.net. Ask for Dave.

Hedman headers: http://www.hedman.com/

Catalytic Converter: Sure I could have gone without one. I do not remember there ever being any emissions testing done in South Georgia. I went ahead and got a cat for two reasons. 1) I wanted the car to be emissions legal when I got through modifying it, and 2) I thought the inclusion of a cat in the system signals the diffrence between someone who is doing the job right and some jackleg just messing with his car. - That comment was not intended to offend anyone. Leaving off the cat for many is a conscious decision based on performance. If I were purchasing a car and the cat had been removed I would be suspicious of other things that might have also been done. I believe the resale value would be negativly impacted by leaving out the cat.
I bought the Carsound part number 94019. The cat was purchased off Ebay and cost about $47 including shipping. You can do a search on Ebay using Carsound as a keyword and find them. Here is the contact information: http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=60497141&ssPageName=L2
Emailerformancepeddler@mail.coms Web: http://www.noahperformance.com/

I had questions about the Carsound cat and I finally found their web page. It wasn't as easy to find as you might think. Here is the link to the CarSound web page: http://www.car-sound.com/

I follwed the CAT with a Banks Catback system which I purchased from Entec. I bought from them based on recommendations from this board. I spoke with Eric who is the Third Gen expert there.
Contact info: ENTEC @ 801 265 0994..eric

I had some questions about this Catback system that had to do with the connection to the CAT so I went to the Banks website: http://www.bankspower.com. I spoke with a specialist there who sent me a very good PDF showing installation etc. His contact info: jwilcox@bankspower.com
Jason Wilcox
Power Consultant
Gale Banks Engineering
546 Duggan Ave.
Azusa, CA 91702
Ph (626) 969-9600 Ext. 4112
Toll Free (800) 438-7693
Fx (626) 334-1743

As we speak I am waiting for the Catalytic converter and the Catback system to arrive. When I start scraping knuckles I will post on how it goes...

I have the headers here now and am very pleased with them.

My car is a '90 RS Vert with a basically stock LO3. I had some worries about fitment around the TDS/Alston Sub Frame connectors and spoke with a number of people to be sure there would be no problems there.

Like I said before, I would not try to characterize this as the best system. It is the system I purchased... I hope the contact information provided here can help someone else who might be going through a similar process in finding the parts they need.

Speedy

 

I found the part number of the CAT I put on my car - it is the shorter of the two for your application. The PN is 94019.

I would not try to put the cutout downstream of the CAT. The whole purpose of the cutout is to remove the restriction of CAT Mufflers etc so putting it after the cat in the system would negate part of the advantage of having it in the first place. The 94019 is a weld in converter. If you shortened the connecting pipes on either end of the cat you could easily get another three inches to work with. You could also cut a bit of the Y-pipe forward of the cat if you need clearance. How much space you would need will depend on the design of the cutouts you put on but I can't see it being a real problem putting them upstream of the CAT.

What part of Atlanta do you live in. I was in Roswell for a while MANY years ago. Back then you could still distinguish it from Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, and Marietta...

As far as Fbody clubs go. I have not participated but I know there are at least four around Atlanta. I found these by doing a google search for them. Several of us have been talking about forming one here in Albany. Several times a year Fbody owners will have a drive in at the Big Peach in Byron GA. I have not made it yet but hope to this year...

Speedy