man i thought they all had 2.5, someone else will have to know this cause its dark and cold outside.

I agree on the dual exhaust thing. SSE'* are just two outlet pipes, but it looks better since it'* one on each side But true dual exhaust is two separate mufflers, IMO. ~ Like Jim'* Rora

It'* really funny though, when my friend got an old POS Subaru Legacy...he said "ya, I have dual exhaust!!" But he has the one stock muffler on the side with two 3 inch tips coming out of it. That'* less of a "dual" than mine.

But despite that, I agree that the dual on SSE'*/SSEi'* are more for looks. Not much different than SE'* with two short outlet pipes turned down....mine are just longer and one on each side.

Well, that was longer than it had to be

I thought they were all the same size, the SE and the SLE and SSE(i). If you pay close attention, the actual exhaust is a pipe on the 96-99 and has a wider tip at the end.

Sorry for the big pics.

This is the right side of my old car with the tip on it


This is the left side with the tip off.

That'* not a real tip, just a heat shroud. Not even attached to the exhaust. The tip does nothing for performance, anyway, and can be any size, irregardless of exhaust diameter.

Would the GM "Sport" exhaust that I have have a different DIameter then the stock SE muffler? I don't think we have any calipers to measure it but i could do the circumfrence and figure it out that way if eyeballing a tape measure doesn't work..

By those standards, the 2000+ SSEi'* have a "true" dual exhaust setup, similar to the Aurora. After the CAT, the one pipe splits to two and each of the two pipes travel to separate sides where each pipe meets with it'* own muffler.

However, I know that on earlier generation SSE'* there was only one muffler that had two exit pipes which formed their dual exhaust. I am assuming earlier generation SSEi'* are the same, but, unfortunately, I can only speculate.

The only exhaust I call true dual is that on a V8 where each pipe comes off one manifold.

As for the horsepower difference, I always thought it was the U-bend in a lot of 3800'* exhaust today plus a combination of intake air restrictions.

Most of the time, a true dual exhaust with no cross pipe, with dual cats, dual mufflers etc even on V8'* isn't the best for the engine. It doesn't always sound the best either. You're only getting a large 4 banger on each side. On most V8'* a simple X cross in the middle is the best way, with generally one cat. True dual exhaust on a V6 that isn't silly powered is a bad idea. Too open, etc. But Dual exhaust looks so much better, and it will generally sound better coming out of two tips, you won't hear the air whoofing or puffing or whatever.