I don't plan on opening it all that often. I plan on driving almost always with it closed on the borlas and opening it to make my brothers truck sound like a kitten or if I see a mustang next to me at a light :rotfl:. I intend on using it as a "oh im too quiet? what about NOW" kind of deal.

The main reason is because I don't wanna buy two lol. Although there is no reason why I couldn't do it before the exhaust splits.

Well, theres different kinds of cherrybombs, not all are loud.. I had two on my '02 and they were the best sounding mufflers I have ever heard on a 3800.. I mean by far the best.. They came unbranded from a muffler shop that had some kinda deal with the company. Have never been able to find them since either..

Keep in mind, the further back (more pipe between engine and cutout) the raspier it gets. You can counter this to an extent with larger diameter pipe but that gets pretty costly..

Having the cutout literally IN the downpipe or immediately after it wont sound all that bad and you may even be able to get away with sticking a smaller diameter "round" muffler/resonator up in there where the res/cat would go.. Thats if you delete the res/cat.. You can also squeeze a couple more inches of room by eliminating the res/cat heatshield.. But then thats gonna add to the drone inside the car..

Heres a picture of when I had stock DP and 2.5 inch exhaust just to give you an idea of what it looks like with the heatshield removed.. I dont know if zippy's pics had that removed but heres mine anyway..

Attachment 35191

EDIT: Just wanna add that it looks like there is WAY more room than there actually is..

I think what I am going to do is put a cutout behind the res on the pipe that bends and runs towards the passenger side of the car. There should be enough room there for a small muffler like a cherry bomb extreme, plus it will be pointing out the right side of the car.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...4eea23ae52.jpg

I will probably get the cutout welded in by a shop and then if I decide I want a loud muffler on it to reduce the rasping then I will bolt on one and see how it sounds.

I have two Flowmaster 40 series on my 3.4, u-bend delete, and am always getting compliment s on how good it sounds! Not going to get the nice V8 sound, but what I have sounds damn nice, and the comments substantiate that!! People think it's cool that I have that sound in a relatively newer car (2003), and they all say they never heard any other Monte sound like it! Most Montes are church-mouse quiet!

I was gonna recommend that.. See how the cutout sounds by itself just whatever you do, dont go getting anything that is supposed to "amplify" the volume or tone.. All that does is make it sound like crap..

Just remember what I said, the longer the piping between the engine and exhaust opening, the raspier it gets.. And it does so pretty quick. Id even suggest first to unhook the res/cat from the DP and see how that sounds just for comparison after you get the work done..

Its too bad youre not doing the welding yourself cause you have a ton more room for experimenting.. One thing to think about here tho, you can get exhaust pipe sleeves and clamps. Honestly theres nothing that makes that route worse than welding.. Itll surely save you some money and you have that "play around" room to see what works and what you like more..

+1 on the side exit idea. Always something I wanted to do with the 6th gens..

I hear that.. Im not one that likes drawing attention but I love the compliments after the hours and hours and hours and hours of exhaust work I put into the car..
Always nice to hear someone likes it other than me..

I have the thrush welded mufflers which are almost the same thing.. Cant see them sounding too much different..

If you were to add a cutout there and want to add a muffler later, wouldn't the muffler be mounted completely under flat part of the floor pan?

I'm just thinking if that's the case, you could really hurt ground clearance. It's bad enough having a pipe run under the floor pan by itself, but a muffler will make that a couple inches closer to the ground.

Yeah, im not going to get a normal sized muffler like my borlas though. I'm considering a cherry bomb extreme or something like this which won't reduce the ground clearance anymore than the pipe is already

Yeah the cutout will be far enough back to probably make it raspy, and if it is I'll start looking for mufflers to bolt on and test. I wish I could weld them myself but I haven't learned how to weld yet nor do I have a welder :(

I cant believe I totally forgot about this.. I had my exhaust hacked off just before the Y-pipe and honestly I didnt hate the sound.. Wife liked it and actually took my sweet time building the rest up because it did kinda sound cool. Take into account I have several other mods that dramatically increase the sound quality but all in all when youre all done with what youre planning, I think youll have a decent sound. Dont think itll be an "ugly" sound by any means.. These cars have a reputation more than deserved as a nasty sounding car to mod exhaust on which really isnt the case.. Now, the 3.4 dual cam is another story XD

Before youre dead set on having someone weld stuff do a little research on exhaust sleeves and clamps.. I know some people hate even the idea of that kinda setup (i was one) but I ended up doing it that way and ran it like that for about a year with no leaking issue or anything..

I was always also very concerned about having someone weld on my car because seriously most of the time they (shops) dont take every possible precaution to eliminate the possibility of damaging something.. Ive seen many that will actually leave a car running if its a quick patch job or something small like that..

I might get under there and cut the pipe and clamp in the cutout, but once I get everything the way I like it and a good loud sound I will probably have a shop weld it in