I don't know much about cars or how to work on them really, so I am trying my best to piece everything together.

As I browse around this website and online I see retailers selling exhaust mufflers with all these different dimensions. I can't make sense of what dimension goes to what. I have an 02 Camaro, so what are my stock dimensions? If I were to buy a new muffler what would I need to know and look for when purchasing one? Thanks.

 

You don't need to get the muffler exactly the same size as the stock one. Any decent exhaust shop can make it fit. Not sure what dimensions you are talking about though.

 

What about the inlet/outlet sizes? I would assume that an outlet with a larger diameter would produce a deeper sound than a smaller one, right?

On side note; I read that in order to install a muffler yourself, all you had to do was take off a U clamp and slide the old one off. Yet when I look at mine, I fail to see any U clamp. The muffler is welded on correct?

 

Some came with a clamp such as the one you speak of, but they are pretty much rusted, and can be a pain to remove. Inlet/outletdiameter is 2.25'.

If muffler is welded on, you can use a sawzall to cut it off.

 

Thanks.

I don't have any welding equipment or anything other than some jigsaws and other wood-working tools. If I were to buy another muffler, and I managed to cut off the old one with a titanium saw blade, could I slide the new muffler on and use a U clamp for temporary use? I would have to make sure the inlet diameter is a bit larger than my stock one in order for it to slide over the rest of the exhaust system.

 

Are you looking to get just the new muffler, or the a Cat-back system?

 

I was just looking into a new muffler for now. Eventually I would want to replace the entire stock system with that, but only having around $150 in my bank account isn't helping.

 

Yes you should be able to slide the new muffler over the old tubing and use a clamp if you get the right size.

best thing to do would be to go out there and measure the tube now. Most tubing size goes by nominal ID sizes. So you will need to find a muffler with an inlet ID to be able to accomodate your exhaust tubing OD. Since your system is all welded up right now, go out there with a thin, flexible tape measure. Find a spot where the tubingis straight and wrap the tape around the tube. Take that measurement and divide it by pi. This will give you the OD of the tube

Or you can just order something made nominally for these cars. I always measure everything first. Just giving you my .02

 

I measured what you told me and it came to 7.25 inches. 7.25/pi came out to be 2.3077. So my new muffler would need to have the Inlet dimension be 2.3 or greater.

I looked up the Magnaflow website and was looking at the dimensions of their products: http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/u...asp?shape=Oval

One of the last 2 at the bottom of the page says "V6 Camaro" that is a crossflow one which is what I need I guess.