I just got my new Flowmaster 80 series muffler installed, along with a high flow cat and damn it sounds week. It cost me about $400 installed and its not even as loud as the stock setup! What a piece of crap. Do not buy this.

give it time

Thats too bad my friend.

However there are a ton of folks here that share your opinion and despise BlowMaster for one reson or another.

I have never liked the sound of a BlowMaster, in any application. Hence I have never owned any of their product.

I had the Hooker setup and thought it sounded great however I have since replaced it with a 3.5" Mufflex/Spintech setup.

High recomendations for both Hooker and Spintech.

Why do you say that?

They need time to break in or something like that. I know mine got louder after driving it for a while.

How did it work out to 400$?!?!?! That sounds insanely high to me..... was it really just a muffler and cat? Not a 3 inch catback or anything?

i get nothing but compliments with my flowmaster

80 series muffs are for granny's

Really? Its too quiet? I'd like to change out my flowmaster 80 for something a little quieter. The people and cops usually complain when I go down the street at 8:00am in the morning. Old people, go figure.

Its plenty loud enough.

Well my exhaust was cut off at the y-pipe and I didn't have anything after that. The shop had install the cat and muffler then fab all the piping.

Do you still think I got ripped?

It was like $375 all together with labor, tax and everything.

That suprises me. Do you have headers or something?

Was it quite when you first got it?

I actually just welded up a used Flowmaster 80 series that I bought from a friend for 40 bucks ( including 3" tips ) I think it sounds great compared to the factory exhaust. The factory had a good size hole in the bottom of it and the tips were cut off - making the exhaust flow directly into the passenger area, YUCK! So I figured I made out well since I installed/welded up the muffler and tips my self....15 minutes after I finished, got pulled over and a speeding ticket - what luck! Needless to say - I waited till he got into his car before I started mine up. They're quite picky about noise levels and esp. no front license plates - as he gave me a hard time about that.

ominous,

doesn't the Mufflex 4"/3.5" system use a Flowmaster? Is Spintech a brand, or another name for Mufflex?

A brand, they make some of the baddest mufflers out there.

http://www.spintechmufflers.com/

The Mufflex setup can be had with either the Spintech or Flowmaster can.

Its what was on the car when I bought it over 1 year ago. I have a sound clip, it was recorded from about 20ft away. Sorry for the high idle, the car had been sitting without a battery for a month at that point. Takes a while to learn the idle again.

Also of note, the car currently doesn't have 2nd, or 4th gear cause the tranny has a bad band. Thats why I let off the gas for the shift. Otherwise I would have kept my foot planted.
http://student.dpg.devry.edu/~d00712...owmaster80.wma

Having a shop put in a muffler and cat with piping for 375 is not too much. By the way, I have an 80 series flowmaster on my car without the cat. Have a custom 3 inch exhaust as well. It took a week for it to "break" in. It is plenty loud enough. Turns heads wherever I go. Sounds way better than the stock 40 series on my 84 Z28. Flowmaster now has a brand new 40 series they just came out with. It is the loudest and most aggresive muffler they now make.

my flowmaster, with a cat is plenty loud. loud enough that i failed OR Smog testing, for being above the noise limit

my 80 series (3"in, double 2.5' out) is loud but I have 3" all the way from Y pipe and no cat so probably this makes it a bit louder
it really DID get louder over some time
anyway here is a clip if anyone cares

i have no problems with the way mine sounds althrough i do have headers and those weill make a huge differance. my set is 1 5/8 headers with catco 3 inch cat with american thuder series flowmaster exhaust with i believe is a 40 series muffler . its a bit load inside the car but really sounds nice even on my 305 tbi

Well, I got a Dynomax 3" cat-back and a Flowmaster 80 series for $250 installed. It sounds pretty loud. I have super comp long tubes and no cats though.

my flow sounds good...I do some goodies to make it sound a little better though....check the sig. I thought about going ahead and getting a 40.....but..I dunno yet...

Dont let anyone kick flowmasters.... you shouldnt have got the 80s tho. they are designed for 4cylinders. i got 40s mounted on 3inch true dual piping with no cats and hooker supercomp headers. mine are quiet till u get to the rear of the car and then you hear the roar of the beast. loud is not the word to use

Flowmasters are not the worst but def not the best I have the 80 series 3 inch cat back(with headers) dronemasters and after reading a lot more realize my mistake.

