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Questions on res/muffler size/locations

N

NorMich99SE

CEG'er
Joined
Jan 3, 2002
Messages
468
Location
Morton, IL
Hey guys, I hope this isn't too newbie-ish of a question. I've tried looking around and a couple searches but haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm hoping to redo the exhaust on my SVT sometime this summer and I'm looking for input on what size muffler(s) and resonator to go with. What I currently have is a trubendz aluminized system (non-resonated) with a dynomax unltraflow in the resonator spot, running off a 3L w/headers and gutted main cat. it drones pretty bad at my main operating range (3-4K rpm) and maybe I'm gettin old, but just plain is louder than I want these days. I'm hoping to replace it all with another trubendz kit, this time in SS, using products from vibrant and dynomax again. the real question is, do you guys think I'd be better off going with a vibrant resonator in the stock location and then two ultraflows in the stock locations, or with an ultraflow in place of the res and two vibrant mufflers? I know it's probably splitting hairs somewhat, but I have time to split hairs right now, lol. Also, what sizes would I need for the res and mufflers? Thinking of a bullet res. (if I go vibrant) with oval mufflers. Sound wise, I'm looking for slightly louder than stock SVT levels i think, with a nice deep, smooth sound to it when I introduce the right pedal to the floor.

For those wondering why I don't just keep the trubendz I have now, because it was originally put on my old SE and welded off the car, resulting in some poor fitment. A flame and some "motivation" made it look decent. On the SVT, the fit is even worse, plus, I'd just like to upgrade to stainless.
 
in my experience Magnaflows are generally quieter than Dynomax. I bought an non-resonated system with the single Magnaflow, then I replaced the tailpipes with a couple magnaflow XL 3 chambers, then short tips. All them BIG mufflers on that car make it quite a bit quieter, although I am thinking of going with something a bit different.
 
NorMich99SE said:
Hey guys, I hope this isn't too newbie-ish of a question. I've tried looking around and a couple searches but haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm hoping to redo the exhaust on my SVT sometime this summer and I'm looking for input on what size muffler(s) and resonator to go with. What I currently have is a trubendz aluminized system (non-resonated) with a dynomax unltraflow in the resonator spot, running off a 3L w/headers and gutted main cat. it drones pretty bad at my main operating range (3-4K rpm) and maybe I'm gettin old, but just plain is louder than I want these days. I'm hoping to replace it all with another trubendz kit, this time in SS, using products from vibrant and dynomax again. the real question is, do you guys think I'd be better off going with a vibrant resonator in the stock location and then two ultraflows in the stock locations, or with an ultraflow in place of the res and two vibrant mufflers? I know it's probably splitting hairs somewhat, but I have time to split hairs right now, lol. Also, what sizes would I need for the res and mufflers? Thinking of a bullet res. (if I go vibrant) with oval mufflers. Sound wise, I'm looking for slightly louder than stock SVT levels i think, with a nice deep, smooth sound to it when I introduce the right pedal to the floor.

For those wondering why I don't just keep the trubendz I have now, because it was originally put on my old SE and welded off the car, resulting in some poor fitment. A flame and some "motivation" made it look decent. On the SVT, the fit is even worse, plus, I'd just like to upgrade to stainless.
Click to expand...

Not noobish at all.

Lets start with a few ideas...Now please think about this before answering because it removes mufflers/ combos that would fit your requirments :)

Do you care about performance more then meeting your sound demand?

Once you answer that i can assist you on finding the right combo. I always get the "i want the sound and i want with the best performance..and i don't want it to be expensive":crazy:.

Kinda like....i want my Cake and iceream ....but i don't want to pay for it kinda thing. So are you stuck on using dynomax? Would you venture out to different brands?

I'm a fan of dynomax maganaflow and borla!!!!...well i do have edelbrocks on my car...but thats because they were the only company that made my special muffler style.... that did what i wanted it to do.:cool:
 
Harrry said:
Not noobish at all.

Lets start with a few ideas...Now please think about this before answering because it removes mufflers/ combos that would fit your requirments :)

Do you care about performance more then meeting your sound demand?

Once you answer that i can assist you on finding the right combo. I always get the "i want the sound and i want with the best performance..and i don't want it to be expensive":crazy:.

Kinda like....i want my Cake and iceream ....but i don't want to pay for it kinda thing. So are you stuck on using dynomax? Would you venture out to different brands?
Click to expand...

