I have a 383 stroker motor and I know my exhuast is killing its power. Right now all I have are some hooker shorties 3inch y-pipe and a flowmaster 3inch cat-back. Now I don't have a ton of money cause of other problems right now but since the motor is out again right now I was thinking about getting a cut-out if it would help out my power. What do you guys think it would net me and if its even worth my time to put it in.

 

I am in the same boat you are in. I have a set of 1 3/4 shorties, and working on making a 3 inch y-pipe (because no one makes one!) with a 3 inch cat back. I will put a cut out on each side 18 inches from the collector. This will free up some power, how much, I will let you know in four weeks!

 

Well in order to get my y-pipe to fit around the new deeper oil pan we dented it in so I know that I'm losing power but I was wondering if the cut-out(s) would be the cheap easy way to get some hp back without spending tons of money.

 

All three of us are in the same boat....getting kinda crowded too... Sorry bad joke...anyways I plan on doing the same as Joe except I am getting a custom dual cat 2.5" to two 2.5" cats (hollowed of course) into my 3" Magnaflow. I've heard mixed results about longtube power vs shorty power, but I was stuck with shorties b/c nobody near me could/would make me a y pipe to connect Hedman Longtubes to my 3"catback.
If I was made of money, I'd do the SLP 1 3/4 and then switch to longtubes and post results.

The way I see it you have a few options
Option 1: Go with Dyno Don 1 3/4 shorty style headers (they look the best buy pricey)
Option 2: Go with a used set of SLP 1 3/4 headers
Option 3: Go with a set of longtubes
Option 4: Keep your hooker headers and do the cutout

The cheapest IMO is Option 4, the IMO best Option 1.

 

I will post pics and results in four weeks