Muffler discussion

[S&B]

This is going to sound like im old but, what muffler is going to be the quietest, or drone-less that I can put on my 93 cobra, im am so over the flowmaster that i put on it, it was better than the MAC that came with the car.

It looks like I need offset, offset and have it welded in to my flowmaster cat back kit. I am not trying to make it sound like a prius just want something that I can cruise around and be able to talk to my wife with out yelling.

here is the setup BBK shortys, with BBK HPipe , and flows 40's now.

 

[betke76]

try youtube and search different systems and see what sounds the best to your ears. I believe magnaflow are supposed to be drone free, maybe someone else can chime in to help. I dont know much about it, I have loved my mac catback for many years now

 

[Rick 91GT]

Borla Pro XS

 

[S&B]

I was looking at the pro XS's are they should be more quite than the "glass pack" looking borla muffler i had on my 02

 

[TOOLOW91]

in for this one, i was just thinking this today i love how my x sounds but the drone from the flows leaves something to be desired, i had macs on my 00 gt with pypes x and it was mean and drone less but thats a 2v for ya

 

[Jpizzle52]

Does your car have tailpipes or is it dumped before the axle. I have flowmaster super 44s, off road hpipe with tailpipes and it is very tame inside the car. I dont get the drone that i had with the original 40 series.

 

[S&B]

i have tails, i was thinking maybe even cats ??? the car only makes like 220 horse its stock and im not really worried about 5-10 horse

 

[Jpizzle52]

Pro xs should be good. I also suggest searching youtube to get an idea you can find clips of just about any exhaust setup you can think of for our cars on there.

 

[S&B]

yeah everything sounds loud and mean from out side its hard to find good clips of a car from the inside that is more stock. every car on line is pretty hopped up

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Dynomax Turbo's are pretty quiet too. No experience with the Borla Pro XS mufflers though...but they're about twice the price of the Dynomax's.

 

[S&B]

yeah borlas look like 150 each or so shipped, but I know i will like them i really like the system on my 02 2v were a bit loud bout not anything you couldn't live with. That car had cats and that might make the diff. Anyone know how much cats quite the car down ?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Putting your cats back on will make the exhaust much more quiet. FWIW, I took the cats off my car when it had 2-chamber flowmasters. The car got so much louder and droned so much that I had to put 3-chamber flows on the car just to be able to hear myself think.

 

[S&B]

Putting your cats back on will make the exhaust much more quiet. FWIW, I took the cats off my car when it had 2-chamber flowmasters. The car got so much louder and droned so much that I had to put 3-chamber flows on the car just to be able to hear myself think.

Okay that makes sense, its what i have now...

Maybe I will start with just going with an aftermarket h with cats

 

[2000xp8]

Dynomax is a pretty quiet quality sound.
Putting cats back on will make the car quieter, but you lose the deep 5.0 sound that people have grown to love.

Also, unless you have welding skills, just buy a catback if you go the muffler route.
By the time you buy the mufflers then pay someone to weld them in, you are going to spend almost as much as an entire catback that can be installed at home for free.
You also may run into clearance issues with the mufflers themselves or they may put the tailpipes at a bad angle and cause them to hit things (which i know from experience can make someone crazy), and if the mufflers are welded on, good luck fixing that.

Me personally, i'm going to the dynomax ultra flo's soon, works with a panhard bar (supposidly), definitely is quieter than flowmaster, and is infinitely adjustable.
I've seen it with rebates on and off for about $350 for the entire catback.

 

[fiveohwblow]

Magnaflow hands down. Muffler shoot out same day same car from 5.0 mustang revealed the magnaflow has the lowest db at cruising, eliminated drone and the second to most HP gain. I've installed countless magnaflow systems and can tell you they are quiet. VERY quiet. But nice sounding.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Can’t say I agree 100% with Magnaflow being "quiet".

Had a full 2 ½” exhaust on the Cougar consisting of 2-high flow Magnaflow Cats, a large single Magnaflow XL crossover style center muffler and two medium bodies magnaflow XL mufflers out back. Now granted…this was feeding a supercharged engine, but it was far from quiet. The interior resonance wasn’t as bad as the Mac set up I had on my previous Mustang, but It droned away inside like any other aftermarket set up.

