Alright im a complete newby when it comes to exhaust. Im wanting to put in an exhaust system that will make my 85 Z28 with a bone stock 305 sound a little more beefy. I'm just now looking into exhausts but already have a few questions. Should i just do a catback setup or do i completely redo it from the headers back? I'm just looking for a few pointers to help me make a decision on what exhaust setup im going to go with.

Thanks!

 

If you want to actually gain something from the money invested in a cat back, I advise to also do headers, Y pipe and cat.

The best smallblock headers fitting in a thirdgen with a stock or not too heavily modified engine (read anything under 500 hp) are Hooker 2055's with the Y-pipe to go with it.

For the 305 just fit a 3" cat with or without AIR equipment depending on whether or not to smog test the car, and then, considering you'll remain close to stock for the next few years, connect that to a 2,5" Hooker aero chamber cat beck or Dynomax super turbo cat back for a somewhat deeper sound, to a series 40, 80 or Borla for a more aggressive sound (which works better with 350 cid engines with a somewhat wilder cam IMHO).