well my camaro is parked for the winter , but its time to start saving for spring time work. the biggest objective i have for the spring is to rid my car of that crappy factory exhuast junk. i have a 305 TBI and im thinking of either getting a edlebrock TES system or a set of hooker 2055's. the complete edlebrock TES system is 450 for ceramic coated 2.5" collectors. or i can get hooker 2055's 3" collectors, painted 450 or ceramic coated for 600. i also want to get a flowmaster american thunder system (300 bucks) and a high flow cat(80 bucks). what would you guys save up for? and what are the difference between these products? im looking to spend between 800-1000(max) on a performance exhuast. how much of a power gain would you expect on an otherwise stock engine? 15 hP? my exhuast system is getting "long in the tooth" anyways, muffler has a broken well where one of the exit pipes attaches and the pipe that runs cat-to-muffler has a crack. 2.5" system or 3" on a 305? which is really better? i know that the 84 camaro z28 305 HO has a factory 3" which is why i am thinking of going with a 3" system. i have 350 bucks saved up which is started saving in sept, i have 6 months to save @ roughly 150 bucks a month going away towards spring camaro projects. i also need to buy tires, so saving enough money is a challange. i also will be investing quite a bit of my tax refund into my car.
P.S. how do you make sure you get a propely matched system. i dont want adapters, this extension and that thingy to make it work. that kind of work looks poor and tends to leak.

 

I recently (2 months ago) put in a set of the Hooker 2055's. I would say buy those--I highly recommend them. It truly was a "bolt in". They dropped right in (with a little wiggling) without having to remove my A/C system and the Y-pipe adapter that comes with it ends at a 3" collector. Everything fit in with no problems. Did it in one weekend with hand tools. The only sticky part was the last bolt closest to the fire wall on the passenger side. Of my 10 hours of labor, I think 4 of it was trying to get that stupid bolt to fit.

The downside was the Y-pipe just ends. There is no flange on the end of it that will bolt to your cat. It was $50.00 at the shop to have a flange put on that I just had cut off the old Y-pipe and welded on to the new one.

I suggest no matter what you do, if you do it yourself, invest in some 7/16" wobbly-end adjustable sockets (the ones you can turn at different angles). If I had those when I started, probably would have taken about half the time!

Also, I'm running the stock 2.5" from the cat to muffler and it runs well enough. Just my 2 cents.

 

The following system is direct fit (no welding, etc.): Hooker 2055's (Jeg's 520-2055). Catco high-flow converter (Summit CTO-9118). Hooker catback (Summit HOK-16823HKR). Around $700, IIRC. Quiet at idle, nasty at WOT. Recommended.

JamesC

 

...some pics installing Hooker 2055 and Y-Pipe, Catco 9118, Hooker 16823:







Y-Pipe to Catco:

 

Looks real nice man. I need to pick up one of those Catco cats for my car. Would clean it up under there real nice. Is yours ceramic coated or just not painted?