I learned something yesterday that I always thought was different.

My car has been making rattling sounds when it's idling at a certain frequency, or certain RPM which causes the car to rumble at a certain frequency. I took it to the shop I go to and they quickly discovered it was the muffler. A baffle is clearly loose and vibrating inside. (hit it and you can hear it rattling). The muffler is an 80 series Flowmaster.

Now, while looking at the same tips in the store which are on my car (2 foot long, 3 1/2" chrome plated). it seemed these 3 1/2 tips are larger than mine from what I can remember. I was able to put my fist complete in it while still being able to have the inner wall touching my fist.

I looked at a 3" one and that seemed to be my size.. but wait! When I bought the tips (Approx 2 years ago) The label on both tips said 3 1/2" so i've always said they were 3 1/2" (Frides says that as well). Looked at the 4" one and DAMN.. WOW.. HUGE!

Went to the car and was NOT able to put my fist in it like I could with the 3 1/2". So my 2 tips had the WRONG size labels. (damn!).

Basically this is my question..

I obviously need to get a new flowmaster put in, and then I would like to purchase either the 3 1/2" or 4" 2 foot long exhaust tips.

I always was told (or so I thought) that going anything beyond 3 1/2" would be more harmful than good.. This is partly true (in the way I was thinking).. I asked the mechanics there (who are VERY good "buddies" there.. give me deals, high priority, great people) and they said that the exhaust would be more harmful than good if you went to over 3 1/2" (ie. 4") IF you plan on having the ENTIRE exhaust system that size.. They said that if you just want to put 3 1/2" - 4" exhaust TIPS on the end of your exhaust that it would not have a negative effects on the backpressure (which is why they said it would be more harmful than good) since the exhaust system is NOT 4"; only the end tips that come from the muffler.

So basically they said that what I want to do by installing larger 2' long 3 1/2 - 4" wide tips (from the muffler out) would simply deepen and louden (is that a word? ) the SOUND of the car, won't increase HP, and won't decrease hp.. just for sound and visualization.

In otherwords, if I were to completely enlarge the entire exhaust system to 4" then that would decrease backpressure, thus decreasing hp and torque and making them more troublesome than they are worth.

My questions are the following:

1. Is this true? (Please explain)
2. Anyone here have 3 1/2" or 4"?
3. Those who have either 3 1/2" - 4", did you hear a difference from switching from (?) to (?) ? Was it worth it in your opinion? (better or no?)
4. The tips, are they short one like 9" or 12" long, or the long 24" (2 feet)
5. Have any pictures of your car with your 3 1/2" or 4" muffler tips?

Thanks for your help.

 

5" tips five feet long should be your choice. Then you can stick your head in them and answer your questions.

 

That was rather rude.

 

Anyone even thinking about 4" exhaust tips on a 3rd gen car needs to hear some nasty remarks about them.

 

Perhaps I am wrong. Seeing how I have have a picture of what that would look like, I'm only guessing.. Perhaps 3 1/2 would be the choice.

 

dang man dont be so harsh, he is just asking a question.

I think 4 inch tips would be a bit overkill though unless you really need them. I think 3 1/2 would be perfect. I have 3 inch tips and at first I thought they were big but not anymore. 3 1/2 looks great. Not to small but not too big

 

Yes, like I said.. It's hard to say what a certain size exhaust tip looks like on your car unless you either have it held under the bumper to visually see, or have a pic of someone else who did it to see.

Perhaps 4" is way too big. But I too thought the 3" was large (thought it was 3 1/2" since that is what it said on the labels) doh!

3 1/2" looks great! Unfortunetly so far everyone has commented on the 4" rather than answering any of my questions. :-(

 

Yeah more people will chime in later but I know that you will not need an exhaust system with 3 1/2 or 4 inch piping unless you are making some serious power. Like they said, having that big a system will hurt you if you dont have a need for it.

 

I was told by all the mechanics I've asked that if you are just enlarging out last exhaust pipe (after the muffler) then it would not matter. It would not lower backpressure. It would just louden the tone.

If I were to enlarge the intermediate pipe then that would definately have an effect and lose HP/TQ due to the loss of Backpressure.

 

yeah that was what i was trying to say guess I just didn't word it right

 

So that is correct? That if I were to change the 3" tips to 3 1/2" tips that it would not mean a lose of HP or TQ (nor a gain of either) nor a lose of backpressure. It would have only 1 purpose; to louden the tone and that's it. (other than looking good ).?

 

Correct

 

The 4 inch tail pipe would just look wrong it is just to big, maybe on my 4x4 truck I could get away with the look but not on a F-Body, I personally don't think those big single tips look right on our cars, put some on my trans am and regret it, I will not make that mistake again with my GTA

 

You are right. I really do feel those 4" would be WAYYY too large. See, I keep forgetting that I don't have 3 1/2" tips. I see Camaro's with larger than mine and so they have the 3 1/2"

Does anyone here happen to have any pics of a Camaro that put 4" (just curious)

 

UPDATE:

Went out and bought a new Muffler, and this time 3 1/2" 22" long tips. WOW.. I am sure they will look great.

I bought the 3 1/2" tips and they also had my 3" and the 4".. The 4" are so large, you could literally hide a SHOE in it!! Or a grape fruit.. hehe

I will be taking pics of the tips on the car when it's installed next weekend. Unfortuntely they are closed shop now and are not open tomorrow (Sunday) so I have to wait a whole week.

Would you believe there was ANOTHER incorrect label on one of the 3 1/2 tips? There were 3 left. 2 that were completely sealed with wrapping and said 3 1/2" X 22"... the 3rd had a label saying "2 1/4" X 22" Geez..

 

[deleted]

I moved the question I ask here to https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=252023

 

mine are about and inch inch in a half......i have 3 1/2 tips on my GTA and the inch/inch in a half looks great

 

Do you have pics to show the lenth from the bumper?

 

no i dont have anythat show exhaust but they are about 2- 2.5 fingers width.......if u can just slip your tips over the exhaust to get an idea of how it looks.....i have the same amout of space on my trucks duals...they dont stick out far and they arent hidden..so just an idea

 

Got the new muffler installed, and the chrome tips. I told them to have them extend 2" from the bumper.

WOW! You DEFINATELY can hear a difference from 3" to 3 1/2".

I took before pics, and I will be taking after pics soon. I also took video, and sound recordings and well as in car driving video to record interior noise all BEFORE the change.

I will duplicate all pics and video with the NEW muffler and 3 1/2" and hopefully will see and HEAR a difference.. I am sure the recording will capture it.. Much more deeper, throaty, and just plain.. wow... I'm definately happy with the results. :-)

 

Ok. Before / New pics taken.

http://camarosource.ca/exhaust/

I am VERY happy with the sound results.. Wow! Definately an improvement. Much more deeper..

There are also video's in the folder to hear before/after. I have video's of the exhaust at idle, driving by close up, distance, in car video's, driving down parking lot and down streets (in car video's).

Most of these are between 15-50megs in size as most are at least 2-3 mins long.

As with all pics and video's. I tried to match up the "new" with the "before" pics/video's as closely as I could to get a exact comparison. The camera is sensitive to sound and so the breeze in the air, background cars driving by, results in some of the video's not sound that different.

But believe you me, the ne exhaust is MUST deeper and throaty sounding..