No, a shop did the work as you have to cut and weld various parts.

 

Well I have seen the option of using clamps instead. The downside being leaks/having to tighten them, but they provide way more flexibility than welding. Anything I'm missing or not understanding about them?

 

Clamps can be just as solid as welding.. Ive used them plenty of times..

 

Is it okay to do the entire exhaust with clamps?

 

Yea you can just make sure all the sizes of connectors and clamps match up..

 

What are you guy's thoughts on this setup? (No welding, all done at home)

From Engine:
-ZZP Powerlog
Catalytic Converter:
- -O2 Sensor Pipe
Optional Resonator:
-2.5” Resonator (only if cabin noise is too loud)
Exhaust Tips:
- (50$ for a pair)
- (33$ individually)
Clamps:
-

 

Why are you against having it welded on? I get having a single flange or slip connection with clamps so the exhaust isn't one giant piece, but from the looks of it, you're going to have at least 5 clamped areas (both sides of the cat, both sides of the resonator, then the tip). That would be beneficial to allow you to make changes until you get a setup you're happy with, but then I'd take it in and have them weld most of those up.

I don't think this will have a major impact on sound. The design isn't drastically different than stock, it just has thinner walls and bigger diameter. Just not sure it's worth the price for the tiny sound change.

Is your current cat bad? As with the above, going from one cat to another isn't going to have a big impact on sound. Another one of those things that's probably not worth the money.

What are you doing about mufflers? Leaving the stock ones and potentially adding this probably isn't a bad idea, although keeping the stock mufflers might make it too quiet for what you're looking for.

If the plan is to straight pipe it and just add a resonator if it's too loud, then I'd say yuck - that's going to sound terrible. You could try this out now - drop the stock catback and take a trip around the block. Tons of rasp and tons of drone!

 

I'm not against having it welded. For the moment, I would just like to do all the work myself. Then once I'm happy with the sound I'm getting, I might get it welded. Also, the tip has its own built in clamp.
Those two modifications aren't for sound. They're more performance focused.
I plan on deleting the muffler and resonator at first. Then possibly adding an aftermarket resonator or glasspack.
Like I said above, the plan is pretty much that, straight piping it from the cat, and adjusting if needed. Similar to Leprechaun93's setup shown earlier in the thread.

 

As I probably mentioned before, you're wasting money IMO if you're modding the exhaust on a stock NA 3800 for performance. For reference, the record FWD 3800 NA stock cam dyno was 193 whp. #5 on that same list only took 177 whp (about a 20 whp gain from stock). So as you can imagine, doing something like a plog or HF cat is likely only going to pick up single digit whp numbers, if anything. The cost is extremely high for virtually no gain.

As another data point, a bone stock L67 will usually do 190-200 whp.

IMO straight piped 3800 is the worst possible route if you're really after a classic muscle car sound. It'll amplify all of the terrible characteristics of the 3800 exhaust.

If you're seriously considering it, I'd highly suggest just unbolting and dropping the catback before you start hacking everything up. Other than the position of the outlet, it's going to be basically the same sound, not to mention it's completely free to try.

If the intent is to straight pipe it to get the loudest noise possible, have you thought about just doing a cutout? They make clamp on Y pipes so you could still DIY it, and it would sure be a lot cheaper and easier than hacking everything up.

 

I think I'll try dropping the catback and taking it for a ride this weekend. As for the cutout thing, I'm not familiar with what that is.