Which 3" exhaust is best...

[svobud]

Without factual side by side comparisons...it's basicly coming down to opinion.

ATR
Borla
Mac
DynoMax
Flowmaster
Home Made
ETS DPs

You're welcome to offer your personal experiences and opinions on which ones you think are better.

[Gator]

I have the MAC 3-inch, and this is one hellovah nice fitting kit. Nice and tight over the axel.

Even though the muffler is a bit louder than most and not really designed for turbo apps.....it sure is a nice improvement.

[bigwingsaleen]

exhaust

I have the MAC single 3" setup on my SVO, the car is lowered and has a rear panhard bar and the fit is a little too tight for my application and I have a few rattles around all the confusion in the gas tank/panhard bar/frame area.

The performance increase when I went to the 3" setup was kick-in-the-pants different! I went for the restricted 1984 system to a 3" downpipe, eliminated the cat with a 3" intermediate pipe then into the MAC 3" catback system and now you can here the turbo WHINE at idle out the exahust.

I like the sound and performance and for a non-lowered car or not as low car it would be great!

[SVORick]

I have the ATR 3" Downpipe and wastegate and ATR 2 1/2 " cat back w/ ceramic packed stainless mufflers.
I have some opinions on the system:

1 It sounds great and the power increase is great
2 It does'nt fit well at all ( rubs trans brace and gas tank w/o mods)
3 hangs too low
4 Wastegate is billet alum. construction w/ bronze guide, but for some reason ATR opted to use a mild steel valve and it seizes aboout twice a year and requires a rebuild.
5 ATR refuses to believe any of these facts and is out on any kind of tech support (ask ANYONE who owns this exaust)
6 $1200 price of admission is kind of high

Bottom line-I love the performance, I just wish it fit better and was more reliable
just my $.02

[LGSCHMIDTJR]

Bud
I am running the ATR down pipe with a dyno max 2.5' flow tube, muffler and tail pipe. I installed the system myself and it hung a little low so I took the car to an exhaust shop and had a friend weld a hanger to the middlle of the downpipe that hooked to the transmission hanger, then tweak the system a little and this worked really well. It fits nice and tight now. I am now looking for a nice flow tube, muffler and tailpipe combo that will bolt up to the down pipe.
I didn't know there were this many exhaust system choices.

Laurence

[lonchair]

I've had an SAC Mustang 3" downtube and loved it. Now I have a 3" ATR down pipe and wastegate with a Dynomax cat. I like the performance, but hate the fit and finish factor.

As for the rest of the system, donnkow. I'm gonna look into building my own with Asphalt Jungle 3" duels and some brand of mufflers.

[1HOTSVO]

ATR System...

I spent the cash on the complete ATR system. Header, Waste Gate, Down Tube, Removed the CAT, had a 3" 'Y' tube made and which goes back to Flow Masters 30 Series. Grated I had a ton of other Mods, but the performance and lack of restriction is awesome.
The downfall like others have mentioned is fit and clearance.
I solved that problem along with the "stick valve" issue to.
I had some braces put in to get the low tube higher since my car is lowered. Be advised, I learned the hard way, if your exhaust is too low you'll end up like me... Looking for a new turbo support in a junk yard and rebuilding your turbo because it just got whacked due to the exhaust being to low.
I solved the stick valve on the waste gate by thermal coating the parts. I sent the waste gate to www.sun-engineering.com in AZ and Jerry set me up. He also did the rest of my exhaust and the thermal performance is better than a previous job I had done by Jet-Hot Coating and for a better price.
If I did it all over, I would probably still use ATR even though the price is high.

Good Luck with your exhaust search.
Brian

[BravoSVO]

Downpipe with cat?

Are there any 3" downpipes with a cat installed? Also, where can I find the MAC 3" cat-back system for an '84? Thanks.

[svocudd]

SVPU

Call Paul at SVPU for the Mac Kit. He is a Mac Dealer. There is a link to his site on this website.


Cudd

[Eyelawdoc]

I run a 3" downpipe, 3" high-flow cat (California you know) and a single 3" exhaust flowing through a 3" Magnaflow with a long 18" case. On my basically stock 84 SVO, the difference between this system and the stock exhaust on the bottom end is like night and day! Boost comes in about 400 rpm sooner and stronger.

My system was custom fabricated by a shop in Orange County using mandrel bends. It was first made up back in 1992 using a 2 chamber 3" Flowmaster. Worked great but it was TOO LOUD (very anoying on long trips).

This spring, the Flowmaster developed a hole after 130,000 miles. I replaced it with the Magnaflow. Same performance, but now it is quiet. It doesn't make much more noise than the stock exhaust! It is much more quiet than the MAC setup discussed above.

If you are looking for both enhanced performance and quiet for your SVO exhaust, I recommend this setup.

[Majestic]

Originally posted by Gator
I have the MAC 3-inch, and this is one hellovah nice fitting kit. Nice and tight over the axel.

Even though the muffler is a bit louder than most and not really designed for turbo apps.....it sure is a nice improvement.

Ditto.

Chris

[ediii]

How loud are these cars with a stock downpipe and cat and no muffler? I'm considering replacing the muffler with a straight pipe or just running a straight pipe out the side. Any thoughts?
Thanks,

ED

[bigwingsaleen]

how loud?

Not loud at all, keep in mind the turbo itself will act as a sound deadener due to it being in the path of exiting exhaust from the engine.

[Turbo93GT]

yeah, my turbo 5 liter open downpipe is quieter then most of the more radical V8 cars w/ mufflers and dumps

[jwsvo]

Mac 3 in. exhaust

How difficult is the MAC complete system (cat incl) to install? Any big problems I need to look for? Seems to be the most popular, gonna get it shortly.
john