I like cake and ice cream......

Now, as for performance vs. sound... I'm probably not too different than most I'm afraid. I'm looking to get the deepest tone I can, with a nice smooth sound (I don't want the 70 Chevelle w/flowmaster 40's sound), while keeping it on the quiet side. I have a ported 3L w/headers so unless I go f/i, performance isn't likely to go up much. I am willing to sacrifice a few ponies if need be, but obviously, the fewer the better. I'll be in Kentucky soon where there's hills and curves and fun roads so I'll be able to have fun with the car again. The short answer, I think I care slightly more about sound demands at this point than performance, i'd put it at about a 55/45 split in favor of sound.

As for brands, I personally have loved my dynomax, from what I've heard they seem to get a slightly deeper tone than the magnaflows, though those are excellent as well. I listened to a sound clip of worldtour's old silver SVT with vibrant cans (not sure his exact setup) and liked that quite a bit as well. Honestly, I don't think I've listened to a borla clip in ages, I suppose I'll have to do hat. Like I said, I have time to weigh my options and discuss, as this will likely not be till mid summer at the earliest. BTW Harry, is exhaust work something your involved in for a living or just a special interest? Anyhow, open to suggestions...
 
NorMich99SE said:
I like cake and ice cream......

Now, as for performance vs. sound... I'm probably not too different than most I'm afraid. I'm looking to get the deepest tone I can, with a nice smooth sound (I don't want the 70 Chevelle w/flowmaster 40's sound), while keeping it on the quiet side. I have a ported 3L w/headers so unless I go f/i, performance isn't likely to go up much. I am willing to sacrifice a few ponies if need be, but obviously, the fewer the better. I'll be in Kentucky soon where there's hills and curves and fun roads so I'll be able to have fun with the car again. The short answer, I think I care slightly more about sound demands at this point than performance, i'd put it at about a 55/45 split in favor of sound.

As for brands, I personally have loved my dynomax, from what I've heard they seem to get a slightly deeper tone than the magnaflows, though those are excellent as well. I listened to a sound clip of worldtour's old silver SVT with vibrant cans (not sure his exact setup) and liked that quite a bit as well. Honestly, I don't think I've listened to a borla clip in ages, I suppose I'll have to do hat. Like I said, I have time to weigh my options and discuss, as this will likely not be till mid summer at the earliest. BTW Harry, is exhaust work something your involved in for a living or just a special interest? Anyhow, open to suggestions...
Click to expand...

a DOHC engine is gonna sound very different from an OHV engine, even with flowmasters. I used a flowmaster 40 series on my old Escort GT before I switched it to turbo. It was a really good sound honestly. I wouldnt have put it on if I didnt have one sitting around, but I never complained about the sound of that muffler. Anyways I digress.

I'll get a sound clip of mine up somewhere after I get done working on it this weekend. Having the 3 mufflers really makes it quiet, and those 3 chambers on the back of my system really makes the sound a lot deeper than using the cans.
 
NorMich99SE said:
As for brands, I personally have loved my dynomax, from what I've heard they seem to get a slightly deeper tone than the magnaflows, though those are excellent as well. I listened to a sound clip of worldtour's old silver SVT with vibrant cans (not sure his exact setup) and liked that quite a bit as well. Honestly, I don't think I've listened to a borla clip in ages, I suppose I'll have to do hat. Like I said, I have time to weigh my options and discuss, as this will likely not be till mid summer at the earliest. BTW Harry, is exhaust work something your involved in for a living or just a special interest? Anyhow, open to suggestions...
Click to expand...

Well....dynomax ultra flows are some good mufflers...that do tend to reflect some of the DOHC music that the duratec makes. :)
So what we need is to tone down a bit...so your not an attention whore. :cool:

Well A good resonator...with some circular mufflers might be what your looking for. Placing a muffler in the mid section (resonator location) will tone down the noise a lot more. It's triggering an expansion point sooner in the exhaust which changes the tone of the exhaust. Which is what we want in this situation or other situations. So the closer to the front the better :)

If you still retain your stock main cat then a mid section 22 inch resonator could be used while placing dynomax mufflers in the back.

If you don't have a main cat then...
You can go with a borla mid section... while adding some dynomax mufflers in the rear. That way you will get some good cfm flow while keeping the tone down.

