How much do you reckon an exhaust shop would charge me to make a custom cat-back for my '00 SS? I plan on buying some Flowmaster 40's and having them weld them in as well. The last time I had my local shop do an exhaust mod, they cut off my stock mufflers and clamped on a couple straight pipes thatthey mandrel bent to line up with the curve in the bumper andthey chargedme about $90. So how much do you think they would charge to bend out some new piping to replace the whole exhaust past the cat, weld on a flange to attach it to the cat/DP, and weld on the mufflers and all the hangers?

Also, what size piping should I go with, 2.5" or 3"? Bear in mind that before I get the exhaust, I will be putting in a K&N cone filter with a home-made Wizaired-style CAI, and a ZZP 1.0 PCM, and sometime in the future I want to get a set of Pacesetter headers which bolt directly up to 2.5" exhaust. I'm not sure how much power I would be putting out...somewhere around 250HP maybe? I have read before that 2.5" exhaust is perfect for that power level, but I've also heard that 3" would be better. What do you guys think?

 

A 3" exhaust is pretty much overkill for our cars unless you are running a turbo or you have a good bit of engine work done. Stick with 2.5". As for the cost, I would imagine that whatever they charged you for materials and labor on the system itself would be cheaper than buying a cat back system. The only thing would be the labor to install. That might set you over the top, but remember that you will be getting everything welded in, when an aftermarket cat back would just be sections that you would clamp together and you would have to install it all yourself.

 

You've got a 2000 NA so I would stick with the 2.5". Not nearly as heavy as the 3" and easy to find the direct bolt on parts.

 

OK, thanks, that's what I was kind of thinking since the headers I will eventually get bolt directly to 2.5".