Went to update the S&S thread for the 96 Firebird and realized there isn't one....So I guess I'll put this here for now.
Since Firm Jr came into the picture Mrs.Firm really hasn't been driving her Firebird much at all, it spent the better part of the last two years up on the lift, so I brought it down a couple months back and have basically been using it as my driver for the last two months or so. Wanted to burn off the old gas in it and make sure it hadn't developed any issues from too much sitting around. Fortunately, it's been fine...No BS, just a fun pleasant car to live with. I commuted in this car right up until getting the DTS 3 years ago, and only stopped using it because our climate is so harsh on cars and I didn't want to ruin Mrs.Firm's first car.
Anyway, the one annoyance it did develop this season was a rattle in the factory muffler, I guess a baffle or something broke lose and would rattle around at a certain RPM. Given this was is a just the V6 (3.8L) Firebird, the factory muffler is single outlet with a tailpipe tucked up behind the bumper. I didn't want that, and I didn't want anything aftermarket that was going to make it sound obnoxious (or like someone tried to pimp out a V6). So the Firebird Formulas, which were the V8 version of the same car/body, had a dual outlet setup with really nice tasteful looking quad tips. It would be a direct fit upgrade, and would fit the bumper perfectly. So I set out to find one.....
Not many good condition factory exhaust setups hanging around for 25 year old firebirds, but I put a wanted post out on the local F-body group, a good friend of mine saw it, happened to have a mint condition assembly, and even dropped it off at my place!
I cleaned and painted the new assembly and finally today the rain stopped for long enough for me to get it installed. Simple job given that it's a direct swap....but getting the old unit out without breaking or cutting anything was a crappy messy job. Anyway, it all worked out pretty sweet and I am very happy with the final product. On the factory V6 muffler the car was very quiet, now it's got slightly more 'burble' but doesn't sound 'not-stock'....Sounds a lot like a 97-03 Grand Prix GT (with factory duals).
Love the OEM+ type upgrades, and while I am not the type to upgrade/modify something just for the sake of it, I do like the opportunity to upgrade stuff when the OE parts need replacement anyway. The f-body platform is perfect for it because 82-02 were basically the same platform, so tons of different variants to pick and choose from, and everything interchanges pretty well. The now has a 94-96 Formula muffler setup, 01/02 WS6 Trans Am sway bars and shocks and 98/99 Z28 wheels.
The factory setup....Terrible shot, but you can just barely see the tailpipe on the left side.
The new setup:
