Ok, so I've been looking into redoing the exhaust and I'm hoping that I will actually manage to get it done.

Right now I have stock everything minus the cat.

My plan...
1.)I bought some eldelbrock shorties (the ones with A.I.R) for $40 put those on.
2.)make (have someone make because I don't know how and don't have the tools to) 2 pipes (so to keep true duels) and run those straight back.
3.) for the sake of passing state inspection gut out 2 cats and put them on.
4.)figure out a good pair of mufflers
5.) have the exits on the sides.

My questions....
1.)what would be some good muffler choices?
2.)should I have the exhaust exit before or after the rear tires?
I've seen all the pics of the exhaust coming out before but didn't know how feasible it'd be for them to exit after the rear.

Thanks for all help/opinions, and if anyone knows any good exhaust shops in Eastern NC I'd appreciate that help too

@ bold, i don't know how you will pass smog with gutted cats....

if you exit after the rear tires you will have better ground clearance, but its more of a hassle and more materials to get it over the axle. and before the tire looks way better.

as far as passing smog, in NC once your car is 25 yo you dont have to pass emissions. the only thing is, if it was there from the factory then it has to be in place. (along with that it also has to be working but if they're gutted and they're in place still they'll never be able to tell.)

So essentially since there is no post cat O2 sensor, there is no way for them to tell the difference between a gutted cat and a stock one.

I'm looking to redo my exhaust too. I'm going to go with dumping it in front of the rear meats...damn the clearance, I ain't fishing 2 X 3" pipes over the axle. Gonna go with race bullets for mufflers too. I'm dragin' it (nothing but christmas trees for my street lights now) so I don't have to worry about the cats, but if I were you and needed to put them on then I'd go with dual high-flo's, or you could gut stockers like you're talking about.

If you can get over the horror of not having the buzzword "DUAL EXHAUSTS" in your car, a single 4 inch will go over the axle easily and flow almost the same. 4 inch will have 12.5^2 inches of cross sectional area whereas a dual 3 will have 14^2 inches of cross sectional area.


To the op:
If you're running shorties duals aren't really worth the trouble anyway in my opinion. A big single is just a dual system with a perfect crossover on it.

But convincing people not to ruin their ground clearance with hillbilly duals is hard, so I dont expect you to actually go with a single 4 inch and a good y-pipe. A dual 3inch y-pipe better be put on some shorties that have 3 inch collectors.

By the way, I've seen lots of pics of side exit exhausts... always looks bad. I've seen one or two that looked amazing. My favorite was skulte's boom tube exhaust. Looked spectacular. Second favorite is Big Mods but he'll be the first one to tell you that's not necessarily a good or practical idea for 99 percent of thirdgenners.

To do it right, and it aint easy, heavy fab work and mods are required and you wont loose much ground clearance. you will need 2.5" pipe, which on a dual is all you need. run the cats just off the front pipe just after the bell housing. route straight tubes down the trans tunnel along the sides of the drive shaft and panhard bar (here you will need to fab some hangers and isolators). you should be able to run some sraight through mufflers near the back of the trans tunnel. some heat reflective material should be used. from there you can shoot it out the sides, keeping it tight to the back of the rear floor pans. i would also watch out for that gas tank too as exessive heat seems to cause cavatation in the fuel system. i will end this with "in theory" lol.

no "heavy fab" needed - just simple cuting and welding of pipe, cats would be a near impossible fit inside the trans tunnel (i tried with small cats and couldnt do it very well), you have to deal with getting past the transcross member it's not a straight shot down the tunnel, the panhard bar is not in anywhere neat the trans tunnel, and the gas tank is not an issue for side exhaust exiting in front of the rear wheels.

This post is full of incorrect information. Next time keep your " theory" to yourself so you don't mislead someone.