test pipe or cat. converter??

[spoolinV6]

I'm pretty sure the converter I have on now is clogged, and very, very old so right now either choice would be better....the car is only street driven and im pretty sure she's done w/ emissions so i need some help in this decision. I dont want the car to sound ridiculous, but if there is a significant advantage over the cat i would rather go w/ the test pipe. advice appreciated.

 

[BlackMetal]

It will be a bit louder with a test pipe but does not radically change the sound of your exhaust. You don't have to worry about emissions in Chicago, just bolt in a pipe.

 

[spoolinV6]

thanks...anyone know what size i would need?? I'm pretty sure its 2.5" and where would I be able to find one online?

 

[BlackMetal]

eBay Motors: 86-87 BUICK GRAND NATIONAL CONVERTER TEST PIPE (item 390039442243 end time Apr-22-09 17:43:01 PDT)

 

[gmpower]

Once you bolt in the tesat pipe you will see a day and night difference in spool!

 

[BlackMetal]

Yeah I remember having a smile on my face the night I took off my cat and went for a drive.

 

[Black Sunshine]

I myself am trying to pass emissions, and am debating on putting a test pipe on after I pass. Is the difference really night and day? I have one of those Hi flow cats that Poston sells.

 

[87granny]

Yes the difference is night and day the way it helps spool a turbo weather stack or bigger

 

[Black Sunshine]

Well damn now I gotta find a shop willing to put it on. Being illegal here and all that may be hard.

 

[BlackMetal]

Pretty easy to do it yourself unless all the bolts are rusted. But if you already have a high-flow cat then at some point the stock one was already removed and maybe everything won't be seized up.

 

["Turbo-T"]

+1 it's something you can do in the garage on a weekend.

 

[scottyb]

When I replaced my catalytic clogger with the test pipe, it was an enormous seat of the pants difference. It was by far the biggest single improvement I made to my car, and even more in the "bang for the buck" category. My car was almost 100% stock when I did that and recent visits to the 1/8 mile track netted more than 4 tenths improvement coupled with the addition of a chip.

I had to cut the 4 bolts off, and I had to jack the car to the stratosphere to take off the downpipe so I could work the converter off the downpipe on my bench.

 

[BlackMetal]

I had to cut the 4 bolts off, and I had to jack the car to the stratosphere to take off the downpipe so I could work the converter off the downpipe on my bench.

Yeah, mine was a nightmare too, went to a friend's house and thought we'd have it done in a half hour, ended up getting home at 1am because of all the time we spent heating up the bolts, trying to preserve all the stock pieces, then got pissed enough to just cut it off.