liek a couple of weeks ago i got a 2.5 piping flowmaster 80 series exhaust and i read on here it needs to break in to get the nice sound now its been like a month or so and its too fukin quiet man its load when im at idle but when im at wot or cruisin or revin it not loud at all wat gives man ! i got a 350 so i thought that would make it sound nasty but it hardly sounds louder than stock!? will it eventually get louder?

get a free flowing CAT..

Cat kills the sound big time, and it's loud at idle because you aren't projecting the soundwaves OUT as much as at WOT. Go into a parking garage, you'll find out how loud it is.

i have a free flow cat on

Maybe it is the 2.5?


My 80 series is pretty darn loud, even before I gutted the cat. Which 80 series did you buy? There are two different versions (Irocztwentygr8 pointed this out to me).

So yeah... if you get to the point where you wanna try some Magnaflows or something, let me know a reasonable price for your used Flowmasters and we can maybe make a deal.

So yeah... if you get to the point where you wanna try some Magnaflows or something, let me know a reasonable price for your used Flowmasters and we can maybe make a deal.



2.5 inch pipe though? I was thinking of going to a 3.0.

I dunno, my dad has a 2 1/4" setup on his 5.0 TBI Firebird with a 80 on it, and its loud as hell.

That's the classic flowmaster sound I've owned 2 of them and I hated them both for that reason. Don't get people's fixation with them but it's a matter of preference.

I personally hate the way the 80s sound. I figured out running a single outlet 40 or something similiar sounds WAY better. Im putting a Super 40 on mine in the morning.

Different people have different results. I can honestly say, my 80 series gets louder and louder all the way through the rpms. There is no way my idle is louder then my part and full throttle. I don't have to be heavy on the throttle to hear my v8, I can take it to 3000 rpm and have it howl a nice agressive tone. Thats why I love the exhaust so much.


But you said it best when you said "It is a matter of preference".

i did notice a huge improvement in hp n flow but just the sound isnt loud enough i wanted to sound like a beast i was thinkin of goin with hooker but i dont like the tips on them i like the chrome flowmaster tips

Why in the world did you get 2.5"?

Mine's more than loud enough. Too loud for my taste. I was in a hurry and didn't research enough back in 2001. I would go with a Dynomax with what I know now.

I realize it's a matter of preference, but I just don't get the "loud as a beast" thing. Loud don't make fast - people just think it does.

(A couple of years ago, I had Mark A. Shield's famous Hooker sound clip running on the computer at home - my wife asked me how I got a recording of my car on the computer...)

i got the 3inch catback 80 series from flowmaster on my L98
i wouldnt consider the 2.5" system. way to small! LOL

3inch all the way from cat to tips. LOL

sounds really good. after a month or so of driving the sound got a bit better and deeper. Headers really deepened it and toned out the raspyness. LOL when it was just bolted on, i was a bit dissappointed as it was really raspy and not overly loud. deffinately better than stock but still not what i expected. but after a while running it, it "toned up" to that FLOW sound LOL. very mean and agressive. at 2500rpms it really starts to awaken and gets deep. you can hear it inside the car well at this point.

WOT under load is great. Its a smooth, loud, and aggressive but has a nice sports car like tone to it that matches the characteristics of a thirdgen. thats the way i describe it...

i still have the stock cat on it and it seems to have quieted down somewhat now. i believe its the cat choking it up abit, so i will change that soon and see if it gets better. if not, i am going with a custom GMMG like setup with bullets or spiral pros. LOL

overall opinion on flowmaster 80's....
Some love it and have great experiences with it
Some hate it and have had poor experiences with it.

yeah just wait a lil bit longer .....when i put mine on i had the cat taken off too so this really makes a big difference everybody loves the way it sounds on mine very aggressive and i only got a 305 tpi ...my buddy gots a 305 tbi and its also different sound more mellow ...he says its cause mine is 2 chamber and his is 3 chamber...i dont remember them makin it that way for 80 series ....so just take off the cat and you'll be very happy or very annoyed if its too loud ....and mine sounds loud in 1 st then gets mellower in the rest of the gears

I had an 80 Series on my ol LG4 about this time last year.

