View single post by Judson Manning
 Posted: 03-13-2006 01:51 pm
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Judson Manning



Joined: 03-14-2005
Location: Atlanta, Georgia USA
Posts: 406
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Jim,

I can't say there's one single 'optimum' solution, but I can tell you after going through 4 different systems of my own what works and what doesn't.

There's really no way around the bends up and over the axle; unless you decide to go racing and install a turn-down just behind the headers.  The important thing is to get smooth bends.  The muffler shops I've worked with generally do a crappy job of making smooth bends.

I ended up buying 'J' and 'U' bends from http://www.jegs.com and making my own loop over the axle.  As I remember from installing Delta's kit on a customer car, it had pretty smooth bends, and was generally of very good quality.

Pipe diameter is goverened by how much HP you've got.  Unless you do some serious porting work like "Yellow Dog", don't expect much past 190hp.  A single 2-1/4" pipe works fine for my 2.2 907/910 hybrid.

Mufflers are the other half of the equation.  I'm using a 31" glass-pak under the transmission and a Flowmaster 40-series out back.  It's free-flowing, but when I go to car shows, people think I'm running a V8 conversion!

To confuse the issue, http://www.flowmaster.com suggests a minimum pipe of 2-1/2" for 200hp.  The only problem with a pipe that big is clearance over the axle.

Judson