Hey guys, last night I decided my car needed a good exhaust. I already had glasspacks. I spent 60 bucks on pipe/elbows/clamps/hangers and about 3hrs in my driveway with simple hand tools. Easiest way to do it, is cut the stock exhaust behind the trans cross-member. Get an adapter from pep-boys or ABC from 1 3/4" or 1 7/8" to 2 1/4", 3 lengths of 2 1/4" pipe(ends already expanded), 2 universal hangers, 2 45 degree elbows and 1 90 degree elbow. two 2 1/4" pipes after the adapter to a glasspack or center in/center out muffler, then use a 45 degree elbow to get pointing over the axle....cut about 7-10" off one 2 1/4" pipe(the longer this piece is, the lower the exhaust will sit) and insert it into the 45 degree elbow, then use the 90 degree elbow for the "over the axle" section, after that use the other 45 degree elbow to get the exhaust pointing nice and level towards the rear of the car(under frame-rail). then you can use more 2 1/4" pipe for the tail, but i used a pre-made 2 1/2" down spout that is approximately 30".

If done properly the exhaust should look like a factory system, just larger pipe. It's a real easy job with a set of ramps and a creeper. You may need to make a few adjustments before clamping everything down tight to make sure it looks good and won't hit anything. With my glasspack, it sounds very nice, not too loud...a nice deep mellow tone. I noticed an improvement in power(especially when used with a K&N air filter) and slightly cooler engine temps. Definitely worth the money and time. You'd easily spend 150-200 bucks for that at a muffler shop(I work at a brake & muffler shop so i know). Well I hope some of you guys try this out, easy and effective; if you do try it get back to me and let me know how it went for you. Take it easy!

-Don

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Forget the flowmasters...here come the good ol' GLASSPACKS!!!

Yes sir, Slants really respond to a better exhaust system, some of the factory pipes are pretty small.

Also look at the place where the head pipe bolts to the manifold, there is usually a pretty big step-down there. The manifold opening is 2 inch so try to match that size for at least the first 10 to 14 inches of header pipe.
There are some bends there so if you have a shop make a section, start with 2 1/4, that "forms down" to about 2 inch once it is bent into the shape you need.
DD

The only down side to the parts store adapters, elbows and extensions are they are quite thin and rust very quickly.

You may find your self doing it again in another year. It might be more cost effective to go to a muffler shop and have them bend you up and exhuast from the heavy gauge aluminized pipe they use.

There are a number of local shops near me that advertise cat back systems for $99. I had one put over size pipe and a vortex muffler on my kids 4cyl S10 pick-up and they charged me $110, the additional $10 was the added cost of the muffler I chose. I still got the lifetime rust out warranty too.

The dual 2 1/4" with glass paks on my Barracuda cost $180 at the same shop.

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Dave Clement
68 Barracuda (Hot-Rod \6)
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4pgxf/

Sounds similar to what I did, cost me $180.00 here in LA, What is with the odd angle on the stock exhaust manifold where it bolts to header pipe, have never seen a shop weld this flange right is there a trick I could pass on? My entire system is 2.25 inch from flange to tip with a 32 inch glasspack, soon hope to go to headers to avoid pipe from hitting torsion rod or roasting trans line.

well, I work at a brake and muffler shop but i decided to do it at home because I know not a lot of people have the availibility to the pipe benders and other things that i do...i basically did it for those who aren't mechanics....I do plan on doing 2.25" pipe off the manifold then "y" it out before the tranny crossmember for duals. Well see what happens though.

-Don

_________________
Forget the flowmasters...here come the good ol' GLASSPACKS!!!