I don't like mix matching exhaust parts...but borla is rather expensive.
In case you have money and don't care about how much you spend...then borla around is my best recommendation. It sounds awesome on our cars. :drool:




I kinda took my stock svt exhaust and cut it up using every muffler possible with all sizes and drove my car around...with differnt combinations...headers. with or without...y-pipe..cat or not cat...resonator or without resonator...mufflers with or without. Take those 4 mods...headers y-pipe resonator and mufflers..and switch them around trying everypossible situation...Yea..it's a passion of mine :)

Then true duals came lol...with cats without cats..without resonators and cats then just straight pipes..then x-pipe added...then magnaflows.. to dynomax now edlebrocks etc etc... God i hacked spent too much money..i could have gotten a turbo kit :crazy:

you get the idea...every combo there was...i tried it. I had the tools and money so i didn't really care. Plus i am picky as :censored: when it comes to my cars exhaust tone. Aliasjerk...says my car sounds like a noble. :cool:

Quiet...but screams up top.:cool: Gotta love it.
 
So, after some time thinking on it and listening to some sound clips, I'm thinking a muffler in the stock res location, and maybe a couple resonators in the stock muffler locations might give me about the sound output I want. Now the real question comes down to brands. I like the sound of the borla, now that I've listened to it. I'm wondering though if it's possible to get any deeper of a tone out this little 6 pot engine with the right combo. I've still got a dynomax/vibrant combo in my head for some reason though. Harry, do you have any sound clips of your setup?
 
NorMich99SE said:
Harry, do you have any sound clips of your setup?
Click to expand...

Is it not posted in the links with exhaust clips?

Huh...i posted it on here...and i sent 1fastdad months ago a link to it.:blackeye: I guess he most of over looked it....i'll search for it.

EDIT....i found it. This is an old one....now i have high flow resonators that smoothed out the exhaust tone...now it sounds perfect...http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Contour-svt-True-Dual_165405.htm




Also...get a borla muflers :drool:
 
FunInNorthDakota said:
Yours sounds pretty good too. I am seriously starting to think about going that true duals route. Would have to think a while about mufflers though.
Click to expand...

It's def worth the whp numbers....but the tone is just insane....it's so touchy...what ever combo you decide to go with...really would set a specific unique sound.

i wanted the european sound, so i went with a higher pitch/tone.

I gotta take the cover off the svt soon and record a newer sound clip...it sounds :drool:

Even aliasjerk....loves driving my car it can't get enough of it.:laugh:
 
Harrry said:
It's def worth the whp numbers....but the tone is just insane....it's so touchy...what ever combo you decide to go with...really would set a specific unique sound.

i wanted the european sound, so i went with a higher pitch/tone.

I gotta take the cover off the svt soon and record a newer sound clip...it sounds :drool:

Even aliasjerk....loves driving my car it can't get enough of it.:laugh:
Click to expand...

Yeah I noticed you have the higher pitch, but you were able to keep the volume down, thats what's kinda attracting me to it. Because a combo that gives me pitch like yours is crazy loud. The two small pipes really help, You run 2 inch pipes all the way back am I correct? IDK, the math to me I figure a pair of 1 7/8 or 2 inch would be more than enough for a NA 3 Liter even, possibly even overkill, but dropping down to 1 7/8 after the collector probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I guess it sounds like 2 inch should be about the happy medium without creating to much turbulence. Are you using dual cats, a single cat with dual inlets or did you just skip the cats? I think you said before your exhaust has an X pipe, so I guess that would probably be the route to go since it doesnt seem like there is anywhere under the car near the collector wide enough to do an H-pipe that would have a worthwhile effect. Anyways, I will leave it all for the thinking when I design my exhaust system since afterall, like I have said before, mine is really just a chopped up trubendz. Oh well, time for cartoons. I will think about it more later when I have money again and a desire to do exhaust.
 
FunInNorthDakota said:
Yeah I noticed you have the higher pitch, but you were able to keep the volume down, thats what's kinda attracting me to it. Because a combo that gives me pitch like yours is crazy loud. The two small pipes really help, You run 2 inch pipes all the way back am I correct? IDK, the math to me I figure a pair of 1 7/8 or 2 inch would be more than enough for a NA 3 Liter even, possibly even overkill, but dropping down to 1 7/8 after the collector probably wouldn't be a good idea, so I guess it sounds like 2 inch should be about the happy medium without creating to much turbulence. Are you using dual cats, a single cat with dual inlets or did you just skip the cats? I think you said before your exhaust has an X pipe, so I guess that would probably be the route to go since it doesnt seem like there is anywhere under the car near the collector wide enough to do an H-pipe that would have a worthwhile effect. Anyways, I will leave it all for the thinking when I design my exhaust system since afterall, like I have said before, mine is really just a chopped up trubendz. Oh well, time for cartoons. I will think about it more later when I have money again and a desire to do exhaust.
Click to expand...

2 inch is perfect.

When i put my exhaust on....all i had was 2inch pipes with 2 magnaflow canistor mufflers in the rear. :laugh: It was Loud as :censored:...everyone at SZ 07 could hear me from the freeway :laugh:.

Then i added resonators..and well this is where i got alittle OCD on my exhaust. Since true duals is so easy to manipulate (exhaust tone). Anything i did sent my exhaust tone completly one way. :crazy: So i spent tons of money trying multiple components till i found my desired sound.

Well...you can't find a x-pipe or h-pipe from a catalog that will fit our cars. They have to be hand made. Becuase the tunnel is to narrow for them to fit.
So i custom made my x-pipe. Unlike the commonly used h-pipe that people used on here for their true duals.

Well long story short....i have 2 seperate high flow metalic cats. 2 18inch resonators..then comes my x-pipe....then my edelbrock twin path mufflers. Now the closer you put your resonators or cats to the front of the car the more the rasp will get reduced. The rasp is due many components....cams/heads/manifold design..I ran my car without an h-pipe or x-pipe while i ran certain setups...again i was being anal...and wanted to learn from experince what works and what won't work on our cars. I knew then this would def help people later on when they were wanting to install any exhaust on our cars. (yea i got ocd with my stock exhaust too:blackeye:)

Now you can get the Porsche cat dual inlet dual outlet that comes in 2inch pipes if you want to go that route.:shrug: $87 IIRC

But i def recommend 2inch pipes. Nothing smaller. Trust me....your car on the free way will love you :cool: A 3L with 2inch true duals is perfect btw. So you might as well be building it for the future. Now cfm flow with pulse settings at 1/4 or 1/3 etc etc can all be manipulated with an x-pipe and the placement of the x-pipe. Along with certain mufflers can help make your car feel and operate how you wish and at what rpms you wish your power to be set at. SO don't worry about pipe size too much. :) We can fix your problem :cool:

Building exhausts is an art...but build a right one and you can have an awesome sounding car plus tons of power.


Steeda did a true dual setup before and after dyno. His car had 121k
Stock with open filter he got 164whp and 148 tq
With true duals he got 184 whp and 161tq just from an open filter and true duals.
His True duals = 2 resonators and 2 magnaflow mufflers.
Thats on a bone stock svt with and open filter.
 
really all that from true duals? Kinda makes me interested in doing it.... Not like I have to worry about smog inspections here, so I can modify my exhaust any way I want, as long as I keep CATs on it, it will pass emmisions tests should I ever be somewhere with one.

No I know what you mean about the rasp. I was having a fitment issue with the trubendz y-pipe and catback. Basically the y-pipe was too long and was pushing the rest of my system back a couple inches. Anyways, I cut out 2 inches from the pipe on the y-pipe and then welded back together, and it actually made a noticable difference in the rasp.

I dont mind making an X-pipe. I cant understand why a person would want an H on an exhaust system given the limitations on room we have, the H would be completely inefficient.

Anyways, be a while before I can afford to do anything like that, I spent a buttload on my car already this year, and I still got a tranny rebuild to do. I have a few things in mind, only because of the different muffler combinations I tried out on my hacked up trubendz. Honestly at this point, I wouldnt even guess what I am doing for horsepower, I am hoping that I am around the level of a stock SVT or maybe just a little bit better since the only non-SVT part I have left are heads. I mean add in the intake, exuast and headers and I would think that would make up the difference, especially since I have a good tune on now.
 
FunInNorthDakota said:
they sell them at walmart, in the aisle with the blinker fluid. but dont forget you need a 9/11 open ended box wrench to get those muffler bearings off.
Click to expand...

While you are there...see if they have any horn fluid. I ran out and nobody around here seems to have any :shrug:
 
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