1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

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lgebhart
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1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by lgebhart » Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:52 pm

Ok, so it seems as though I am going to keep my Hawk after all.

I'm thinking about doing a couple of quick bolt on mods- mainly focused on the exhaust end....

Thinking about doing some long tube headers and some hi-flow cats. This leaves me with 2 questions:
1) How do I know if I have 1 cat or 2? I found something about a "P" code in my VIN being the indicator. I have a P
2) How do I know if this has the loudmouth from the cat back? It has the "315" stickers on it, and I heard they made that through the exhaust.

Sorry for my ignorance, I'm an Apache pilot- not a mechanic. If you'd like a dissertation on the merits of point of aim for a gun engagement at 110mph from a mile away, I'm your guy. If you're looking for a dissertation on the merits of headers, a y-pipe, some hi-flow cats, and a cat back... not so much.

Looking forward to some advise on best stuff out there for the money.

Thanks
Luke

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zmaro
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by zmaro » Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:52 pm

I am not too familiar with the LT1 cars, but I will try to assist to the best of my knowledge.

1) Look under the car and see if there is 1 cat or 2. I am not sure how this would impact your header search though? Personally I would not go with cats unless you have to pass inspection. IMO they just add to the cost, reduce ground clearance, rob power, and from what I read (for LS cars at least) most will still throw codes from the post cat O2's since the .

2) I am 99% sure that no Hawks left SLP with the loudmouth catback. It likely would have the TOTL (Two Out The Left) catback, which you would be able to identify by the location of the exhaust tips.

I would also recommend looking for suggestions over on LS1tech.com under the LT1/4 sub form, and/or LS1LT1.com as there will probably be more info on those sites.

Good luck!
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BLACK-HAWK
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by BLACK-HAWK » Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:01 pm

i'll sell you my exhaust system :mrgreen:
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zmaro
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by zmaro » Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:52 pm

BLACK-HAWK wrote:i'll sell you my exhaust system :mrgreen:
That would add more power than a set of LT headers. :naughty:
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BLACK-HAWK
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by BLACK-HAWK » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:59 pm

you know what else a vin number is good for, proving if a junkyard shell of a claimed wrecked firehawk that got it's roof cut off of for t-tops to be turned into a slow drag racer with t-tops is actually a firehawk
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tazman71
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by tazman71 » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:01 am

Since you said it has the 315hp decals, that would indicate that it had the 2otl exhaust. Easy to verify by a quick look at the back of the car.

If it does still have this, keep it. Just add a set of pacesetter headers and offroad y pipe, unless you have to pass inspection where you are located. Will wake up the sound of the car, and give a nice performance boost.

The 2otl is one of the best flowing exhaust systems you can get for these cars. Also one of the best sounding exhaust.
If you want better performance after that, consider a rear gear swap. I have 4.10's in my car, and boy does that wake it up.
02 Firehawk TA #1237
Black/Black, 1LE, Chrome wheels, Auburn
95 Firehawk #361
Hurst, TOTL, FLP headers, 4.10 Strange 12 bolt, UMI suspension, LT4 HOTCAM, ported stock heads, 52mm Throttle Body, ATI Procharger,
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70 Z28 Camaro in pieces

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BLACK-HAWK
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by BLACK-HAWK » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:23 am

stickers don't tell any tales. the vin number on the other hand...
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96AZHAWK
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by 96AZHAWK » Wed Oct 03, 2012 4:00 pm

I would agree with others about keeping the 2OTL back section of the exhaust.

As for the headers, that will depend on emissions concerns, how much you want to spend, and if you have any other future plans for modifications. Over stock manifolds, any of the longtube setups are going to give the car a much more aggressive and throaty sound. If you are going for performance gains... other modifications would be more ideal.

The Pacesetter long tubes are a great bang for the buck header. The offer painted and ceramic coated. I would only ever recommend the ceramic coated regardless of weather conditions. Even when ceramic coated, I have seen them rust through over time.

The Kooks are my personal choice for the LT1 but cost more... a lot more :lol: . The Kooks are stainless steel (no coating of any kind) and offer 1.75", 1.75" to 1.875" stepped and 1.875" primaries. Kooks also offers a stainless steel y-pipe in either off-road or dual high flow cat configurations.

I know there are other better sound clips, but here is one I have handy of mine with the cheaper eBay stainless headers (required some definite massaging to work) and the two on the left catback exhaust. I am pretty sure this was without cats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_e97WaK ... detailpage

I can also try to record a sound clip of the car with the Kooks and high flow cats, which is what I have on there now.

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zmaro
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by zmaro » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:15 pm

BLACK-HAWK wrote:you know what else a vin number is good for, proving if a junkyard shell of a claimed wrecked firehawk that got it's roof cut off of for t-tops to be turned into a slow drag racer with t-tops is actually a firehawk
That guy is something else, probably had some fake Firehawk stickers on it from ebay ha. I guess we will never know. :roll: My personal opinion is that if it was actually a Hawk he would be willing to defend it/prove it.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread :D
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lgebhart
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by lgebhart » Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:18 pm

Thanks all.
I move enough that I'm not sure that I want to go to a catless system- might get stuck somewhere with an emissions test. That being said, I do think I'm going to go with some long tubes and a y-pipe- hoping I have a dual cat set up, as I can't see one cat being free flowing enough.

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Scott Chab
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Re: 1995 Firehawk exhaust upgrade

Post by Scott Chab » Mon Oct 08, 2012 6:57 pm

Long tubes are technically illegal in some states since they require moving your cats. If you want to be 100% sure that you won't run into any problems, go with shorties or mid-length headers.

That said, I've had long tubes and hi-flow cats on my Hawk for years and have always passed the visual inspection... Even though the cats look like "a snake swallowed a beer can" as one Motor Vehicle guy said.
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