Magnaflow mufflers - Straight through vs chambered

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Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Straight through like a Borla sound the best on a mod motor IMHO.


Agreed. I also like the sound of the bigger (say 3") Walker Dyno-Max series of mufflers. Both the turbo and the straight through Ultra Flow.

FWIW, the Walker straight through "Ultra Flow" mufflers are the bargain of the century. The longer, the better and smoother the sound.

Walker makes a 24 inch long, 2.5" inlet and outlet, straight through welded muffler. It's sound is deep, strong and clean. Not hollow like a chambered muffler. Nice burble at idle, great bark at full throttle.

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Check out this video for the sound of a modular engine with the Ultraflow muffler. Very nice indeed. He gets on it at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQTcLG-m8Tk
 
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I had a custom Bassani exhaust on a 96 Tbird with a Bullitt Mustang motor and vortech blower.

It sounded really nice.

A friend had the ultraflows on his Tbird with a GT motor and that sounded great also.

Not sure if the Borla setup is worth the cost.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH


Not sure if the Borla setup is worth the cost.


This is where I'm at with all of the cat-back offerings. Anything of quality is near $1k. Why should I replace the perfectly functional stainless factory piping when all I want is a little change in sound? Sure, maybe there are a couple of (small) horses to gain at WOT - but lets be honest here: the car is a slug with or without a cat-back. Unless it undergoes significant surgery, it always will be. On this car, I'm not willing to pay $1k for nearly in-detectable results that will only be noticed on a chassis dyno. On some of my others? Maybe. But not a Crown Vic.

The car is a cruiser. I love the sound of a V8 lazily motoring. I just want to be able hear it.
 
I too loved loud exhaust when in HS and now prefer nice, quiet OEM. In HS I had a first gen explorer with a Gibson exhaust and it sounded nice. Had a low rumble at idle and wasn't bad in terms of droning. Try youtube for crown vic aftermarket exhaust systems. I bet there are a bunch of videos with different types of systems.
 
Originally Posted By: emmett442
Originally Posted By: JustinH


Not sure if the Borla setup is worth the cost.


This is where I'm at with all of the cat-back offerings. Anything of quality is near $1k. Why should I replace the perfectly functional stainless factory piping when all I want is a little change in sound? Sure, maybe there are a couple of (small) horses to gain at WOT - but lets be honest here: the car is a slug with or without a cat-back. Unless it undergoes significant surgery, it always will be. On this car, I'm not willing to pay $1k for nearly in-detectable results that will only be noticed on a chassis dyno. On some of my others? Maybe. But not a Crown Vic.

The car is a cruiser. I love the sound of a V8 lazily motoring. I just want to be able hear it.


I put a Borla cat-back on my Ram pickup truck, even though it was expensive. I too just wanted a little more burble, but I also wanted dual side-exit exhausts to prevent burning anything I might carry on the hitch- like bikes or cargo on a hitch cargo platform. The Borla system had those features and sounds *perfect*, and should last as long as the OEM stainless system would have. But this is a fairly simple truck 2-into-1-into-2 system, and it replaced nothing particularly performance-oriented from the factory.

Would I do a cat-back on my SRT-8? No way. There's so much engineering in that factory system that I'd be foolish to think I could do anything substantially better with aftermarket parts.
 
I have a duel out the back Borla cat-back on my 98 chevy K1500 and it sounds good. It does have a little bit of drone though and I'm not sure what the design of the inside is like.

I have a single side exit Flowmaster cat-back on my 98 K3500. This uses their 50 series muffler which is not real loud but this is a chambered muffler and it doesn't have any drone.

I have a GT500 cat-back on my 2014 Mustang GT. The over the axle pipes have no resonators like the factory OTA pipes do and the mufflers are the same ones used on the 2011-2012 GT500 Mustang but made by Ford Racing. These are supposedly chambered mufflers but I don't know for sure. This system sounds awesome with no drone and in my opinion is the exhaust that should have come stock on this car.

I have liked the sound of pretty much every Magnaflow muffler that I have listened to so I don't think you can go wrong there.

Wayne
 
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A local tuner told me that a straight-through design can give a bit more power than a chambered one, though the gain may not be too noticeable.
 
I'm a huge fan of the Hooker Aerochamber muffler. It is a straight through design chambered muffler. Aggressive sound, but less drone that many others. The GM 6.2L is known for being hard to quiet down. I have tried the following on my truck:

Banks muffler straight through with packing type (way too loud)
Flowmaster 50 series big block - drone on highway, and noticable performance loss
aeroturbine with resonator - drone on highway, and generally didn't like the sound
Hooker Aerochamber with resonator - aggressive sound, least drone so far, best performance as well

Do some searching around on forums and you will be hard pressed to find any negative comments about the Aerochamber. Do some youtube listening as well.
 
A while back when I drove a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7 liter V8
I had a front to back custom mandrel bent true dual exhaust with an 'X' crossover
and experimented with a few mufflers in the following years.

-Gibson
Quiet but were very restrictive at higher rpms versus the others listed below
(perhaps I didn't choose the proper size for my application)

-Magnaflow / straight glass packed design
Felt like the best top end HP, decently quiet a first but they do get louder over time, bad drone on the Hwy.

-Flowmaster 70 series / chambered design, one of they're quietest mufflers.
Best overall performance, quiet at idle, sounds 'just right' while accelerating, no drone at highway speeds.

But now I'm into leaving my vehicles stock and quiet,
as HosteenJorje suggested above, I've come to despise noisy cars/trucks driving by my house.
 
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Originally Posted By: 1977c10phxdriver
If you have a shop in mind to do the sale and install, ask if they will hang each on (not welded) and let you listen on the rack. I"ve done it before, usually not a problem.


^^this^^
 
Originally Posted By: emmett442
Anyone have experience with both? Tough shopping for mufflers when you really don't know what you're getting till it's installed. I've heard loud chambered, quiet straight-through, and vice versa... so I really don't know what to expect when it comes to these specific models.

Like the rest of the world, I'm simply looking for a little idle burble, WOT throat, and highway silence. Minute, insignificant performance changes are not a concern - only looking for sound.

Considering 4"x9"x18" in either configuration. To avoid any unnecessary discussion (other brands, other sizes), only one of these two I've linked are in the running:

Chambered
Straight-through


Just an FYI, I have a 2010 CVPI and am on my 4th exhaust configuration:

1. factory - just plain boring
2. cut factory mufflers out and welded in straight pipes - the drone was RIDICULOUS
3. cut the straight pipes out and welded in glass packs - the drone was annoying
4. cut out the glass packs and welded in a set of magnaflows - maybe just a bit louder than stock. I have the exact same magnaflows (11254) you are considering. They are a perfect fit when you cut the OEM mufflers out. Seriously, it is NOT much louder than stock at all - pretty disappointing.

EDIT: I see now that you have resonators on your LX. Honestly, it will probably be OEM quiet with the magnaflows. My CVPI didn't come with the resonators. Just trying to help you not have 4 exhaust setups like I did and still be disappointed.
 
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Check out the Thrush Turbo mufflers. They're cost effective, well made, and will give a nice tone with all the rest of the stock components in place. I've got a buddy with that setup on his Crown Vic and it's a nice, low, throaty tone and doesn't drone on the highway. Just a little bit louder than stock
 
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