Exhaust system trouble

[acascianelli]

about a year ago, on of my mufflers went bad on my 94 gp 3.1l (passenger side muffler). i was a bad time and i didnt have time to mess with it so i just brought it to a tuffy and they replaced the muffler. after getting the car back i looked what they had done, and all they did was cut off the old one and tack weld a new one in place. there was no mounting bolt on the muffler for the hanger so they just tack welded that in place also. and they tack welded the tip on to. needless to say i was pretty mad at their crappy job but i didnt care.

anyways...the exhaust pipe coming out behind the passenger side muffler rusted thru so now im only running on 1 muffler. i dont really know what to do. it looks like everything from the cat back is pretty rusted. and im pretty sure my cat is messed up too cause i can hear things rattling in it and i know its not the heatshield.

heres a few question i have about fixing my exhaust.

1) roughly how much would it cost for a new exhaust pipe from the cat back. just the pipe, no mufflers or anything else.

2) although the rest of the pipe is rusted, its not all that bad, would it be better just to cutt off the rusted end and replace the bend?

3) ive been wanting a more aggressive sound to my car and i was thinking of removing the allready messed up cat and just running straight pipes. would this affect my engine running too rich or too lean? and also is it just a dumb idea in general, as in would it sound stupid.

[TheProfessor]

well it would effest your emissions so if you get tested in your area i wouldnt get rid of the cat
but as far as the sound i know for a fact that 3.1s sound pretty badass without a muffler
although i dont know how loud it would be

[acascianelli]

what mufflers would you suggest. i dont want to spend too much, i was also thinking of picking up some cherrybomb mufflers from meijer

[TheProfessor]

ive heard that cherry bombs wouldnt be good for a 3.1

[acascianelli]

how would they not be good for the motor?

[RednBlack]

Mufflers provide needed back pressure. Unless you are running some serious high performance engine, you will lose power. May sound loud, but suck as far as performance goes. That is a fact. Tuning exhaust is as important as tuning a carb. Open exhaust on stock is only for demolition derby. Cherry Bombs suck, as did the old Thrush. Get a good quality muffler. Made for your car, from the books. They last longer and give better performance in the end. Loud is not power. BTW..stock..without back pressure..you will burn exhaust valves. That is a fact.

[acascianelli]

i want a more aggressive sound, and i think now is a good time to do this. what mufflers do you suggest?

ill probobly be removing the catalytic converter also since its bad. i didnt think exhaust back pressure was that big of a deal. i heard it was important on low displacement engine ( less then 2L ). it felt to me like my car with the exhaust opened up was pulling harder in the top end

also, does anyone know how cold michigan winter would affect my motor on with straight thru exhaust. im worried that turning my car off in cold weather may damage the motor because of the cold air going thru the exhaust to the hot engine parts?

[TheProfessor]

i thought that back pressure was only need to prevent valve buring on the older carbed motors

[88jbody]

a 3.1 can take alot more flowing exhaust then stock, but don't run open exhaust, I run 2.5 piping, with a flowtech raptor muffler, more agresive then stock but still nor too loud, although I don't have emission testing so the cat is there only for show for anual saftey inspection.

[acascianelli]

will it damage my motor to run straight thru...no muffler, no cat. and what if i run with mufflers but with no cat. my state does not require emissions testing.

[vsop4me3.1]

did you try flowmasters? I got 2 on my 3100 and it sounds pretty mean. I still have decent amount of low end and harder pulling top end, the intake I put on at the same time did'nt hurt either

[geldartb]

vsop4me3.1 what kind of flowmasters do you have i also have a 3100 and am looking for a good muffler that sounds good

[acascianelli]

i can understand keeping mufflers of some sort on the exhaust now. but what would removing the cat do. like i said before there is no emissions testing in my state so im not concerned about that. ive heard from people that removing the cat would make cause my engine to run too rich.

[vsop4me3.1]

vsop4me3.1 what kind of flowmasters do you have i also have a 3100 and am looking for a good muffler that sounds good

I have the 40 series

http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/cgi-bin/flowmaster/40series.html?id=UrSTo45B

[geldartb]

had one of those floating around dont know where it is now but i had it on w\o a resonator and it was really loud did you end up using resonator exhaus tips