I called an exhaust shop (came recommended from a co-worker who deals with race cars alot) and they are looking up parts and costs for me this morning. I should find out what the damage will be sometime this afternoon.

I told them I was looking for a performance cat and muffler on 3" pipe. So I guess I'll see what they can find.

You didn't just blow the packing out of the manifold clamp did you? Mine has a fibrous packing material in there for a gasket, with spring loaded bolts to hold it all together. If that'* the only thing wrong, it should be fairly easy to replace.

I think it is more than that. I had a few pieces come out the exhaust that were big enough to somewhat recognize. Most of it came out in a whiteish powder but some was still intact enough to see the honeycomb shape of the cat element. :(

The down pipe has become quite loose as well so anything is a possibility...

Yep...my 95 has the resonator too, which I ran instead of the muffler for my exhaust...

Made some calls, looked online, and stopped by Midas mufflers on the way home. Here is where it stands now.

I called a performance muffler shop (small, indipendant shop) and I am expecting a call back in the next day or so. They had to go look for parts that would fit my car. They did sound like they knew what they were doing.

I stoped by Midas on the way home today and they took a look at it. The down pipe just needs to be reinstalled ($60 - $80 for parts and labor). This would quite it up a bit for the mean time. They put it up on the lift and checked out the entire exhaust. The catalytic converter is empty! All the innards were blown out in the two puffs of white powder that came out the azz end of my car. The cat they estimated at $300 but I found one online for more like $132. They said they couldn't bend any pipe larger than 2 1/2" in dia. They also couldn't easily find a performance muffler for my car. Although I could get one and they would install it. When all is said and done, the estimate was roughly $900 for everything, or at least from Midas.

For those of you who have already done the performance exhaust, what brands and part numbers (if available) did you use on your cars? How much of your exhaust did you replace and what was the rough cost? $900 just seems a little high compared to other cat back systems I've seen out there (like the Borla Cat back systems for the GTP as an example). All of this doesn't include tips either.

If the cat is empty, why replace it? I would die to get a shell of a cat! We have hella emissions tests here in VA. Luckily, where I live in VA we don't have to commit to the test. But that won't last long...

I'd replace everything but the cat. Just my .10, cause my .02 is free!

Mark

After I found out that it was empty (free flowing) I came to the same conclusion. I will still probably change it out when I do the exhaust just to keep the sound smoother and under control as well as prevent any remaining scraps from embedding in the new muffler, just in case.

I'll keep it around after I pull it off. Maybe it will end up in *cough* your mail *cough*!

Ummmmmm $900 wow thats high i mean really high. Ouch, i replaced mine in my 92SSE with 3in. from headers back into hifh-flo cat. then into a Ultra-Flow muffler with Ractive stainless tips. But i did this myself so cost was cheapjust the pipe,etc approx$250