Suspension/exaust
 

alright seeing as im always broke as all hell. (damn collage) is there a way to install just a muffler instead of a whole exhaust system? i was talking to my uncle who built his own drag car and he said somthing about the current one i have (stock) and how you cant just weld a new one on for some reason.

also- if i were to purchase a new suspension system for the car, what all do i need?

thanks :)

as for the suspension.. struts, springs, mounts, boots, control arms.. i know i am missing things.

and the exhaust, unless im wrong, yes you can just do a muffler, but obviously for more noticiable gains, you would need cat, larger piping.

am i right?

I'm redoing my suspension very soon, have all the parts already. I have new struts, strut mounts, strut boots, springs, spring seats, camber adjustment bolts (heard mixed responses about whether these are really necessary, but I bought them anyway), new sway bars w/ poly bushings, poly lower control arm bushings, new rubber trailing arm bushings. I think that's it for suspension.

Edit: You can also get strut tower braces, but I didn't get those. I'm not sure if I'm going to or not.

Another noob question im going to ask. Im confused about what type of springs to get. Since they dont make any alero specific ones, what model car style springs does everyone use?

Get 99+ Grand Am springs, your options are Eibach, Intrax, or Sprint. Do a search you will find everything you need to know.

what about H&R........

Exhaust is generally custom in its nature anyway... why wouldn't you be able to only install a new muffler? They hack off the old one, and weld up the new muffler and maybe some more tubing to get it in a good location and some tips. It's not like you need certain connections or threading any bolts, it's just pieced together.

Forgot about H&R.

Ive read in the forum the 2.5'" piping is the ideal for alero's exhaust (not sure if it applies to all three engines). If you replace just the muffler, you may notice a small difference, but not as much as if you do the piping as a whole. If I were you, and your current muffler aint meesed up, Id just wait to afford the whole exhaust, otherwise when you do get the money, you will have to pay again for the muffler installation.

the muffler is only like 20 bucks tho haha

^^That's completely fine, it'll just be louder though. Don't expect any big power gains from it.

I've got springtech struts and eibach springs. I love the combo. 100% better than stock. It how the Alero should have come from the factory. it took my springs quite a few thousand miles to settle. The back rode lower than the front for quite a long time, but probably 4k later the front is equally low.

the muffler is simple, take a reciprocating saw or hacksaw and carve the old one off, get your new muffler (and adapter if the exhaust inlet is larger than stock, which is likely), pop the new one on, and then weld the hell outta it. Done this on a few peoples cars in highschool (back before we all had jobs and could afford the luxury of a catback system).

oh and you will need to weld in a new hanger as your new muffler likely wont match the OEM one. I always used the ROL Exhaust hanger and mount kit, available from most autoparts stores. only costs about $20 canadian. It is however cheaper to fabricate your own.

or i could just saw off the current muffler and weld a pipe to the back of the car. super loud!! ha

ive driven around like that for a couple days, and i didnt have a cat in my car either, talk about loud

im totally about to do that for a day or two. just to piss off the neighbors

til your neighbors come over in the morning with a sawed off shotgun, running at you screaming :)

I live in a white suburban middle class area. the ghetto is 5 miles down the road. id be surprised if one of my neighbors had a BB gun