Whats up everyone. New guy here to the J body vehicles and vaguely new to 4cyls. Bought my Cavalier Jan 14th, like it a lot so far. I want to make it more audible not not too much. My previous commuter car was an '02 Neon R/T 5spd, exhaust on it was stock manifold & cat, 2 resonators, and straight piped to dual 3.5" tips. Was a loud little bastard, sounded alright, but droned like hell inside. Very unpleasant. Looking to avoid that on my 4spd auto. I also do not have any plans on boosting up performance. I want to have high mpg numbers and to keep the car happy. I don't want to throw a lot of money into mods.
I have done my research and looked on YouTube for videos. Kind of came up short on what I should do still though. Would prefer a cat-back I could do myself, as the exhaust tubing is looking a little rusted anyways. I learned the pipe diameter is 1.78". Also learned that 2.25" is the thickest I should run for a N/A motor on OEM tune. Confirmation on this?
I studied under the car and the OEM muffler already looks really small. So I wonder if I can even achieve some volume by replacing it with say, a 14" body Borla ProXS. I looked up the Magnaflow single exhaust cat-back and some Vibrant cat-backs on non SS Cobalt 2.2s and liked the sound a lot, problem is does Vibrant at least make a direct bolt on kit for a Cavalier? Seems if it isn't a newer Cobalt they won't.
Is the real sound withheld by the catalytic converter and the resonator following it? Is it worth while to replace the header with an LT one, and a catted DP, Or just one or the other, for sound purposes only while I do not intend to custom tune?
This is the sound I would like to achieve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xa1XjXaXF8&feature=share&list=FLzlLU-Fyf_U-CQg6vztSssg
Can I gain that type of volume with a muffler swap? It doesn't seem possible to me with the size of the OE muffler and pipe size. I want to keep a muffler for a cleaner note and inspection purposes.
If Vibrant does not make a cat-back for the Cavalier, would modifying one for a Cobalt LS work sufficiently?
Any other suggestions welcome. I have been recommended Dynomax Super Turbo but they are as quiet as stock mufflers on V8 trucks and I naturally want to steer away from the Dynomax brand. I don't want to run a cheap quality glasspack either.
'03 LS Sport 5spd, Amsoil fluids, Vibrant cat-back, 5% 3M color stable tint, Z24 trunk lid
If your just looking to change the sound then change the muffler and call it a day. If you want a sound like that get a vibrant muffler.
If your looking for a catbck system then look to MES. They make systems for a decent price, and use magnaflow parts. Just make sure you get a resonator, the largest one you can fit. The cat and resonator really mellow out the sound and make it sound good.
What he said^^^ alot of people do like the dynomax super turbo mufflers or the stock muffler from a cobalt ss. I liked my cherry bomb turbo muffler on my z24, would have liked it more if i had put a resonator in... oh how i miss that car lol... you can also look to ebay for catbacks, mes is nice but spendy for stainless tubing. I remember brad (zyaaa) got a stainless steel 2.25 or 2.5 cant remember which for like 150 shipped
Have a nice day.
Actually just checked, price was 118 shipped for 2.5 stainless catback.. with a cheap n1 style muffler. No 2.25 option though.
Have a nice day.
Thanks guys.
So, is it worth increasing the pipe diameter? Obviously not many mufflers out there have 1.7/8" inlets. Should I try for a 2.25" mandrel exhaust, with a resonator of at least 18" in length, and a small Vibrant muffler with a single exit tip in 3.5"?
This sounds good to me. Will this plotted setup still buzz nicely like that black Cobalt did? I'm used to loudening up V8s so I am very questionable about 4cyls as I have never modded one much.
'03 LS Sport 5spd, Amsoil fluids, Vibrant cat-back, 5% 3M color stable tint, Z24 trunk lid
Search for "official exhaust clip thread " lots of posts there all about jbody exhaust sounds
Have a nice day.
if you want it to sound a bit more growl-ey but without the drone, just put an intake on it and call it a day.
DaFlyinSkwirl (Pj) v2.0 wrote:if you want it to sound a bit more growl-ey but without the drone, just put an intake on it and call it a day.
^this...
If you are not looking for any sort of performance gain, then by all means, do what you please to your exhaust... but on our cars, louder generally does not mean gains in power, it's generally a hinderage... If you have aspirations of performance, you should plan that out first, and factor the exhaust in to that.
http://www.allecotec.com/product_info.php?products_id=163
Vibrant most def makes a full cat back for our cars.. multiple people i know have them on on a stock auto cav and it sounds just like the video... do some google searching first... go to that link find a part number and google the part number find it cheaper... all ecotec would be my choice tho
Or go cheap buy an ebay catback and change the muffler like i did.. 3 years ive had it and no rust sounds great even with boost... speedyracer was the seller i bought mine from and im using a obx r muffler
