So over the last month or so I have been reading every exhaust article I can find concerning Hookers 2055's and Magnaflows stainless cat back system, and so far I have heard very little negative feedback about either. As soon as possible I plan on putting the two together on my 87 GTA, and I did have a few questions before tackling the job. When choosing headers I had initially planned on purchasing Hookers 2460's and their matching Y pipe since i had purchased the car with the AIR system already removed, but I really hated the fact that that Y pipe takes two 3" collectors all the way down to what would seem like a very restrictive 2 1/2" single outlet! I really liked the look of the Y pipe that came with the 2055's tho, only problem with that setup on my car is that since i dont have an AIR system, the AIR tubes that come with them are obsolete. My feelings at this point are that it would only make sence to buy the 2055's, which are the much more popular setup with a much better designed Y pipe and then unscrew the tubes and plug the holes with threaded plugs so that in the event of me ever wanting to put the AIR system back in for emissions reasons, I could very easily take the plugs out and reinstall the tubes. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. As for Magnaflow's cat back system, the only problem i see with that is that the intermediate pipe has a 2 3/4" flanged inlet made for a stock size cat. I plan on installing Magnaflow's high flow 3" spun cat which has a 3" slip fit outlet that obviously wont hook up to the cat back system. So in that regard I called Magnaflow and talked to them and found out that only the first few inches of the intermediate pipe is 2 3/4" and he informed me that I could trim that off and insert a small 3" piece of pipe between the cat and the intermediate pipe where the flange used to be to make the whole system complete. At this point that is what I plan to do! Any feedback on any of this is much apreciated! This is my first full exhaust I have put together for a third gen, and since I am not trying to pull any punches when restoring my precious GTA please point out any flaws in my thinking!

 

The Magnaflow cat back comes with a flanged pipe for the stock cat, and a 3" that fits a 3" cat, i know because mine just came today and i test fitted everything layed out on the floor. I'm very impressed. I also got a set of 2055 headers. The air tubes do not unscrew, they are welded. You can cap them off with pipe caps though at the top, which is what i plan to do. I also bought the magnaflow 3" cat without air tube. I picked the 2055 headers because of the y pipe as well, and haven't read anything negative about them. I'm going to install everything this weekend and ill let you know how it turns out.

 

Thank you, I am very interested in how yours turns out! Pictures of the finished system would be awesome!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBxz...4&feature=plcp

 

Before I started the tear down I was running the 2055's with the Magnaflow. Headers fit good, didnt have to modify anything. They say its a 3" Y but its only about 2 3/4" if I remember. The magnaflow was a strait forward install as well. The AIR tubes were cut and welded shut.
As usuall I never snapped any pictures or got a sound clip but it sounded amazing. I had a little bit more than mild 355/HSR so I dont know how it would sound with other set ups but I loved it.

 

You said that you cut and welded the air tubes shut? How did that end up looking? I've seen a few other posts where guys have done the same thing, wasn't sure if i really wanted to cut and weld on a brand new set of headers tho...

 

It didnt bother me and I'm really picky about things not looking right. Plus I coated them afterwards so you really couldnt even tell.

 

Hmmm that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Who did you get yours coated by, and did you do the cutting and welding yourself?

 

I used POR-20 header paint to coat them, I had a local place called Adamark Coatings do it. I bought them new-used and the guy already cut and welded them but the welds were so-so and opened when they sandblasted them so I re-welded them took a little sandpaper to clean them up and they got coated, never had a problem with them opening.

 

That's good to know, thanks for the info!

 

I pulled my car in the garage saturday to do my headers and cat back. Started about 1pm, everything went well, actually better than i expected. I got all the manifold bolts out with snapping any off and that was my biggest worry. I was able to get to all of them easily from the top with nothing more than a deep well socket and 1 wrench. The headers also fit in from the top with no problem and i didnt really have to fight to do it either, they just dropped in. Bolting them up was easy except for the rear bolts which are a bit hard to reach, but again i did everything from up top. The spark plugs seemed to be the hardest part. I got shorty plugs but getting to some of them was a pain, again all done from the top. The only other problems a had were the hanger for the cat didnt want to fit right, and the hanger in the back on the drivers side was a pain to get lined up right. I got done at about midnight, but i took a few breaks so it didnt seem too bad at all.
The sound is great. Very deep rumble and it doesnt drone going down the road. HUGE performance difference as well. I recommend doing this set up if you're thinking about it. it's a great combo and everything fits with no modification.

 

Thank you for the update! Its good to hear that all went fairly smoothly. Just out of curiosity, which cat did you use with this setup? Part number? Also did you end up getting the cat hanger to work or did you use an aftermarket hanger? Glad to hear that the performance increase is noticable too!

 

I used the Magnaflow 3" cat and it fit both ends perfect. Part # 93441 i believe. I was able to use the stock hanger it was just tough to get bolted up mainly because of the jack i was using wouldn't go high enough for me to get in a good position. That cat doesn't use the sir tube, it's there but its capped off. I also realized that i forgot to gap the plugs on the pass. side of the motor. They was pretty far off too when i put the driver side in so im going to have to pull and gap them.

 

Do you have any sound clips? I've been thinking of doing exactly the same set up on my car for a while now.

Although, a GMMG chambered cat back is floating around in my head.

 

You might want to consider these:



PM me for details

 

no matter which headers you go with, and dyno don's are also great, the magnaflow system sounds awesome. I can get a sound clip and put it up later. It's got a very deep tone, plenty loud and barky at WOT but no droning inside and still very reasonable to drive through town with. Not to mention the tail pipes look great sticking out.

 

I would be very interested in seeing a picture of the the tips also. One thing i did not want is tips that come out past the bottom of the bumper very much.

 

Ok i'll have to get out the camera tomorrow and get few shots and sound clips, and a WOT driveby. I'll post it up tomorrow night.

 

I was planning on going with the same set up too. Do you have links to the exact hookers and exhaust that you bought with pricing? Sorry to ask for soo much, just want to make sure I buy the correct system. Also are you guys running a single pipe to a dual outlet?

 

Yeah, i bought http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-16829/ and http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-93441/ and http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-2055HKR/
The total was about $1068 and some change.
Finally got a few pics and vids for sound earlier today.
http://youtu.be/KZULHBuYfYc is a vid of cold start in garage, rev to about 3k rpm.

http://youtu.be/8Wi7HU15Ap0 a vid of wot take off in a tunnel on the way home today.
Don't mind all the salt under the car, it's winter in NY here and they have to salt salt salt. First and last year for my car to be in it. Next year i'm gonna find a winter car.



[IMG]https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/

 

Wow that sound mean! Thanks for the links. Really appreciate it!

 

Also wanted to ask, did you have your headers coated? There is about a $200 diff between the black paint coated and ceramic coated. Is it worth the extra $?

 

Also here's 2 vids of 0-60, one before with stock exhaust, and one after.
http://youtu.be/aVz9UqFlVjU Before.
http://youtu.be/VV6kLM9oQwI After. Pretty big difference in sound and acceleration.

 

No i didn't get the coated ones. I got the black painted ones instead, i stripped the paint off the night before install and used some 2000 degree silver exhaust and header paint from autozone. It seems to be holding up great so far, but they got scraped up a bit too durring install. It probably is worth it for the ceramic coated but it wasn't in my budget.

 

I hear ya.

 

thank you for the pics! that looks great, the tips look perfect, not sticking out too far but not tucked in so far you can't see them either! cool videos too, I cant wait to get mine ordered in the near future