replacement Y-pipe?
 

My new-to-me SVX was having some minor work done and the mechanic noticed that the y-pipe is rusted out going to the cat. The rest of the exhaust is fine, including the cat, but the y-pipe needs to be replaced. The dealer price is $1100 just for the part! Anyone know of an aftermarket site that sells a y-pipe? I'm friends with the mechanic and he mentioned that he would install anything I would bring in. I need the part ASAP.

There is no Y-pipe going to the third cat. Each side has one pipe from the header, to the smaller front cats, and back to the main cat. Look at these diagrams. The price is high because it includes the pipe, front cats, and all of the heat shielding.

http://www.subaruparts.com/diag/?mod...category=440-B

http://www.subaruparts.com/diag/?mod...category=440-A

I would cut the exhaust pipes just behind the front cats and run 2" O.D. aluminized exhaust pipe back to a Magnaflow hi-flow converter (Which has two 2" inlets and a single 2.5" outlet (This will connect to the rest of your stock exhaust system)

Many members here (including myself) have gone this route. The Magnaflow converter is available from
http://www.performancepeddler.com

The cost is about $95.00, but you can email them your best offer (I got mine for a litle over $60.00 shipped to my door)
http://www.performancepeddler.com/se...94037&x=7&y=14

If your car is a 92, or has only two O2 sensors, you can use the Magnaglow 94007. If it has a third O2 sensor on the main converter, get the Magnaflow 94037 (as it has the sensor boss welded on) Or just get the 94037 and plug the sensor hole with a screw-in plug.

Interesting... You think some place like Midas or similar exhaust specialist would do something like that? I would imagine that they would be wigged out by eliminating two cats. What kind of performance gain would I expect? The stock 2 into 1 cat is fine, so that probably wouldn't need to get changed out. I had also read of weird resonances occuring when you eliminate the front cats, so I want to avoid that as much as possible.

Who needs a big muffler? Here are a few pics of the glass pack with y-pipe going into the stock tips.

The exhaust runs from the y-pipe after the front cats into a single pipe until the glass pack in the rear and then a y-pipe out to the tips.

When I took out the stock muffler, I realized why the car was so quiet. :eek:

You would use a 2'' O.D pipe from the front of the cats to the converter, but is the inlet of the converter big enough to accept the 2'' O.D pipe? Or does the other end of the pipe need to be a smaller size to go into the converter?