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Muffler Discussion:


AudiOn19s

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Given a similar design of mufflers there's prices all over the board depending on materials, name brand, etc. What I'd like to discuss is if there will realy be much of a difference in performance or is the price pretty much just dependant of brand, material and weight.

 

Here's what I'm looking at. My exhaust project for the GT3 will likely incorporate 4 "bullet" style mufflers. I could go with 2 for less weight but I'm getting rid of the cats in doing this project and I'm awefully afraid of how loud the end result is going to be. It's not an every day driver it currently ONLY has cats on it (400 cell) and no mufflers, but I fear replacing the cats with only 2 bullet style mufflers will still be a horribly loud mess.

 

Back to the mufflers: Starting at the bottom price wise and working up. I'd love to hear opinions on if any of these is going to be a better performer, or if the advantages are strictly in other areas. I"d pay a little more for less weight but many of the cheaper options don't list weight so I'm not sure how much I'm really giving up with them weight wise.

 

All mufflers below are 2.5" diameter. The shorter the better for my application, anything with over a 12" body is going to be a tighter squeeze.

 

Cherry Bomb: $34.99 - 8" body, 12" overall length - 4.05lbs

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/500/545/545-87522_3.jpg

 

Jegs Flowpack Muffler: $39.99 - 12" body, 18" overall - No weight listed

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/500/555/555-30291_2.jpg

 

Pypes M-80: $44.99 - 14" case length (might be pushing it on length) T304 stainless

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/900/958/958-MVR200S.jpg

 

Dynomax Race bullet Muffler: $64.99 - 16" overall - no weight listed, 409s stainless

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/200/289/289-24246.jpg

 

Kooks Race Series: $68.99 - 14" overall - no weight 304 stainless

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/500/579/579-R250-14.jpg

 

Flowmaster Outlaw series: $114.99 - No dimentions, no weight 409s stainless

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/300/389/389-815425.jpg

 

Magnaflow Performance Race Series: $129.99 - 6" body - no weight

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/600/642/642-14158.jpg

 

so the above are the standard offerings. THEN there are the ones listed below

 

Vibrant Aluminum Race muffler: $112.95 - 14" overall length - 1.6 lbs T6061 aluminum

http://vibrantperformance.com/catalog/images/12903_WEBS.jpg

 

Finally...in the race world Burns stainless lightweight mufflers are pretty much standard issue. These can be found on most of the grand-am prototype cars and other big road racing applications. I'm not sure if they are truely "better" though, although the ability to re-pack them etc would be nice for down the road.

 

Burns Race Muffler: $271.00 - 12" overall length - 1.77 lbs stainless **Spendy but worth it?**

http://www.burnsstainless.com/images/products/display/IMG_1968.JPG

 

Burns 2 Stage muffler: $459 - 17" overall 3.89lbs **obviously I KNOW I'd only need 2 mufflers for my desired sound level if I went this route...but man $460 per muffler hurts**

http://www.burnsstainless.com/images/products/display/2Stage.jpg

 

Thoughts?

 

Andy

Edited by AudiOn19s
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If you go with a glasspack-style (non-baffled straight-flow) muffler, I can't imagine 4 of them will be that much quieter than 2.

 

I think you'll get some decent flak from the Porsche-philes for putting a glasspack on your GT3. :) Also, you WILL scorch the paint off the muffler body if you engine brake while racing...with no cats, the rich exhaust popping will heat up the pack. You're better off with a higher-quality, stainless/aluminum-bodied muffler.

 

I'm cheap, so the Dynomax, Kooks, or Vibrant appeal more to me for cost, size, and construction.

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This is the basic design we're dealing with. This is the whole exhaust after the headers, has to tuck up behind the rear bumper. As you can see there's very little room to work with, these "style" of mufflers are all I can work with in this space.

 

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/exhaust1.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q192/ZainoDetail/exhaust2.jpg

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I think that as the cheaper ones go they are all going to be pretty similar, less packing, cheaper materials, and not a big difference in sound. When you start spending some money they do get nicer from a quality stand point, but as for sound it's just like picking any other muffler, it'll be a little different but I doubt much so try and listen to some (if thats possible).

 

So theres a a pretty broad minded and useless post, I figure it'll be a pretty uncertain descision until you put something on there.

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I mean...I really don't want bright red Cherry Bomb's hanging out from under the darn thing...but I would totally rock a cherry bomb sticker on the window just to piss people off if I did that.

 

I'm running some jank-ass looking home-made muffler bypass pipes on the car with no exhaust tips on them right now. 2.25" tips hanging out those exhaust cutouts in the bumper looks stupid. I'm inherantly cheap when it comes to certain things. If I can put $40 mufflers on the car instead of $400 mufflers and get basically the same sound reduction and performance with the penalty being maybe a few lbs because one is mild steel vs stainless I'll probably do it. When it comes to mods for the track I'm more of a function over form guy. It's more than likely every year after track season is over I"ll swap out and put the whole stock exhaust back on the car.

 

I started this thread to see if there are more downsides that I'm possibly missing...it's been probably 12 years since I shopped performance mufflers.

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LOL. I had a buddy with an '88 911 widebody cabriolet back when we lived in FL. He bought a $50 turndown: replaced the suitcase muff and a tangle of tubes with a 6" slash-cut that exits in the stock location. Greatest $50 ever spent in the history of auto mods. Sounded like sh!t below 2500rpms and loud as hell, but MAN did it scream at the upper end.

 

I've seen FL4T AUT's pipes...why don't you just cut/massage those to make them look better? Especially if you might just swap back to the stock exhaust system. over the next few years only thing you'll be out is worn hardware and a few hours wrenching on a car you'll be wrenching on anyway.

 

Look at Casey's CTS-V...straight pipes 4 lyfe!

 

IMO of course. If you go the custom exhaust route, might as well sell the stock exhaust...

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Don't go cherry bombs or anything similar, you would prolly burn out the fiberglass packing in a hurry if the car is frequently raced. Personally, I would go with something stainless or aluminum anyways for corrosion resistance and longevity. Beyond that, I'm no help for sound opinions. But as someone mentioned, if your tracking the car and switching the exhaust for the street anyways, open headers with some tips out the back would seriously save some weight.
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Little clarification, Whatever exhaust goes on the car will be on there the whole track season...so May - November including being on there for all of my street driving during that time. Only for the limited use over the winter months will I consider putting the stock exhaust back on. Too much work otherwise. Have to have some sort of noise reducing properties I drive this thing to and from the track and to work once or twice a week.

 

I have a sound clip of the Sr. Farkas mobile on my phone and it's hot...2.5" is where it's at for these things and fabspeed only makes 2.25"...not to mention I want to ditch the side mufflers compeletely as they are extra weight and hold heat right next to the rear tires.

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