When choosing which cat-back exhaust system to put on my Camaro, there are a ton of options. Prices of the performance exhaust systems range from about 400 for a simple system on up to close to 2000 for a nice true dual exhaust setup. In deciding what I was going to get I wanted something that would perform well, sound good, and not break the bank.
There are sites out there with tons of clips of various exhaust systems. I did a bunch of listening to these clips, but they have to be taken with a grain of salt, because for one, the clips aren't taken with good equipment always, and the quality of computer speakers isn't always fantastic. Even still I was able to rule out some systems because they sounded too raspy. I was able to rule out other systems because they cost too much.
What I settled on was a Magnaflow performance cat-back exhaust system for my camaro drag racer. The Magnaflow systems sound great, are affordable, make proven numbers on the dyno, and even look great sticking out the back of the car. If you haven't read my other posts, I'm running a full race exhaust from the block back. I've got a set of 1 ¾ into 3 in collected long tube headers, a solid y-pipe without cats, into my Magnaflow performance exhaust from the y-pipe back.
With my cam, my car sounds great. It has a nice healthy rumble at idle, doesn't rasp much at all, doesn't drone in the cab at any cruising rpm, and really screams at wide open throttle. I've gotten many many compliments about how nice my car sounds. All in all, I'm very happy with my magnaflow performance exhaust system.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Shortcomings of the Camaro Drag Racer
In my last post I talked about choosing stage 1 of upgrades for my camaro drag racer project. With stage 1, I added power, and that is basically it. As I mentioned there are some drawbacks to working with this approach. The first major issue, and the most difficult and expensive to fix, is that the stock drivetrain really isn't meant to handle all of this power. Secondly, there is the issue of handling related to suspension, handling, and braking. The weak drivetrain is, in my opinion, the more important of these issues, as it affects more typical daily driving, as well as more spirited or track driving.
What does all of this mean for my project camaro drag racer? Basically it means that I have a bunch of power that I can't use.
Right now, the weakest part of the car is probably the clutch. If I heat the tires up and try to launch the car, the clutch almost always slips. During extreme acceleration when shifting from first to second, the clutch will slip from time to time. This is still the original factory clutch, which was never intended to handle this much power, with 65000 miles on it.
Keeping this clutch in there, even knowing that it slips, is a conscious decision meant to protect the rear differential though. The rear end differentials that GM chose to put into their LS1 powered cars are definitely a weak spot. They're barely robust enough to handle hard launching with sticky tires under the stock power levels. However, I would much rather have a clutch that slips under hard acceleration than a differential that explodes on launch. The fix to this is upgrading to a Moser or Strange 12 bolt rear, which also lets me put in steeper gears. The choice for me would be to move from my stock 3.42 ratio to 4.10, which will give the car even better acceleration.
Upgrading the power levels of the camaro drag racer was, I still feel, a good choice. It is definitely more fun to drive, and it sounds fantastic. I get a lot of compliments on the sound of it. Plus, under normal street driving, the drivetrain issues don't really make themselves apparent.
What does all of this mean for my project camaro drag racer? Basically it means that I have a bunch of power that I can't use.
Right now, the weakest part of the car is probably the clutch. If I heat the tires up and try to launch the car, the clutch almost always slips. During extreme acceleration when shifting from first to second, the clutch will slip from time to time. This is still the original factory clutch, which was never intended to handle this much power, with 65000 miles on it.
Keeping this clutch in there, even knowing that it slips, is a conscious decision meant to protect the rear differential though. The rear end differentials that GM chose to put into their LS1 powered cars are definitely a weak spot. They're barely robust enough to handle hard launching with sticky tires under the stock power levels. However, I would much rather have a clutch that slips under hard acceleration than a differential that explodes on launch. The fix to this is upgrading to a Moser or Strange 12 bolt rear, which also lets me put in steeper gears. The choice for me would be to move from my stock 3.42 ratio to 4.10, which will give the car even better acceleration.
Upgrading the power levels of the camaro drag racer was, I still feel, a good choice. It is definitely more fun to drive, and it sounds fantastic. I get a lot of compliments on the sound of it. Plus, under normal street driving, the drivetrain issues don't really make themselves apparent.
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