Nothing rocket science here, but just a few things I came across and wanted to share on here.

The old pan type Cat wasn't completely toast, but I've had a bad experience with the plug rotting out on these things. When it goes, all the platinum balls come pouring out and instantly you have a cut out exhaust system - hope you're not going past the State Police headquarters when it happens!!



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Next, the stock hanger for the Pontiacs at the muffler is a strap that wraps around the muffler itself. Personally, I'm just not a fan of the strap on the muffler. It might be just fine on the OEM muffler, but I doubt aftermarket jobs are the same exact size, and the muffler wall is probably thinner gauge as well. I also ran into these kind of straps on the '97 Sunfire I had for a short spell. This car has had some wag weld in a couple of the cheap aftermarket straps fore & aft of the muffler which was very effective. You can see the stock hanger mount in the far left. My solution was to buy 2 new hangers (just $5 ea.!! ), and grind out all the rivets and use the new hanger parts on the welded strap.






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I tried to find a down pipe that comes off the manifold, but no luck. I tried NAPA, Zone, Advance & Fisher . Just don't make it anymore. Guess if you are in dire need a muffler shop can fab one up for you. Also when I got my Cat and Muffler from NAPA they said I got the last they could get. They sell several mufflers - this one was the cheaper one with lifetime warranty. They should still carry a cheap 1 yr warranted and an expensive one by Walker ($140?). Also I got the last Cat they had. I'm not sure if that is just on the East Coast, or the Coast to Coast. If you do your own Exhaust on these Pontiacs, these parts are getting harder to come by.
I just prefer to do my own. I know what I've got and know it's done right. Not by some young unlucky buck who just lost his girlfriend and doesn't give a $h!t that day, if ya know what I mean. I also take those clamps and methodically tighten them each , 4 times - 90 degrees each time around the pipe, to get a good seal around each connection. It's a lot of effort , but I can put my hand over the tailpipe and hear no whistling!



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Orlen-

Looks like you took your time. Nice work. Thanks for sharing. I feel the same way about service. I don't trust most shops. I do as much as I can by myself. If I screw up, I know who to blame

Cool stuff I have a local shop that soley does exhaust and they did my cav and truck and do great work with a warranty.The cavs exh was done yrs back but when i did my rear axle work I upgraded my muffler to a cherry bomb and redid my hanger some,used same brackets and stripped and painted new hardware etc.I see you took some time to get it right and that pays for the extra things like getting parts to do it.Nice end result.The only shop my cav see's is rons garage I would not like well anyone doodling with my car being so old I do all my stuff period.

Nice job Orlen,
Does it sound much quieter with the new components? Compared to before when your old exhaust was still intact? My brown vert has the Cat removed and it sounds much louder than the blue one does, even though the muffler looks to be in really good shape.

The new exhaust is pretty close to the old one John, although since the old one was so rotted out inside, I'd bet it breathes a little better now.

I know what you are talking about Cat-wise. I replaced the Cat on the wagon, at the time I had mis-diagnosed a leaking valve cover as the engine burning oil. When I replaced the wagon's Cat I er...ummm - well, modified it, fearing oil burning would clog it up. The wagon does have a sweet note at hard throttle , much like your brown 'vert.
I went ahead and bought a direct fit Cat this time after getting a universal for the wagon. Getting a bunch of adapters and clamps cost me about as much as the direct fit, and was much more work to get all fitted up. I probably spent an hour sitting in the floor at Advance Auto trying to find the right adapters to get from 3" pipes on the converter to the 1 7/8" exhaust pipe on the wagon. It was , shall I say.....one of those learning experiences.

After replacing the ignition system and now the exhaust system, the old 'bird is sounding and driving much better. Have much more confidence letting her eat some asphalt nowadays :-)



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I under the old Wagon today....checking things out underneath and doing a little painting. Trying to keep a little ahead of the rust gremlins.

I just wanted to share a photo of the nightmare I went through to adapt a universal Cat to the stock exhaust. It isn't worth the trouble, and doesn't save you any money in the end. Hope I can save someone the PIA I suffered . Just bite the bullet and buy a direct fit. You'll save time and money!! :-)





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...and here is a the direct fit for comparison.



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