I see some threads on people deleting this muffler with no big change in noise or sound quality. Curious if anybody has replaced with just true dual pipes rather than an x pipe. Got a call from my mechanic today who is dealing with the tranny issues and some other tidbits while it is there and he said the muffler seam is broken. He thinks he could weld it but I'm just as inclined to delete it. Just trying to see if I want true duals or an x pipe. Starting to miss the car as it has been gone since the 4th of July but it should come back lower, leaner and quicker.

Got some good news, my tensioners had been replaced by a previous owner so that won't need done. Question I have is who does the tensioners but not the valve cover gaskets?

 

I don't know of anyone who has done true dual exhaust. I had mine modified with a 1" long crossover. My understanding is that you are much better off balancing the two banks. It reflects in the sound and performance. I have thought about side pipes but, I would still connect the two banks.

 

There are benefits performance wise to both true duel and combined for most cars although sound wise most like crossing over for sound reasons. I would think not doing the cross over would give the 8 a slightly more aggressive sound but would still be fairly tame with the rest of the pipes but am sure someone has tried it.

 

I had it as a straight dual exhaust at first...and it puffed too much, sounded strange, especially when on a decel. The x-pipe lowers the volume a bit from the dual setup, but it also evens out the note and sounds MUCH better.

 

Thanks Waterboy, that's what I needed to know!

 

I don't know if its too late for you on this, but I had a stock exhaust and just had the rear most 2 mufflers replaced with straight pipes and I have to say that the sound is great! The difference is more than subtle. For instance, there is no way I can not tell my wife and maybe she won't notice, she will, but it isn't so loud that it is annoying, rather, it has a deep throaty sound, muscle car like. To me, like a V8 should sound. If I had to quantify, I would say about 25% increase.

Update: ok, I drove the car 13 hours the other day mostly on the highway. While I love the sound most of the time, there was a drone at 65-70 that was just too annoying, so I went back to the shop and had them install 2 magnaflow 10415 straight thru's on each side instead of the straight pipes, and this toned it down enough (actually i am suprised how much they quieted the volume) where there is no drone...the sound is a low deep tone.