That's pretty sad how you have to give an all metal muffler time to "get louder"

it wasn't preety sad to me but more like surprising
but then I didn't measure decibels my opinion is based on what I heard and for me it really got a bit louder

The "break-in" period isn't actually the exhaust system getting better or louder, it's the car's computer adjusting itself to the new exhaust system's lack of back pressure.

The computer "learns" and adjusts. And right now, it's sensing that something is different and might be wrong, so it's not letting-go, so-to-speak. After a week or two, it'll accept the changes as being correct, finalize its tuning for the new higher performance, and you'll suddenly TAKE OFF! So I'd imagine the sound would get louder as a result.

I know that sounds like crap, lol, but it's really true! So when someone earlier said "give it time," he's exactly right. But some computers learn more quickly than others. So it might be a couple of weeks, it might be a month, or it might be a few days. But it WILL change.

The computer learns nothing during open loop operation which is inclusive of WOT.

Your theory is bunk with the pedal to the metal.

Where on earth did you get that info from?????? Only for 4 cyl's? Based on what you said about your 40 series, I wouldnt want one. I went for the 80 for a reason. Check the flowmaster link below...The 80 series is for "V8" applications only. It is almost as loud inside the car as it is outside. Check the charts.

http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/cg...aster/gmh.html

You will have to click on "Mufflers" on the left side of web page. When page switches, scroll down to 80 series and click on details. Here is some of what it will tell you.

80 SERIESTM
Performance Street

The 80 Seriesú performance street muffler is specially designed for applications where the muffler must be mounted transversely (crossflow) behind the rear axle, either to match an OE system or for increased ground clearance. The 80 Seriesú is a true crossflow with single or dual inlet/dual outlet configurations and produces an aggressive muscle car sound.

Crossflow Applications
1982-2001 Camaro and Firebirds (V-8 Applications Only)
Buick Grand Nationals and T-Types
Street Rods and Whenever Ground Clearance is an Issue

True, maybe not at WOT. But WOT isn't reality unless you're racing. How often do you run at WOT? So we're right back to the computer adjusting to the car's new components.

But it's not my theory, so I'm not exactly sure of all the facts. It's the learned experience of companies like Guldstrand Motorsports and TPiS, each of whom's businesses revolve around racing these cars. So I might not know, but they do, and I'll trust them.

Does any of you guys with 80 series get a raspy sound when revving it up? I actually hate that. It is loud and sounds mean and all but that raspy sound sucks. I was told to install a resonator but, wouldn't that hurt performance?

ur right i had it backwars... hmm a little embarrassing. as for installing resonator tips i'd say that if emission laws arent bad where u live and dbs arent gunna get you in trouble go with only resonators, my dad had an 85 corvette with no mufflers and only resonators and it sounded awsome and not as loud as youd expect unless ur at WOT. anyone know anything about the Super 40s?

I have no problems with raspy sounds whatsoever. My 80 series is a kick a$$ muffler. Info about the new Super 40's can be found at the link I provided.

thanks picard but i really was looking for more of a first hand account not consumer jargon from teh mouth of the beast.

I understood that...I would like to know how they sound as well. I know they are new. Not sure when production started though.

Dude, you have to be kidding me I have a 1991 camaro rs with a 305 with 80 series and no cat converter and it is loud and awsome

Go to a 40's series. Those mufflers will wake the dead. They rasp REAL bad on my setup, but only for a specific rpm range. About 2000-2200 or so.

flowdisasters are terrible. i dispise them with passion. i think its because they are so common with people. i cant tell you how many times some kid with a 4.6 mustang will say "i have a k&n air filter and a flow master muffler on my car. it gave me about 70 HP..." i think thats what throws me off about the whole flowdisaster muffer thing. ill take a dynomax or corsa anyday

What size pipe did the shop run and do you have full size or shorty headers? That has as much to do with the final sound output as which muffler and cat you went with. You can have the free-est flowing muffler around (or no muffler at all) but with stock 1.5" or 1.75" pipe it won't make much noise.

