I have a friend that has an 02 Chevy 4x4 with a 4.3 and the muffler is getting bad and he wants to replace it. Anybody have any recommendations as to who offers a good cat-back that will sound decent and not lose any power, possibly gain a little maybe?

I have a friend that has an 02 Chevy 4x4 with a 4.3 and the muffler is getting bad and he wants to replace it. Anybody have any recommendations as to who offers a good cat-back that will sound decent and not lose any power, possibly gain a little maybe?

I will ask my brother in law what he has on his truck. It actually makes the 4.3L sound like a V8 at idle. :eek2: :)

I'm going to move this to the compact section as you might get a better answer in there.

Not sure of the brand, but I have heard a few 4.3's that sounded okay. I almost thought it was a 4.8 or a 5.3. That is, until the green light popped :devil:

I will ask my brother in law what he has on his truck. It actually makes the 4.3L sound like a V8 at idle. :eek2: :)

I'm going to move this to the compact section as you might get a better answer in there.

Cool, thanks, Yeah, he just wants something relatively inexpensive without sacrificing quality, hp, and especially TQ.

I just had some 3" tubing a 3" bullet & a turndown welded on after the cat with the turndown before the rear axle, sounded like shit but in combination with shorty headers allowed me to gain 2 tenths & 2mph...that was with a powerdyne blower though.

Yeah, 3" is going to be way to big on his, he'll lose TQ down low. Its just a DD but he'd like a little sound to it.

i will say before the 3" i had a dynomax catback system...very quiet, rusted through within a year...not really impressed with that fwiw.

i will say before the 3" i had a dynomax catback system...very quiet, rusted through within a year...not really impressed with that fwiw.

I have a dynomax catback and like it a lot. It is very quiet which is what I wanted for hunting and off-roading. It does the job very well and has no rust issues at all, but I live in california so I dont get as much rust as others in the country.

mine rusted from the inside out(condensation) if i wanted quiet I wouldve kept the stocker ;)

mine rusted from the inside out(condensation) if i wanted quiet I wouldve kept the stocker ;)

LOL, good point.

Ok, found out what he has on it

It has JBA headers with y-pipe. The exhaust is a Gibson setup. The truck really sounds like a V8 sitting there idling, kinda weird. :eek2: :)

On my old Sonoma, I had 2.5 sport duals with 3 in tips. I always got asked if it had a V8 in it. You have to be carefull, if you go true duals on it it will sound like shit, lol. Very tinish tone, also very raspy.

mine rusted from the inside out(condensation) if i wanted quiet I wouldve kept the stocker ;)


I got more power and not the extra noise. Ive been there and done that with the loud exhaust. I want my daily driver nice and quiet :)

just do a muffler swap instead of a catback. its a waste of money IMO. factory crushed pipe should flow plenty enough for the 4.3.

Ok, found out what he has on it

It has JBA headers with y-pipe. The exhaust is a Gibson setup. The truck really sounds like a V8 sitting there idling, kinda weird. :eek2: :)

Great, thanks, I'll let him know, looks like they have some nice stuff.

man i would just go and buy a 2 1/2" muffler and get a shop around your area to fab one up for you. Im getting mine done on my blazer with a 2 1/2" dynomax and the guy only charged me 110 since i had my own muffler. You can find a dynomax muffler for about 40-50ish so it basically equals out to the cost of a bolt on catback.

I know some people don't like them, but I've got a 3" in dual 2.5 out Flowmaster. It sounds good on 4.3's. With the cost of the muffler and the installation, I've got $170 in the exhaust.

I have a 40 series flow on my 4.3 and it sounds awesome....People think i have a v8

I had a set of Edelbrock TES headers/y-pipe on my 94 Sonoma, with an Edelbrock RPM muffler and 2.5" tailpipe. It sounded pretty good.

put a larger magnaflow on it... it will keep a lot more tone that most mufflers... VERY nice idle as well.

go with a borla turbo muffler its what i got on mine- sounds great- im getting headers/y-pipe w/ a cut-out- exhaust dont do much for performance but a y-pipe will on the s10's y-pipe is most restrictive part next to the intake manifold- mine is a 2.5" exhaust from the y-pipe back right now-

I've got a Spintech Sportsman with no cat and side exit on my Blazer, sounds pretty good. You can pick them up for around $80 and have someone bend up the pipe.

I've got a Spintech Sportsman with no cat and side exit on my Blazer, sounds pretty good. You can pick them up for around $80 and have someone bend up the pipe.

The Dynomax ultraflo cost the same amount and they are straight thru.