exhaust material/muffler choice

i-wagon

Well-known member
As stated in my journal, I'm planning on building a new axleback 2.5 inch and retrofitting a Fxt midpipe 2.3 inch. Muffler will be stainless Borla, resonated DC stainless tip. I haven't decided of I'm going to spend huge money on stainless pipe or just use the steel pipe o'Reilly sells. I'm. in the process of fabricating the stainless hangers, and was thinking of polishing the muffler. So pretty much should I spend over $100 for the pipe and bending or do steel and coat it?

 
Last edited by a moderator:

drvsdwz

DRiVe SiDeWayZ
if it was me doing it, if this was the last set up i would do for my car, i would do the stainless. If i would go with another setup later down the road, it would just piece it and coat it

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
I keep the underside of my car pretty clean, especially during the winter. Pressure washer at work helps

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
Even stainless don't last forever ..specially in this climate
we have stainless sander bodies at work that are as old as me, outlasted whole trucks. And those are exposed to large amounts of salt and calcium. Proper cleaning is huge
 
Make sure the stainless is 304 and not 409. 409 is cheaper and corrodes more. If a magnet barely sticks to it then you are good.

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
Now I'm curious as to what Subaru uses. the midpipe from jasons xt has a touch of surface rust here and there but in places it looks polished like good stainless. Overall I'm pleased with their exhaust holding up. I have an axleback that was a used wrx factory setup, I've put 3 different mufflers on that pipe on the last 5 years and it's sill holding up nicely

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Jamey

New member
Check your pm's
default_smile.png


 

i-wagon

Well-known member
Here's the list so far

Check this out on AMZN:

Vibrant 2609 2.5" Stainless Steel U-J Mandrel Bent Tubing

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00180848Q/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

Check this out on AMZN:

Borla 40358 Borla Pro XS Muffler

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q7HBOU/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

Check this out on AMZN:

Borla 40358 Borla Pro XS Muffler

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q7HBOU/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_ap_am_us?ie=UTF8

The tip will be welded, probably cut it up past the bolt hardware, then I'll polish everything. Gotta check Maine oxy to see how much their gasless stainless wire is

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
Kinda sorta. I know the internals on dynomax are mild steel, even on the stainless case muffler. I had one rot out in a year. If I could get something same price and size but 5"car I might do it

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
anyone have any other muffler recomendations? magnaflow is ten dollars more, flowmaster is comparably but use 409 stainless and i thought the super44 was a touch raspy, and that was before i eliminated one cat

 

i-wagon

Well-known member
wish i could find just an axleback that wasn't big money. i love building things, but sometimes prefab is easier. but more satisfaction from building. so flowmaster is out, borla and magnaflow are the big 2 atm. i know they're 100% stainless. i positively loved the 2 dynomax setups i had but as previously stated, the perforated tubes are all mild steel, and my stainless one rotted apart in a year. also no fart can, trying for more subtle look. jamey you traded you magnaflows right?

 
Last edited by a moderator:

xxnightraven73x

^who i am ...what i say --->
jamey's old magnaflows are whats on caleb's car now 

i prefer magnaflow for sound and proven hp gains .. flowmaster has sound but bombs dyno tests .. when i was on a v8 s10 forum there was a muffler shootout thread of back to back dyno tests of a ton of mufflers it was pretty interesting

found the info from it ..dunno if im supposed to copy and paste from anther source but here it is 

I.E.Flowmaster sucks the fat one...

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 hp/ 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 hp/ 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).


http://forums.stangnet.com/archive/index.php/t-392314

And I have listed here a muffler shootout test done by CAR CRAFT, they show the best bang for the buck, and show the db's

The Mufflers
MAKE MODEL Part No. COST 
SUMMIT Turbo 630125 $14.75 
THRUSH Magnum Glasspack 24214 $16.50 
THRUSH Boss Turbo 17718 $23.95 
HOOKER Competition 21006 $25.95 
DYNOMAX Super Turbo 17733 $28.50 
DYNOMAX Race Magnum 24215 $31.95 
HOOKER Super Competition 21106 $35.95 
SUMMIT Fully Welded 630325 $38.69 
FLOWTECH Afterburner 50322 $39.95 

MUFFLER FLOW TEST

MUFFLER Flow at 28-in H20 
DynoMax Race Magnum 528.64 cfm 
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 507.40 cfm 
Summit Fully Welded 343.38 cfm 
Flowtech Afterburner 342.20 cfm 
DynoMax Super Turbo 333.94 cfm 
Hooker Competition 232.46 cfm 
Hooker Super Competition 320.96 cfm 
Summit Turbo 331.16 cfm 
Thrush Boss Turbo 297.36 cfm 

MUFFLER Idle dB WOT dB 
DynoMax Super Turbo 89 123 
DynoMax Race Magnum 94 133 
Flowtech Afterburner 92 124 
Hooker Competion 92 122 
Hooker Super Competion 90 125 
Summit Turbo 89 124 
Summit Fully Welded 92 125 
Thrush Boss Turbo 90 123 
Thrush Magnum Glasspack 92 128 

DYNO TEST
All mufflers were dyno-tested on a 355-cube SBC with 10.0:1 compression, Air Flow Research 190 aluminum heads, a CompCams 292 hyd. a Victor Jr. intake, a Holley 750-cfm double-pumper, and 1 5/8 Headman headers.