It did sound better and better as it broke in, then it sounded the best once I straight piped the cat(previously had added an O.E.)

Now I have a 350HO and half of me says to throw the flow back on, the other half is saying run 3in duals

Brandon

Before I did any work to the car, it had a 2.5" 80 series muffler flowing through stock pipes, cat, and manifolds. It sounded really good for a stock set-up. Now I have the hooker with full exhaust. THAT sounds awesome, but that's not a fair comparison due to all the other mods.

How loud is loud? On a stock 5.7, the 80 shouldn't be too much louder. Noticeable yes, but not earsplitting.

What are you comparing it to, open headers? Cripes, my flow 80 is wicked loud and cool sounding on a stock 305 TPI. I have a cat, a 3"midpipe and dual 2.5's.

so how would my 80 series sound w/ a 3 in catback, 3 in y, no cat, hedman LT headers and a 350HO?

Haven't heard it since the LG4, the flow still sitting in the garage...

-get headers

-get rid of cat

-go 3 inch the whole way

-chillen

Why did you only go with 2 1/2?

I don't know how you guys can say they "break in."

Unlike Gibson, Magnaflow, Dynomax, etc....Flowmasters don't have any fiberglass packing insulation, its all metal and baffles.

They can't sound any different from when you first put them on.

As the flows have been on your car for a while, they build up a layer of black burnt carbon deposits. Every car that I have ever put a Flowmaster on, I noticed the tone change as the muffler had been on the car for a while. I don't see how this could make them any louder but the sound does change.

doesn't make sense, but its true

One word... Thermodynamics.

Sound waves are affected by the heat build-up in the muffler.
As it gets carbon-coated, it changes the thermodynamics of the muffler much like a carbon coated combustion chamber gets hotter and likes to ping. When you change the thermo "patterns" inside the muffler, it will affect it's sound cancellation qualitites.

When I bought my flowmaster(3" w/a 40 series), it was awfully quiet. After a couple months I noticed it got louder, but it did hit a wall and only got so loud. Lol...never thought you'd have to "break in" a muffler, huh.

If i were you i'd do some research, it took me some time
and it actually led me to VORTEX mufflers. You probably think to your self vortex who in the f#$k are they... Well i finally got one for my 305 TBI and i'm running w/o a cat just a straight pipe in its place. For my money i wouldn't bother gettin the flowmaster 80 series. Thats what i originally had planned, until i found this bad boy.. I'll eventually post a sound so you can hear what its like..Its pretty close to running w/o a muffler, but the raspyness is gone and it has a deep mellow tone....i also noticed small gains in torque and in my upper rpms...gas mileage has improved roughly 1-2mpg...so you may want to look into them.. As far as i know S&K muffler shops carry them and supposedly meineke...

I think it's probably the fact that flowmaster uses higher quality muffler bearings than a lot of the other companies. The last a lot longer, but because of this, they also take a little longer to break in to give you that famous flowmaster tone. If you get a set of headers and a high-flow cat it will definitely make it sound louder/better. I have heard many cars with flowmaster 80s on them and definitely love the sound.

Its the fact that people hear alot of 3rd/4th gen cars with 80s is exactly why I don't run one. Everyone in South Florida with a 3rd gen car has an 80 on it and they sound exactly alike. My GTA with a 40 series and a single driver's side outlet sounds awesome and unique.

the reason why i went with 2.5 instead of 3 was because for 3 it was more money and i didnt have that much on me at the time so i went cheaper

I'm with you on this one.. Loud != cool. I'm trying to devise ways of making my formula not so loud. Maybe one day, the chief will actually let me take it to work.

-- Joe

True dual Super 40's with no cats is the only way to go if you want one of the deepest and loudest sounds you'll ever hear come out of a Camaro. Inside my car its damn near as quiet as stock but ouside you can easily hear it from 3 blocks away, only problem is coming home at 3 in the morning

edit: part of the reason my engine sounds like it does is probably because theres not one stock part on it

Classic Flowmaster, huh..

My muffler bearings last longer because I use Muffler Bearing Hi Temp Synthetic Lube.

Mine's friggin loud... but i've got 3" pipe, no cat, and a not so stock engine..

Nice theory... but its not correct.

