Oct 26, 2012 at 7:33 PM
I'm posting back to answer my own question, for anyone else with the same situation.
The factory single on the 03-06 (don't know about others) exhaust is the same part exactly as the factory dual exhaust right hand. That is from the muffler to the tailpipe.
The factory just puts an H pipe, in place of the Y pipe, then hangs the drivers exhaust from the H. The three 10mm head, 8 mm self taping bolts already have holes drilled for them.
I put a 06 police interceptor dual exhaust under my 05 GM in about 3 hours.
The exhaust, with about 3k miles on it (police car, front end collision) cost me 125, for H pipe, two mufflers with welded on tail pipes, the 4 hangers and brackets plus the two muffler clamps. They looked new.
I had to add the 3 bolts, self tapping 8 mm bolts for the holes in the driver's side.
I was working under a low rise lift. The job would be easier on Jack stands, if they were very tall.
Much easier on a two post lift, but I don't have one, and I'm too old and lazy to put out the jacks stands, so I worked with only 24 inches of clearance.
You do NOT have to pull the rear end, despite so many muffler shops, etc. assuring me it had to be that, or cut the pipes, then re-weld them.
I had to lift the car, remove the tires, and unbolt the bottom of the shocks (using a transmission jack under the pumpkin.
Then I compressed (slightly) and removed the coil springs, mostly to get more room.
I had to unfasten the outer end of the rear positioning arm.
I then marked and unbolted the drive shaft at the rear, 12 point socket 12mm.
I used a bungee cord to anchor the shaft up and out of the way. There is a place there that seems like it was designed to do that. Don't know what the holes are for, but the bungee cord fit perfectly.
The four bolts to remove the dampener weights and the front exhaust brackets from the rear cats came right off, pipe warm, with a little PB blaster.
I spent 6 bucks for the two new flange gaskets, but truthfully the old ones would have worked.
The Y pipe did not want to come out of the muffler. Since I was not going to use the Y pipe, and was putting in a new muffler, I just a tubing cutter to cut the pipe just in front of the muffler.
To remove the muffler, with tailpipe still installed, I wrapped the end of the tailpipe in cloth (so I wouldn't hit the paint, that thing is clumsy) then worked it out forward, and at an angle.
The new, identical but shinny, right side half of the dual pipes went in from the front, twisting and working it in. No scrapes, just finicky positions.
Note, on the Passenger side, the tail pipe goes OVER the centering brace. On the Driver's side, it goes under.
Fumbled with that for a few minutes, trying to make them pass the same way. Then my wife helpfully pointed out, the passenger and driver braces are bent differently to accommodate the pipe. Whoops.
I had to use a pipe expander to take the compression ring off each of the mufflers.
A cheap HF worked fine, I had to be careful not to over expand them.
Steel wool to polish up the H pipe inserts so they slid in easy.
I have not driven the car yet, but it sounds almost the same on the lift.
I wasn't looking for more noise, but just trying to get the engine a little more pep.
So anyone looking to upgrade from single to dual, you really just need the h pipe and driver's side tailpipe and muffler, plus three 8 mm self tapping bolts.
Easy upgrade.
Police and taxi cab exhaust for those years look exactly the same, as the small breaker yard I dealt with had lots of both, and you could not tell the difference.