Hey guys I just typed this out because Miguel had PM'ed me asking for some advice, and just figured I'd share it with the rest of you instead of letting all this typing go to waste
If you're new to exhaust, it might be somewhat useful. This whole thing was mainly written with sound/tone/loudness in mind, rather than PURE performance. Some will argue that certain brands give better performance, but whatever, don't sweat a quarter of a horsepower. Feel free to add any tips/advice/faqs if you have any


Hey Miguel,

Okay, I'll give you a quick run through on the basics here...

We'll start with pipe size. If you are staying N/A, which I assume you are, you want to go with 2.25" stainless piping (or if you're in an area that doesn't get snow you can opt to go with just regular steel). Don't go any bigger because you begin to lose exhaust velocity and lose low end torque. You could go 2" if you wanted to, it will be slightly quieter, but there really isn't a point since the stock is 1-7/8".
As I said in the other post you read, there are 3 types of bending - mandrel, compression, and crush bent. Compression is the ideal for our cars - going mandrel isn't worth the extra money, and going crush is just going to lose performance in the long run. You can look it up further if you want, but just talk to the exhaust guy, he will know what compression is (no ripples, but not perfectly circular)

Onto mufflers... So there are two kinds of performance mufflers out there, baffled and straight through. Straight through is when you can actually see the whole way through the muffler without obstruction, whereas a baffled looks like a cheese grater inside. Brands such as Dynomax and Flowmaster are baffled, whereas Magnaflow and Borla are straight through. This is an important decision you have to make - straight through is obviously going to be louder both inside and outside of the car, however there is the performance benefit (better exhaust flow velocity). This is your decision. All I can really recommend for mufflers is that you stay with a name brand that I've mentioned. Any of those four are good... I personally have a magnaflow setup and it sounds great, however the borlas sound just as good if not better.

One thing to keep in mind when buying: When you pick your muffler, don't pick it because of how it looks, pick it based on its specs. The longer your muffler is (and the more volume it has inside), the quieter and deeper it will sound. This is what we want! Chances are your muffler right now is 14" or shorter, and you probably don't have a resonator. So in my case, I picked a Magnaflow oval muffler, which is 19" long and 4"x9" (now I realize that was a mistake, I shoulda gone with 5"x8" - more interior volume, but whatever...). It isn't shiny or something I want to show off - but in my opinion... a muffler isn't something you WANT to show off Mine is tucked up like the stock one, so you cant really see it.

So in short, for mufflers: Pick one of the four name brands I gave you, and pick the biggest one you can find that will fit under your car (stock size is 20"x5"x8", for reference).

Resonator: This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your setup, without a res, any exhaust is going to sound like crap on a cavalier - no ifs ands or buts. There are a few choices out there, thrush glasspack, purple horny's, dynomax, magnaflow... Basically as long as this is straight through and long [say 20+inches (mine is 22" - much longer and you will have to move the cat further towards the front of the car)], then you're all set. The resonator is going to give you the nice deep tone you want My resonator is a Magnaflow 4" round, 22" long muffler. It's slightly more expensive to go this way, since a thrush glasspack will probably be like $30, whereas this was $60.

As for cats... this is sad, but true. A 'high-flow cat' is going to KILL the sound of your car. This can take a nice deep, mellow exhaust, and instantly turn it into a bumble-bee. I'm not the one to ask about cats, I know personally I'm going to be putting one from a stock 2.4L ECO from a Cobalt SS (non s/c), since it is 2.25 from the factory, so you keep the factory sound, without keeping the factory size of the cavalier. I don't know if this will work on the older cars which have different sensors, you are better off to ask someone else about this.

I don't know if you asked about headers, but I'm not familiar with the old 2.2L engines, so again, you will have to ask someone else or read the performance FAQ.

I've uploaded two clips of my exhaust so you can see what my setup sounds like. Now remember this is on an ecotec so it will sound a little different on yours, but would still sound good.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~djdnz/exhaust1.mov
http://home.cogeco.ca/~djdnz/exhaust2.mov

A decent catback setup is going to cost about $150-160US for the tip, muffler and resonator. Then the pipe really varies from place to place. But expect a total of about 300-400ish after all is said and done. If you wanna look where I bought my stuff, they only sell magnaflow, but their prices are unbeatable! www.hottexhaust.com Great service!

I think I've covered most of what you need to know, but if you have any more questions, feel more than free to ask - I like writing novels

Regards
-Dave

--- Miguel Pabon Jr <dbolm666> wrote:

hey whats up...i got a quick question to ask ya... i got a 95 chevy cavi...2.2 liter and i'm working on my exhaust system now and i was wondering since your the go to guy around here...what muffler and catalytic converter would make my car sound decent. I got a cheap ebay muffler now and it sounds like a high powered weed whacker. I'm sick of hondas sounding nicer then mine. So if i get a high flow cat converter and an exhaust what do you suggest for a nice deep throaty sound...thanks man.