Touch the metal on a new muffler, and then a well used one. The new one will feel slick, not only due to the smooth metal but the oils impregnated in the metal for manufacturing processes. Once this oil burns off, the metal hardens. And this is why Flowmasters get louder with time. Sound is formed in the chambers from resonant pressure waves bouncing off the metal baffles. Less "give" in the metal dampens the pressure waves less, and creates more noise.

Ditto, my sister put the same thing on her Firebird and there's definately a difference. Nice an rumbly at idle and it noticeably louder when she gets on the throttle.

That is exactly what I run on my 87. Muffler has a great sound to it, more of a plumpy "muscle" sound to it. No raspiness whatsoever on mine. The sound is 10 times better than a flowmaster.

Let's see here.................

I'm using 15/8" slp shorties
dual catco's
flowmaster y transition pipe
3' catback
slp dual driver side 2.5" outlets.

took that flowmaster crap off when I bought the car. It got quiter and faster.....THEN.....in went the t56 and now at lights I don't get looks anymore for loudness until the throttle is pressed; everyone expects it to be loud at idle.

Cats suck- take em off and your WOT will be annoying

an 80 series has to be the most interior resonating muffler ever.
too loud for my tastes. flowdisaster.

The mufflers breaking in thing is just a mith, I think the only reson the mufflers might sound louder or diffrent is that it my be affected my having carbon building up in the chambers in the muffler. just my gess, I also had the same problem with my being surprized on how quiet it was when i just got it installed on my car, I have the 2.5 inlet version on my car. But when i took off my cat OMG what a diffrence of loudness it made. Sure it sounds a little raspay but it realy dose not bother me at all. Oh and i plan on cutting off my 2.5 inlet sectoin and rewelding in a 3 in peice on there there is no diffrence in the muffler itself its just the inlet size and price that change. just my little thought

im running shorty headers, with 2.5" inch exhaust all the way to back with 3" tips, with flow master 40series muffler, and no cat.

its one of the loudest vehicles on the road IMO.

I have the Flowmaster catback system, with whatever muffler that came with, it's a single 3" system all the way to the back, single outlet. It's the dual-cat system, so it came with the Flowmaster y-pipe (real nice).

It's pretty darn loud, my girlfriend refuses to ride in that car, says it attracts unwanted attention, she's embarrassed, I've got no respect for her, no class, no taste, yada yada yada and that I turn all my cars into teenager hot rods and I oughta grow up, etc.

It's loud at idle, loud at part throttle cruising, and it's obscenely loud when I get into the gas.

Admittedly, the interior cabin noise level is amplified by the Moroso solid motor mounts, headers, cat-delete, rumpity LT4 HOT cam, aftermarket intake, etc. It doesn't help that there's a whole lotta rattling going on (e-brake handle, headlight switch ****, loose change in the ash tray, etc), typical "older" Chevy with lots of plastic interior.

I got to admit it's pretty darn loud inside the car, but I've gotten used to it (daily driver), now I kinda like it, actually, I like it a lot. My Bose radio doesn't work anymore, but I dont' need it anymore either, it just serves as a clock now. My car does set off all the car alarms in a parking structure. One of these days I'll go to LT headers and maybe the Mufflex system. My datamaster laptop now rides in the passenger seat.

In the meantime, to make her happy, I guess I gotta find some of that high-temp synthetic lube for the muffler bearings, and apply it to the exhaust trunions and fulcrums.

I do get a little nervous when I pull up to a stop light and there's a cop nearby. Don't need that kind of attention.

You realy dont have to worry about the cops be being loud in your v8, Or at least in my town. Its thoes damb hondas that **** the cops off by thinking there fast and haveing thoes muffler tips that sound like somebody taking a Sh*t all the time.

Time to find a new girlfriend!!

on the subject of flowmasters, I ripped the 80 series off my car SO FAST i swear it created a sonic boom. Replaced it with a dynomax bullet resonator and put a pipe where the cat goes

Any woman that rides with me and complains promptly gets to walk home

try flowmaster american thunder cat back
thats what i have on my 5.0 its louder than hell lol

i have catco cat and 3 in all the way back from there and i love the sound of mine cant wait till i get them headers though i really think you should have just gone with 3 in though