Exhaust question

[mike561]

Ok so i used to own an '88 caprice so im pretty fammiliar with these cars, my question is though, how can i get the current car i have (see my signature pic below) with a V6 3.8 liter engine, to have an exhaust sound as CLOSEST possible to the nice growl of a V8 that you hear on these caprices??? ive been searching around for many different sound clips for my type of engine and most sound like those crappy ricer-type fart cans. let me know what my options are if any of you are familiar with pontiac grand prix's or just know about cars exhausts in general. thanks!

[alphalanos]

Probably a resonator and a straight through, oval muffler such as magnaflow. Maybe 2.5-2.75 inch piping depending on your power level.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by alphalanos

Probably a resonator and a straight through, oval muffler such as magnaflow. Maybe 2.5-2.75 inch piping depending on your power level.

Keep in mind that no matter how you make it growl, it's always going to sound like a V6.

[Blue Bowtie]

Chambered mufflers can alter the resonnance of the exhaust and get a smoother sound, but it's always going to have a pulse missing here and there, so a trained ear will be able to pick it out as a six-banger.

[CD Smalley]

How about swapping a 5.3V8 from one of the new Monte SS's in place?

Expensive I know. But wow! 303HP!

[mike561]

^now thats an idea, if i could afford it i would that would be niiice, being as how the monte carlos and grand prixs are almost mechanicly identical. but yea i was able to hear a sound clip from a V6 engine with the flowmaster 80 series, and those sounded nice too. if anyone knows where i can hear some more sound clips for exhausts on the engine of my type let me know.

[PrettyTonyGQ]

I deffinitely agree... Each exhaust sounds different on each car.. a v6 will always sound like a v6 to me (but i'm not a pro)... I noticed my '92 caprice's 305 had a little more rumble than all others I'd heard.. Come to find out it's got a true dual exhaust.. Not sure if that was standard... I'm planning on switching engines though havent decided what yet.. but thats why I'm thinking about it right now rather than later!!!

Anyways... from a noob point of view to answer your question, I was talking to a guy about the same thing.. best bet in the way of mufflers/exhaust is flowmaster... They've got the most options in the way of "changing" the rumble of an engine but in the end when you hit those high rpms, its still gonna sound like a v6

Anybody know if the true dual exhaust came standard on the '92 305 or was even an option? I have no way of telling if its aftermarket or what.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by PrettyTonyGQ

Anybody know if the true dual exhaust came standard on the '92 305 or was even an option? I have no way of telling if its aftermarket or what.

True duals didn't become available until 1994 with the LT1 in the Caprice. What you probably have is a retrofit from one of those cars.

[PrettyTonyGQ]

Yep you're right... I found the welds while I was changing the neg. cable on my caprice.. They were alot closer to the engine than I was looking before.. Noob mistake though dont hold it against me..

[mike561]

yeah i know mine is a single pipe and it just splits halfway down to make it look like it has duals from the back.

[04GTP-WhatLAG?]

my grand prix with the stock mufflers, stock resonator, 3" downpipe, and a high flow cat, like all V6s it sounds good in the low rpm, and sounds like a V6 in the upper rpms, now to its defense its sounds A LOT raspier in the video, it doesn't "buzz" like it does in the video, that is just the way the camera picked it up because i had it to close to the car, also ignore that eaton whine in the car toward the end of the video, that is a Gen V + intake thing, you gen III guys wouldn't understand:

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...GTPExhaust.flv



and here is an in car but you really can't hear the exhaust because of other strange noises:

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...haustInCar.flv

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...t=GTPNight.flv

all 3 of these were before the pulley swap and PCM...

[PrettyTonyGQ]

And to show the difference between his v6 and my simple 305 w/ a true dual exhaust:

http://prettytonygq0.tripod.com/index.htm

Link is at the bottom of the page... Clip is choppy but thats what you get when you use a kodak digital camera... This is not from outside the vehicle, it was sitting in my lap with the driver's side door open.

[aklingel]

This will give you some ideas of what you can do with a GP exhaust set up.

http://www.rmcgp.com/exhaust/

Personally I am running a SLP PowerFlo cat-back, on my '99 GTP, with everything else being stock, and I like it pretty well. I doesn't sound like a V8, but it sounds much better than stock, much deeper and louder when you're on it. It's not unbearable to drive on the highway, drones a bit (because it doesn't have a resonator), but not terrible. I'll soon be going to a 3" racing downpipe from ZZP for performance and it'll make the exhaust just a bit louder.

[mike561]

thats a very helpful link there thanks for that. i was looking through the sound clips and i liked the way the one sounded where the guy i geuss has the QTEC cutout on his 1999 GTP. it said the Ubend and Resonator were removed, but everything else on the exhaust is pretty much stock it said and except for the cutout of course. if anyone knows, how can i do that and how costly is it (doesnt seem expensive at all if its pretty much stock still) and what goes in place of the u-bend and resonator and how do i do the "cutout"?? does it go to just any straight pipe? if anyone has more pics of this type of exhaust setup that would be great. sorry for all the questions its just im not that knowlegable about cars, as i am still learning but serious about doing this upgrade. by the way if anyones interested here is the link to the clip of the exhaust http://www.rmcgp.com/exhaust/qtec.wmv

[04GTP-WhatLAG?]

i'm about to invest in a cutout myself, instead of going with a 2.5" cat back, you can get a cutout fairly cheap(cheaper than a full cat back) and here is a write up on them:

http://www.pfyc.com/supportfiles/gn5002install.pdf

http://www.pfyc.com/store/merchant.m...ory_Code=04EXH