so confused

[Kal-El]

ok i got 3.73, whisper lid ,fast toys ram air, msd 8.5 wires i dont plan to do anything else to the car maybe eletric water pump but thats it. the thing is that im confused about and is driveing me crazy is that will 3" give me better hp cause i talk to some people performence shops, exhaust shops, and even my bros friend that bulds cars for a live said that 3" is to much. is it to much. i got right now on my car is 2.5 flowmaster cat back is it worth changeing to 3" with just the mods i got or should i leave it as is please. let me know guys thanks

[Paul Ford]

I would just leave your 2.5" cat-back as is. If your looking for more power get a tune from TSP

[slow6]

screw that
i would rather buy hp tuners for $520 shipped and have all the tunes i want.

[rhouse21]

The exhaust issue is a long, drawn-out debate on this forum. 3" folks swear by their systems but I've also heard a lot of very competent opinions that anything over 2.5 is "too big" to optimize exhaust flow. There's a chart on the magnaflow web site that suggests exhaust sizing and a bunch of other web sights out there, but everyone has their own opinion.

I think the single most compelling piece of evidence in this debate is simply to take a look at the exhaust size suggested by every major exhaust maker. Presumably these guys tune their systems with dyno runs and old-school engineering. So ask yourself, "why would ALL of these guys go through the trouble of creating a brand new, smaller exhaust system for our cars when they could just sell us the Z-28 set-ups with new hangers?" That would be the cheapest way to make a buck and save on all the R&D expenses associated with making a new system, all the warehousing expenses of housing and distributing these systems, the trouble of tracking new part numbers, etc.

Like I said, I know the 3" guys love their exhaust systems, and I admit that they do sound pretty dang good. But I don't think that the entire aftermarket exhaust industry would unify in a conspiracy to keep the V6 f-body community using smaller than optimal exhaust systems. I may be paranoid, but I'm not THAT paranoid.

Bottom line: Keep your flowmaster unless you just want to upgrade to a bigger sound.

[Kal-El]

i dont care about sound i care about performance i just want to know with my 3.73 and a 3" cat back make a good combo i dont want to lost power here just gain and i want to know if the 3" would do that gain power

[dmw319]

rhouse21 is saying its all prefernece for your setup. some different brands/people suggest different exhaust sizes. personally, i prefer 3". more air flow, less rasp in my opinion.

what everyone else is saying, is just get some tuning done, it adds a reasonable about of HP gain. and i agree. its next on my list to do to my car as well!

[Kal-El]

dmw319 did u take your car to the 1/4 mile and if yes how well did u do? and what do u mean bye its all perfromence for your set up????

[dmw319]

no, i havent had a chance to take mine to the track yet, but i will soon hopefully.

and i said its all "prefernce" not "performance". meaning it all depends on what YOU think is best for your setup.

[rhouse21]

I'm gonna have to agree with dmw319. It's all about what you like.

I haven't seen any concrete evidence that 3" exhausts actually gives more power than 2.5" exhausts, but they do sound different.

People spend lots of time debating whether the 3" pipes cost you low end torque or gain you high end hp, but no one has ever dynoed the same car with a 2.5" and 3" exhaust back-to-back to find out the real diffeences to my knowledge. From what I've read, you MAY get a seat of the pants diference, but you may not. If you really wanna spend some money on your exhaust to get a proven gain, keep the flowmaster system and get headers.