I'm actually considerin swapping out the knock off Flowmasters on my car right now with a set of take off '05-up GT mufflers, or GT500 mufflers if I can find them.

Cat backs seem to do next to nothing on an '05-up car but increase noise, so I don't see how a set of stock late model muffers is going to hurt horsepower any...especially considering the engine they're feeding came stock with over 300hp.

 

[S&B]

well Im going to start with bolting in a cated H pipe or X pipe whatever I find used, then go to borla XS I know I will like them

 

[VibrantRedGT]

I agree, some of the chambered mufflers can drone like crazy. A straight through design can limit that. This from the 94-95 Sticky from my dyno shootout book. This gives you decibel per muffler. Many people don't do their homework in this area until they are cruising on the highway at 2200rpm and their drums are rattling. Steeda use to sell UltraFlo Super Quiet Muffler and it was a huge hit. Come to find out they were Dynomax Ultra Flo's. I'll probably get these on my next one. Member PopsFun who's an older member has Long Tubes into High Flow cats and Ultra Flow's. His car still makes 630HP at the wheels and he says it's not very loud. I like that.

The results in HP order:

1.Flowtech Warlock (open) 374.2 hp/ 333.1 tq
2.Bassani Real Street 373.7 hp/ 333.8 tq
3.Hooker Maxflow 373.5 hp/ 333 tq
4.Borla XS 373.3 hp/ 332.6 tq
5.Magnaflow 372.8 / 332.5 tq
6.MAC 372.3 hp / 331.5 tq
7.Flowtech Afterburner 372.3 hp/ 330.1 tq
8.Hooker Aerochamber 372.1 hp/ 330.4 tq
9.Bassani 372 hp/ 333.5 tq
10.Spintech 371.6 hp/ 332.2 tq
11.Edelbrock Performer RPM 370.9 hp / 331.3 tq
12.Borla XR1 370 hp/ 334 tq
13.Flowtech Terminator 369.5 hp / 331.3 tq
14.Dynomax Ultra Flo 369.4 / 333.2 tq
15.Flowmaster 369.4 hp / 331.8 tq
16.Flowtech Warlock 366.3 hp / 325.3 tq
17.No muffs 365.2 hp / 330.1 tq

Sound Off in Quietest to Loudest (Decibels):

1.Borla XS, 80db at idle, 90db at 2,000 rpm, 110db at WOT.
2.Hooker Maxflow, 80db at idle, 90db at 2,000 rpm, 120db at WOT.
3.Magnaflow, 82db at idle, 91 at 2,000 rpm, 114db at WOT.
4.Flowmaster, 82db at idle, 93 at 2,000 rpm, 115db at WOT.
5.Flowtech Warlock, 83db at idle, 92 at 2,000 rpm, 112db at WOT.
6.Dynomax UltraFlo, 83db at idle, 94 at 2,000 rpm, 113db at WOT.
7.Borla XR1, 83db at idle, 96db at 2,000 rpm, 118db at WOT.
8.Bassani Street, 83db at idle, 96db at 2,000 rpm, 120db at WOT.
9.Edelbrock RPM, 84db at idle, 93db at 2,000 rpm, 118db at WOT.
10.Bassani Real Street, 84db at idle, 96db at 2,000 rpm, MAX. (120+db).
11.Flowtech Afterburner, 86db at idle, 94db at 2,000 rpm, 115db at WOT.
12.Flowtech Terminator, 86db at idle, 94db at 2,000 rpm, 119db at WOT.
13.Hooker Aerochamber, 87db at idle, 94db at 2,000 rpm, 114db at WOT.
14.SpinTech, 87db at idle, 97db at 2,000 rpm, 116db at WOT.
15.MAC, 87db at idle, 98db at 2,000 rpm, 119db at WOT.
16.No Muffler, 91db at idle, 103db at 2,000 rpm, MAX. (120+db).

 

[S&B]

thanks for that, good analysis

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Keep in mind...that muffler test is going on 10-years old. Many new models have come out since then....and some of them on that list probably aren't even around anymore, or have changed their design some. I mean...there are how many different "Flowmaster" mufflers out there now?

I'm waiting for someone to try out the new Dynomax VT muffer. Supposed to be the first true "drone free" muffler on the market.