exhaust question ,99 ls1 camaro

[Trans Am]

I finally took off the muffler off the 99 camaro. It looks like a v6 muffler, it is stock and never been tampered with. Its the euro version camaro, only one tailpipe on the lh side , pointing down and very very quiet, had to look at the tachometer to see if the engine was running several times , even didnt hear it at all while standing next to the car at the gas station !

now it sounds like a real camaro with no muffler lol. I left the cats and everything.

Now I was wondering , is it worth installing the 3 inch flowmaster catback that I have for it , will that flow better than stock pipe and no muffler?

I am not worried about emissions , just best performance and decent sound. It is acceptable with cats and no muffler.

I think the stock pipe from the y pipe back is 2.5 inch , would it make a difference if I was to take that off and install the flowmaster 3 inch pipe and muffler instead ? or maybe I should just get some pipes made and use the c6 exhaust tips to make it look nice , or leave as it is?

Is it worth removing the cats on a stock engine ls1 camaro?

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

You should see performance gains with your 3" catback vs. your stock setup. However, you also said that you removed the muffler, so I'm not sure if it would make that much of a difference now. There have been discussions on back pressure and how lower back presser may take away some low end torque.

I think iIt's more a matter of your preference as far as sound and looks. Almost anything will sound better than your stock exhaust, but you might also like the dual outlets of the flowmaster better than what you have.

[Trash man]

dont remove the cats, they dont rub enough horsepower to make a huge difference, also throw the flowmaster exhaust on. it will sound alot better and when i cut the muffler off my dodge, i lost a lil low end(butt dyno). and besides, just ripping off a muffer over here in the states is considered a hack job

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

I agree...If it were me I'd put the catback on. Having no mufflers is too loud for me at highway speeds. I used to have a Borla with a muffler bypass. Once I got the 3.42 gears on I carried a couple sets of earplugs for long trips.

Now if you want the best of both worlds, you could put a cutout on. If you really want to get fancy, get an electric cutout from Quicktime Performance. Full bypass to full muffler at the touch of a switch.