Even though it hails from Down Under, many musclecar fanatics from coast to coast have come to recognize the new Goat as a primo corner-carving, power-shifting, rubber-burning supercar.
However, there's one nagging glitch that some diehards can't seem to get their heads around. It's that goofy exhaust system. Even though Pontiac went to great lengths to reconfigure the original Holden Monaro pipes to create a true dual-path system with four catalytic converters (two per bank), two resonators, two mufflers, and two chrome outlets, it's the way they poke out from beneath the driver-side of the car that gives many observers flashbacks to the Smog '70s and the bad old days when single exhaust systems were as good as it got.
We suspect cost control was the primary reason for Pontiac's decision to retain the Monaro's asymmetric layout. Had the pipes been rerouted to each corner of the car, a new fascia would have been needed and, quite possibly, another round of expensive and time-consuming rear-impact crash testing to validate the revised design.
However, thanks to Spintech, there are several exciting remedies to the exhaust situation that are only as far away as the nearest UPS truck. Dan Long, general manager of Arrowhead Performance, offered up his prized '04 Goat (HPP, Tribal News, July '04) to assist in the testing process. It is thought to be the 10th regular production unit to enter the country, and Arrowhead will soon offer a line of body kits and other high-performance parts and accessories for the amazing 21st century GTO. We'll bring you the complete story. For now, let's strap Dan's Goat to the Universal Technical Institute's Dynojet and see what the various Spintech exhaust systems have to offer.
Spintech Surprise
