Hello, I have a '94 z28 with the LT1 engine and auto trans. My cat has broken apart inside after a mean bottom out and is rattling like crazy. Can I replace it with a Y-pipe/ cat assembly from a newer LT1 engine, say '95,96.'97? I have heard that some of these pipes are better than others. Any help is appreciated, I have a flowmaster cat-back on now and numerous other mods and continue to upgrade this car. I don't want to use headers but am open to changing manifolds to fit a newer cat pipe. Thanks

 

i think 93,94 and 95 are the same. best way i have found to check for part similarity is look at a parts site and see what yrs the part will fit. i know they changed to a double cat and i think it was 96 but i dont know it they fit or if there is a benifit. u can get a high flow cat whick would give u a few extra hp. its the headers and the high flow cat and cat back that give some good hp.

 

Thanks for the response. I had heard from another camaro owner that the '96 style cat was alittle better flowing and may result in a small power gain but wasn't sure. I will keep looking.

 

I'd just gut the cat and go without it. My exhaust sounded so much better when it was removed...not to mention the car has more power now : )

 

I cut mine off and had the shop to weld in a piece of pipe. It sounds a lot better. Of course i dont have to worry about emmisions or inspection stickers, so that makes a big difference. Its good to have freinds at the inspection station. Scrape it off and stick on a new one.

 

If you have to stay emissions legal and you want cheap go for a '96+ Y-pipe. They have the dual cat system and it turns out it flows a little better. If you want a better power increase grab a mandrel bent Y-pipe with a high flow cat. Either that or you can chop your cat out and replace it with a Magnaflow or Random Tech high flow cat.

 

do u have to do anything with the o2 sensors if u cutt the cat and how much power do u get i have the 97 camaro lt1 6speed with shorty headers

 

I got a magnaflow cat on my 94. I'm actually on my third magnaflow cat since i kept frying them. Stupid opti was going bad once, my egr took a dump and helped clog one and my first was replaced because i fouled a plug on a cross country trip. I do like my high flow cat though since i have to face the sniffer.

Garry

 

I ended up with a weld in high flow cat by Magnaflow. I went with them because I have 1 of their cat back systems on my 98 Silverado with has held up great after 6 years. The cat was cheap- 100$- and sounds good. I think I actually lost power when I hollowed out the O.E after it broke. Plus it was WAY loud and the fumes were bad, my Z28 is a convertible. May not be as bad on the coupes. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

You're going to have to get O2 sims, resistor mod, block offs etc. for the aft-cat O2's if you don't want an SES light that's constantly on. You can also get that code programmed out of the PCM, but that's the expensive route. Power increase isn't going to be substantial, maybe 5-7 HP...