Exhaust woes

[Strangeduck]

So the muffler shop says my muffler is fine and the reason it is noisy is someone replaced the catalytic converter with straight pipe. Now they can only get a "universal" fit for $170 if i want to go back to having one. I really do not want to hear my exhaust but i don't want to spend $170+labor because they say it will make it quiet again.

You guys have any experience with this? Should i bite the bullet and have them put it on? Should i buy a better muffler? My current one is one of those $50 models, just a generic muffler. OEM one is about $90. I don't want to spend $90 to find out i have to spend $170+ afterwards.

Hope you guys can get me pointed in the right direction.

Thanks


edit: spelling

[Vanilla Sky]

If you want to stay cat-free, have a resonator installed. They go a long way to reduce the raspiness of the typical uncorked exhaust.

[cygnus x-1]

Yep, you need something other than a straight pipe in place of the cat. Could be another cat, resonator, glass pack, small muffler, any of those will work.

C|

[RAZR]

Yep, you need something other than a straight pipe in place of the cat. Could be another cat, resonator, glass pack, small muffler, any of those will work.

C|

do you know of any good resonators that sound better or worse on our engines? or will just about any glass pack work?

[Vanilla Sky]

A resonator is basically an exhaust pipe with an increased size in the middle. They're pretty generic.

[cygnus x-1]

And a glass pack is just a resonator with some fiberglass inside. The bigger is better rule generally applies to sound deadening though. The bigger the device, the quieter it will be.

C|