MUFFLER HP TORQUE 2,500-6,000rpm Average 
Hooker Competition 397.4 381.1 286.8hp/351.9 lb-ft 
Thrush Boss Turbo 407.1 384.9 292.1 hp/357.5 lb-ft 
DynoMax Race Magnum 409.5 394.3 298.8 hp/366.9 lb-ft 
Flowtech Afterburner 409.7 391.2 294.8 hp/361.7 lb-ft 
Thrush Glasspack 409.5 389.8 297.7 hp/365.3 lb-ft 
Summit Turbo 411.5 386.3 291.5 hp/357.4 lb-ft 
DynoMax Super Turbo 412.7 387.2 292.6 hp/358.6 lb-ft 
Hooker Super Comp 413.8 387.2 292.8 hp/359.0 lb-ft 
Summit Fully Welded 415.4 390.7 295.6 hp/362.4 lb-ft 








i have another test here on my computer but i don't know how to upload it onto this site because it is in a adobe pdf file.


more numbers for ya'll who like numbers.

All tests via an independent lab 
All tests @ 15” wc 

2 “ Straight Pipe 283 CFM 
2 ¼ “ Straight Pipe 365 CFM 
2 ½ “ Straight Pipe 521 CFM 

2 ¼” Typical Bent tailpipe 268 CFM 
2 ½” Typical Bent Tailpipe 417 CFM 

2 ¼” Inlet/Outlet_ Glass Pack Tips- No Louvers- Smooth 274 CFM 
2 ¼” Inlet/Outlet- Glass Pack Tips-Louvered 133 CFM 
Same as above set for reverse flow 141 CFM 
2 ¼” Cherry Bomb 239 CFM 
2 ½” Cherry Bomb 294 CFM 

2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Dynomax Super Turbo 278 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Ultraflow Bullet 512 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Gibson Superflow 267 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Flowmaster ( 2 Chamber) 249 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet Outlet Flowmaster ( 3 Chamber) 229 CFM 
2 ¼” Inlet/Outlet Thrush CVX 260 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Maremount Cherry Bomb 298 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Hooker Aero Chamber 324 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Hooker Max Flow 521 CFM 
2 ½” Inlet/Outlet Borla Turbo 373 CFM 
2 1/2" Inlet/Outlet Magnaflow 284 CFM 


Standard OEM 2 ¼” Inlet/Outlet 138-152 CFM 
Standard OEM 2 ½” Inlet/Outlet 161-197 CFM

and some real world testing to back up some numbers
http://www.pontiacstreetperformance.com/psp/exhaust.html

"Recommendations:

1. Always use a crossover of one kind or another. Our tests indicate that the X type gives additional improvements over the H type.

2. Mount the mufflers as far to the rear of the chassis as possible. An important characteristic of the exhaust system (behind the headers) is its ability to dissipate heat energy. Heat loss brings with it, gas volume reduction, enabling smaller mufflers and pipes to be used without penalty.

3. Always us the largest case muffler that you can fit under the chassis possible. The larger internal volume allows additional acoustical energy to be absorbed ,dissipated and eliminated.

4. Unless an engine is in the 500+ horsepower level or run at very high RPM, the maximum tailpipe size required for minimal power loss is probably 2.5" diameter. When the exhaust pipes and mufflers drop the temperature significantly, the volume of the exhaust gas is reduced and tailpipe sizes is not as critical.

5. When you must adapt various pipe sizes, always use long tapered cone reducers, such as, those available from Flowmaster. You can also use a crossover that has reduced pipe sizes built into it."

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Jamey

New member
wish i could find just an axleback that wasn't big money. i love building things, but sometimes prefab is easier. but more satisfaction from building. so flowmaster is out, borla and magnaflow are the big 2 atm. i know they're 100% stainless. i positively loved the 2 dynomax setups i had but as previously stated, the perforated tubes are all mild steel, and my stainless one rotted apart in a year. also no fart can, trying for more subtle look. jamey you traded you magnaflows right?
I did there on Caleb's car now I loved them , I love my nameless more lol
 

i-wagon

Well-known member
Thanks guys, kinda funny the Borla was quietest, wouldn't have expected that. Might stick with that plan since power difference was minimal and Borla tested quieter

 
Last edited by a moderator:

cwiggin

New member
anyone have any other muffler recomendations? magnaflow is ten dollars more, flowmaster is comparably but use 409 stainless and i thought the super44 was a touch raspy, and that was before i eliminated one cat
i love the magnaflows,  such a good tone and sound.   come take a listen to mine somenight.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top