So what exactly is the flare supposed to be like for the pipe that connects to the back of the cat? My stock exhaust is long since gone so I cannot remember what it was like. I currently have the magnaflow duel cat setup but don't like it and am switching to hooker 2055's, their y-pipe and the direct fit magnaflow 3" cat with flare on the back.

I am not sure if the flare on the back of the cat is the same as factory or not. It seems to have a straight angle to it instead of a rounded ball end like on a manifold or header. I first bought a small stubby 3" header collector but it was a rounded socket flare which didn't mate well at all. Next, a friend took the cat to his friend's shop for him to make a flare for me. It is the reverse......a rounded flare like a mushroom. It won't mate up well either and if you clamp it real tight it will probably crush the flare on the cat I would think. Am I correct in saying this is not the proper flare to mate to the cat?

Here are some pics

 

Curious, what did you not like about the MF dual cat setup?

I scored one off Amazon for $200.. no idea how I got it so cheap. Keeping it for a rainy day.

 

Does your car have ground efftects? That was my biggest gripe......it looks bad on non-gf cars. It does not tuck up nice and goes all the way out to the fender bolt mount flange, hits it and sits mostly below that. So well below the rocker pich weld and right at the outside of the car. You see WAY too much pipe from the side of the car. People always commented on it. The next was that i think it is intended to fit dry to the manifolds, however, it doesn't reach, or it will hit the oil pan. I had to source donut gaskets and the best i could get, the inner opening just barely fits over the ball on the manifolds.....like only 2mm! So i have a leak on the one side at the manifold. The 3rd thing is the connection after the cats is designed to fit inside the factory pipe which is smaller than 3" as it is so it gets even smaller than that and becomes a bottleneck, rendering a 3" catback pretty much useless. You would have to chop it off and do some modifications which i never got around to doing. I also wouldn't use the clamps that came with the kit. The slip fit pipes are not sized well and there is no way your are shrinking the size of a round stainless pipe by tightening a clamp. I had a lot of rattling after a while, so i used the grinder to cut some relief cuts in an inch or so on the outer pipe. That way the clamp could pull it in tight. In retrospect what i should have done was got a stainless lap joint band clamp. So not that it didn't work, i just don't like it for those reasons. If you have ground effects (or if the pipe being so visible doesn't bother you like it did does me) and you're ok with modifying and dealing with the other issues, it'll work just fine.

Hope that helps.

edit.......sorry, just saw your car is a formula, so be advised of the pipe visibility issue. i can send you pics if you wish, before it comes off.

 

I totally see what you are saying. I have a stock dual cat car and it was always somewhat noticeable, but after putting on shorty headers it dropped almost an inch and is very apparent. I intend to sort out some sort of additional hanger to assist.

Apologies for the thread hijack

 

No worries, but you could help out by taking a picture of your stock connection behind the cat! lol

Feel free to PM me if you want more info or pics on the MF setup.

 

Anyone?

 

The stock single cats have a ball style flange on the outlet. The exhaust pipe side is a flare.

As long as the flange on the pipe has the roughly approximately the same flare as the male flare, it should bolt up. Walker sells quite a few different flanges and sockets, but it might not be possible to find one large enough for a 3" connection.