So here's what I did. Since I retained my base SS exhaust on my 98 SS which consists of a single outlet on the left, this was pretty easy to do. Yes, I am probably the only 98 SS owner who still has that single pipe out but hey, I like to be unique!
A while back, I just replaced the stock muffler with a Flowmaster 40 series which sounded pretty good, but I wanted more sound out. Plus I've heard the Flowmasters don't flow very well, i.e. they have a fairly low cfm rate.
So I bought myself a Dynomax Race Bullet muffler. It is essentially a glasspack that is 4 inches in diameter and has a 3-inch inlet and 3-inch outlet. The muffler length is 12 inches plus the inlet/outlet tubes so there is really not much material for sound muffling and absolutely no restriction in the flow. I had the Bullet welded in place of my original muffler. The muffler inlet and outlet was a 2 3/4 inch pipe so the muffler shop cut/bent a 3 inch diameter piece of pipe on each side of the Bullet to line up the inlet and outlet. The Bullet muffler sits at a slight angle since the original muffler was an offset in/offset out configuration. This angle is essentially indistinguishable from the rear of the car so it was no problem for me. The exhaust tailpipe was also moved out a couple inches to reduce the offset (angle).
My exhaust configuration is now similar in function to the SLP Loudmouth except I only have one exhaust outlet coming out the back. I really like the sound of it now. It has a nice "growl" to it and it's not annoyingly loud (like a cutout can be) which is surprising since there is so little area of the muffler. On acceleration it has a great tone, but at idle and highway cruising, it's very mellow. There's no annoying drone with this setup either. And there is absolutely no restriction in the exhaust flow since it is a straight-thru muffler. Since you can see the bullet and 3 inch pipes that were welded on each side from behind (like the factory setup), I used some metal polish on the muffler and pipes from where they come over the rear end and it doesn't look half bad. The best part is that all this cost me under $100 including installation. I took some pictures from the rear and as soon as I have them developed, I'll post them on my web site.
Just thought I'd pass this along...
Have a GR8 1...
Hey Art! It looks like you did what I was thinking about doing at one time. You took out your muffler and welded a straight pipe in it's place. Well, my Bullet muffler sits approximately where your straight pipe is and I still have my single cannon on the left.
Jimbo! I hope to make it to Race Rock. Don't forget about Waterford on the 7th!
See ya!!