Walker Cat-Back Exhaust Installation

Walker Cat-Back Exhaust Installation

I was very impressed with the quality of this exhaust system; 2.25" (non-mandrel bent), fully aluminized. The mufflers are of a straight-through design, with one "tube" running straight through the muffler casing with small holes on the tube's wall. The "guts" of the mufflers look just like glasspacks, but the mufflers themselves are of a conventional shape, the case being about 8" across by 11" long (not including the inlet/outlet) and about 4" thick at the thickest point. The corners are not tapered like the factory mufflers are; nonetheless, these mufflers fit great.

There is a real muscle car sound to this system. I have played around with different catalytic converter setups and found that the factory converter sounds the best with these mufflers. I put a test pipe in place of the factory converter and the mufflers had a real crackle to them -- much like a glasspack or TurboTube on an old Camaro or Firebird. It was loud, but there was really no tone to the sound -- it wasn't deep at all. I also tried a new Walker direct-fit converter (which has a very small case size) and it was about half-way between the factory converter and the test pipe, both in terms of volume and tone. I still liked the factory converter the best, so that's what I have back on it... I have found that a converter GREATLY muffles and tones the sound of the exhaust -- something that I didn't realize before I did this "experiment".

Following are a few pictures I took...admittedly after the installation. We had snow before Christmas and the VDOT trucks spread a LOT of sand on the roads, and my garage (and Flash) looked like a sandbox...so, I took these pictures after I swept the garage and washed Flash. :) Please note, some of the pictures were taken in obscure lighting with a flash, and therefore needed a lot of doctoring on the computer to get them to come out halfway decent looking.

I have a chart with the Walker part numbers and prices, from Advance Auto Parts.


Connection at the catalytic converter. These pictures were taken with a digital camera -- please excuse the over-exposure!	The y-pipe's connection at the mufflers. The mufflers (and the tailpipes) are aluminized, but the y-pipe happened to be mild steel. Notice the coloration difference between the two in this picture.

This is the right side tailpipe. It is angle cut, just like the factory H/O and 442 system, although the slice isn't as "shallow". The factory's cut is about a 30° angle and Walker's cut is about a 45° angle.	The view from behind. I actually need to get a better picture of this, as I have played around with the mounting and hanging of the system and it is tucked up underneath the car a little better than this picture shows.