Something funny about the looks of this one. Doesn't seem factory. What do you guys think? Pricey, too!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-RARE-GM-...53.m1438.l2649

 

Looks exactly like the NOS (advertised as such) one I saw that sold (here) not too long ago.

 

I don't know. Finish seems too nice and I don't see and factory tags. I could be wrong, though.

 

Pricy for sure. I though an aftermarket company (MagnaFlow) built a dual cat SS exhaust that has since been discontinued. Mandrel bends means not factory. But could be SLP.

 

Yeah, I was thinking maybe SLP.

 

That's a MagnaFlow. Not GM at all. For cripes sakes it's mandrel bent, stainless steel, and has an actual Y-merge.

 

BTW the Magnaflow hasn't even been discontinued. There are piles of them on Ebay for about $400. LOL

 

Here's a real one for comparison....

 

Thank You.

 

They guy that pays 1500 bucks for that will feel like a chump.

 

The seller is/was a member here. He probably just doesn't know what he's got, or uploaded the wrong photo. Even if it were an NOS GM dual cat setup, it wouldn't be worth $1500. That's just ridiculous. I'm not sure I'd trust the elements in the cats to still be good after sitting since 1992. I've had a few fail while sitting in storage.

 

Put it on Watch List just to see when it sells. Someone's gonna get punched right in the financial mouth on this one. It's going to be nasty.

 

Would those Magnaflow Mandrel bent replacement ones offer any performance upgrade over a stock N10? I imagine it'd be minimal if any, but might be a cool addition for a total package of small upgrades adding up to something large.

 

I think the difference is minimal. The Y-merge might be a couple horsepower, (although IIRC, SLP claimed 5 for their's back in the day). Mandrel bends another 1 or 2. Let's call it 5 tops over a stock system - if that.

 

The stock setup has a lot of restrictive crush bends, and the merge. The MF pipes are a bit larger all around, and good cats will flow better than those that are potentially failing.

Back in the day, the hot setup for dual cat cars was the Flowmaster Y-pipe in the dual cat cat-backs. It was part of the GM Performance Parts ZZ conversion kit for thirdgens too. It's safe to say that if GM felt it was worth including, there's some gain to be had there.



Personally, I don't think we give the dual cat system nearly enough credit. The published ratings don't show that they're worth a ton of horsepower. But thirdgen enthusiasts waste a lot of time and money chasing smaller gains. It's just unfortunate that it's more difficult to keep the dual cats, then it is to convert to a single or dump the cats altogether. It'd be interesting to see dyno results with dual vs single cats. But really no one will probably ever bother to do a real world comparison.

 

This one's pretty good -

https://thirdgenfbody.wordpress.com/...ft-april-1989/

Can't find the original article but it is repeated there. No dyno test w/the N10 but good info.

 

That article is really interesting... It's worth noting that SLP Tri-Y's were good for a 12hp increase, while a proper Y-pipe was good for 5hp. That's not bad considering a Y-pipe is less expensive and easier to adapt than a set of headers. Assuming we go with the quoted 10hp boost of the stock dual cat setup, an aftermarket dual cat setup realistically could be almost as much of a boost as the Tri-Y headers.

Magnaflow should really take that extra half step and include the hanger and heat shield for the dual cats and offer the complete system as an upgrade.

I suppose pairing dual cats with headers, and potentially full dual exhaust would be even better...

 

I remember an article from GMHTP where the best dyno results on a 3rd gen was a 4" mid pipe to a 4" inlet/outlet single exhaust muffler without a cat. GM even used a similar set up on the 1992 "Heritage" Camaro prototype they built.






I love this car. Too bad it was stolen and never recovered.

 

It seems that GM did a pretty good job with the N10 system. Almost as much power gain as headers through a single cat, almost as much gain as no cat and flow rates which are 250 CFM for the single cat vs 275 CFM EACH for the N10.

 

Pretty sure the prototype had a 3" in/out muffler. It was a fairly well known fact that a single 3" in/out setup was as good or better than most anything thatd fit in the stock location.

That car wasn't stolen. GM scrapped it. Pics are on here of it being cut in half.

 

I wonder who bought that NOS N10 on here in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago? That was a very nice piece. Have to agree with Drew though, after sitting around for so many years, its hard to know if that would still be good though.

 

The good news for anyone who ends up buying this...if they realize they were fleeced on this purchase before they install it, eBay's money back guarantee will protect them, since the seller of this is clearly misrepresenting it as an N10, which I am 100% certain that it is not.

 

I read somewhere that car was stolen and never recovered. I found the pictures of it being cut up. I'm a little sad seeing that. Till this day that car Is my favorite third gen.

 

There were two. One was stolen when Car Craft was testing it, the other was destroyed by GM.

 

I wonder where it ended up?

 

Rumor has it it ended up in Mexico never to be seen from again. But who know.

 

According to legend, late at night when the moon is full, you can still hear El Lobo Blanco spinning her Gatorbacks and eviscerating straggling five liter Mustangs.

 

 

Someone just posted a real NOS N10 setup on eBay for $1,500. Rare and desirable parts for our cars are getting real pricey now. That is a good thing for the value of rare and special third gens imo.

 

Same guy as in original post.





http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-RARE-GM-...xZa-wx&vxp=mtr

 

This might sound strange. Unless someone is doing a nut and bolt 100 point 3rd gen restoration on a car I think its a shame to use it. I look at that picture and I think it would make a nice piece of art to hang in the garage. Depending on how bad mines butchered I might clean up the one on my car when I replace it and mount it on the wall in my garage.

 

That looks like a stock setup, maybe it's just a bad photo, but it looks like someone polished it. Quite a few dents in the heat shields for NOS too. Both the stock dual cat setup I took out of my Formula at around 100k miles and the used dual cat setup that replaced it looked nearly as good. Makes me wonder if I could take a wire wheel and some WD40 to my old setup and pass it off as NOS. Maybe it's legit, but that price is still retarded.

At least three different manufacturers offer a stock style Y-pipe and dual cats, but the MF is higher quality than even NOS.

 

Asking and getting are two different things. Ebay is the home of the fool with money.

I'm not sure it's a good thing. It might stimulate the lacking reproduction aftermarket, but it is just as likely that it'll drive the prices up to a point no one can afford, and folks won't be able to keep a nice thirdgen nice. Knowamean?

 

I totally hear you Drew. But I also think that third gens are completely undervalued, and I'm happy to see that the prices for our cars and the rare and desirable parts for our cars are finally starting to reflect that our cars are special and valuable. With that being said, another member on tgo recently sold a nos n10 setup for about half of the price that this guy is asking...I'm not sure anyone is rushing out or overly anxious or excited to drop $1500 on this setup in the current environment.