yo decide on what exhaust system to use , a couple of ?need to be answered. 1 how much rwhp does your car have ? and how loud do you want it ???? to share what i went through with my 2 zr1s . they both have between 410 rwhp -90 snf 430 wrhp the 92. i found at the drag strip that a 3 in system lost me 2-3 tenth and also lost 1.5 mph compared to the custom drgas 21/2 in system . but that system was a little loud for me . i kinda like the sleeper mode for myself sounds stk but runs like crazy (plus the cops dont hear you). i came up with a 23/4 in system (stk zr1 size) put in a 3inxpipe where the resonator was , back to 23/4 in all the way to the mufflers where i put in 3 in dyno max super turbos with dual 21/2 in outlets where i put on the stk zr1 tips . this exhaust dropped the strip times 3 tenth and uped the mile an hr by 1.6 mph over the dr gas system and is as quiet as a stk system until you floor it . sound is so very personal but i love the sound of this setup . you can hear it on utube just type in bradszr1 and click on my favorites .there you can hear the blk 90 with the drgas setup and the white 92 with a corsa setup (theflyby) and my current setup ( jetta vs corvetteat acd ) they will give you some different sounds and might help you to decide which way to go . the set up i made for the 92 didnt cost much had the 23/4inpipe from the stk exhaust the 3 in xpipe from summit wat 90 the mufflers were 120 for both and the muffler shop to put it together charged 150. bottem line is take your time before you decide as it can be expensive to buy another system if you dont like the first one . i know i have a flowmaster cat back and a borla cat back taking up space in my rafters . good luck to you
I totally agree with the considerations...they are VERY important and the decision should not be made lightly.
1st, just because the system is a bigger size does not make it better. I also installed a 3" all the way back with eliminators and lost ALL the low end and even into mid-range. The car became difficult to drive on the streets even with the auto trans.
2nd, the noise factor is huge. Trust me when I tell ya it gets old, fast. If you only drive it once a month, thats one thing. Every day is another. It'll piss you off more when you have to stop and shut down just to make a ph call...or even want to have a conversation.Mine had such a roar at freeway speeds that it scared people in other cars as I came up behind them or went around.....it revved like a 2 stroke moto-X bike, but the sacrifice everywhere else was too great.
I tried to apply old school thinking and made a mistake. I lost power, street-ability and fun factor. After un-doing half of what I had done, I got the pulling power back, got some level of peace in the cabin, and now have the car where I can stand in it and get results instead of that annoying bogging down when you are under the power band...it jumps now and I can hear again. Life's good again.
So, listen to some systems, live if at all possible and take your time. Its a horrible waste of money to buy a system and then have to pull it off in just a few months because you just are'nt satisfied with what it did to the performance or your mental health.
When I got the last system installed, and heard it run, they ask me what to do with the other pipes and the eliminators....I just said "toss it"....That was a bad idea.
Unless you;re going to be turning sustained high RPM (5000+) on a track there is more need for low-mid range than there is for a free-breathing big open exhaust IMHO.