When I did new exhaust for my Blazer we originally were just going to do 2" pipe and high flow cats as I'd heard other trucks set up that way and liked it. Well, at the last minute we decided to step up to 2.5" pipe (for the SB400 that I was planning on swapping in) and it turned out MUCH louder than expected. I had to idle though the neighborhood if I got in late so I wouldn't set off all the car alarms. It was fun for a while (especially in parking garages) but it did get old and you'd get a headache on the highway.

I agree with you Kontrax. I can't stand hearing the words "performance" and "muffler" in the same sentence. Contrary to what the ricers think, there is no such thing as a performance muffler that adds horsepower. It's just a box that traps/alters sound and provides some backpressure to the system. There's no big technology here, but if you read on some of their forums they buy into all the marketing BS. Flowmasters are the same thing, overpriced metal boxes. I will give Flowmaster props though as their marketing is genius, I honestly didn't think you could patent and sell a sound.

Sure you can, ever hear of a Stratavarious Violin? They sell for buko bucks.

If I didn't have noise requirements I'd be with no muffler. Then again, a car with no muffler would drive me nuts I think. So I'd put something on there JUST so I could deal with it on long trips.

Again, Spintech.

Blowmaster offers nothing that would allow me to consider them for my application that I cant find find elsewhere that is at a minimum equal and other cases superior?

http://members.cox.net/m.kassel/CC%2...20Idle_383.wav

Heya Ominous, good to see a fellow zonie.

Sounds good, you runnin about a 272 duration cam?

What's the idle volume like on those Spintechs? And do they sound good at WOT? I've considered swapping out my Flows for some different mufflers since the droning, and interior resonance gets so bad at times. Ive been hearing good things about the Spintechs, but I'm worried they wont be loud enough for me. I like being able to pull into a parking lot idling and set car alarms off.....so I dont know if I'll be able to do that without the Flows.

HMMM...

Setting off alarms, I set off alot of alarms. I aslo run a pretty big cam with Hooker SuperComp longtube headers, the muffler is only one part of the system. I dont run a cat either.

It is sick loud under WOT. It never drones either.

Between the guys in my circle we have all the popular exhasut setups. SLP 2-otl, Flowmaster, Hooker, and my Spintech.

My preference is
1. Spintech
2. Hooker
3. SLP
4. Flowmaster, but I dont actually like it and would never run it.

everyone i know with spintechs say they could never buy anything else after having them. i think they make a brutal sound. they offer different series. check out the web site

That is a fact that is undisputed, and probably the best indication on how likeable Spintech is once you hear them or run them.

Every single person that runs Spintech will only run Spintech after getting a taste. They offer a can for every single application from street to eliminator class.

i am going to invest in one myself. i want one thats got a nice tone but doesnt scream so loud that i cant hear music in the car. im looking for a single 3 inch in, and duel out one side so i can run the 2 outs on the drivers side rear. suggestion in spintech series?

I wish they made a 82-92 cat-back system, but I don't see
it on their website! Seems you guys are making me interested
in buying from Spintech. I do like the Flowmaster sound, but
they ROT out quickly!!!! Every system that I've seen on some
customers or friends cars/trucks, ALL of them had rusting
issues! Not pleasant looking!

they dont offer a system but all you need is the muffler itself and just have it swapped with your old muffler. why do all new pipes when there is no need? unless you have holes in them. i would suggest the spintech muffler. im torn between a muffler or packs. i have a wonderful idea for a 2 pack system on my car. i dont know if a muffler will fit since i sumped my fuel tank

I need all new exhaust. I want to use a 3" cat back system
for my 350 motor. I have 2.5" Dynomax cat back right now.
I suppose I could just reuse that system, but I prefer to use
3" with a 350 motor and all new parts

Where can I get the muffler at least? Is it a direct replacement?

take a look at the site. they offer a hell of a lot of mufflers. if i get a muffler, im getting a single in and duel out 1 side to run both exits out the drivers side rear. if you dont see it on the site Email them. i know they make a 4th gen muffler, that will fit on there too. dont you have a custom exaust shop around that will make some pipes for you and fit the muffler?