Whats wrong with them? I did a search trying to get some useful info but all i found was "boo hoo theyre too loud" and "wa wa to raspy" Im looking for actual reasons here. I had a 40 on my 'roc and i loved it. A little help here please?

 

Man, I don't get it either! A lot of people on here complain about them being too "droned out", having that interior resonance while cruising. I happen to like that drone, makes me remember that I have a V8 since its a slow L03!!! Don't let em get you down, Flowmaster still rules in my book.

 

sole reason i dont like them:

they're a chambered muffler that flows worse then other options out there.






the sound is 100% dependant upon the motor.

 

On both the cars I've had flowmasters on, my GTA and my stock L03 caprice, the sound has turned into whitenoise at high revs. I definately prefer the glasspack I have on the GTA now.

 

How is being too raspy not an "actual" reason? Some people don't like the crap tone that comes out of Blowmaster mufflers.

How about you give us an "actual" reason you DO like it? Remember, sounding good to you is not an "actual" reason.

 

I have headers, 3" exhaust, no cat, and an 80 series. According to some people, this is the ultimate combination for that "Nasty, raspy, cracking flowmaster sound."

And you know what? It is not raspy, it does not crackle (not even on a down rev). It is loud, agressive, and great sounding in my opinion. I like being able to take my car to 3k and hear it howl. With some exhausts you really need to get it high in the RPM's to really hear it.

I understand it will not outflow some mufflers (like magnaflow's straight through). But I love people with 170 hp cars saying "flowcrapper sux, my xxx brand flows soooo much better..etc" You are not going to see a 20 hp gain by changing mufflers on a 170 hp car. I'll happily give up 1-3 ponies for an exhaust I love, instead of having one I don't care for. This obviously changes though when your putting out 400 + hp.

There are exhausts I do not care for at all, but I don't go around bashing it every chance I get (it gets really old). Different people like different sounds, people have to accept that.

 

why date a regular girl when you could date a supermodel

just kiddin, nothin wrong with flowmasters, in fact on mustangs they sound great, I just prefer the sound of my Hooker

 

This time I will have to disagree with you. On both my motors 355 and 388, one with 2.5" dual exhaust and this one with 3" dual exhaust, both motors ran the SAME ET and MPH weather going through the mufflers OR uncorked. Best thing, I have a moderately quite street car than runs 11.1? at the track and I know it would run 11.1? on the street since I get no gain from open exhaust. Always good watching a "quite" sbc car spot an opened header BBC stripped down car


The buddies running packed mufflers typically pick up .2-.4 when they drop their exhaust, I might be lucky but I know 3 other racers running 40 series in the same boat as me, no gain dropping exhaust or going through the 40 series Flowmasters.

 

On my single 3" flowmaster system I picked up 3mph when I took off the flowmaster and put on a straight thru muffler.My car also runs 11's,just not quite an 11.1 If I put slicks on it I know I could come close tho

 

Couldn't have said it better myself...I have the exact same setup. I wouldnt trade it for anything. I love the sound of my car and so does everyone else...

 

Again, I agree....my best friend who has been drag racing for 30 years told me not to go open exhaust or with cutouts. He said I didn't need it. So here I am with my 3" exhaust and 80 series FLowmaster and I love it.

 

When I first got my LT1 it had a Flowmaster 80.

Sound:

Low RPM (Idle to 2000): Sounds decent. Nice and bassy, loud. Has good over-all tone to it.

Medium RPM (2000 to 4000): Sounded nice getting up there, not very loud for the RPM though.

High RPM (4000-6000): Sounded alright. Mostly just white noise when I whomped on it. Not loud at all.

Flow:

Sucked.


My new exhaust is ten times better and there was a nice power increase in the upper RPMs.

 

Exhaust is a very personal thing. One persons idea of a great sounding exhaust won't be the same as others. So your best bet is to get as many sound clips, or even better talk to third gen owners at the next meet and ask em how their setup. I like my system to be there, as in I goe by and people hear a nice car and maybe turn around. "Loud" isn't what I want, I like aggressive. I've got not cat, and a 2.5" Dynomax system and it gives me exactly that. Every flowmaster I've heard, and even on other cars, had a cheesy sound to them IMHO.

 

Fired up the car today and took this vid. The camera picked up way too much bass though. If you listen through head phones or speakers without a sub woofer, it should sound decent. But it will sound distored with any kind of speakers that put out good bass.


Download... Rev's did not exceed 3500 RPM.

 

That's a mean-sounding bike...

I'd say Flows are an aquired taste. Like beer...

 

Your car has exactly the setup I want. DEAR *** that sounds amazing

edit: Question: your sig says you have a 3" flowmaster catback, which I assume is the American Thunder kit? However, the pics on your site (very clean car btw) dont seem to match that. Those exhaust tips don't look like the ones on a American Thunder kit. Were those pics taken before you got it or what?

 

Thanks

Previous owner put the stock tips back on. Guess he liked them hidden. I don't mind it either

 

Its just a matter of taste really... some people have it, some don't (take that comment however you want ). Personally, I don't like the way Flowmaster exhausts sound, they drone too much, and the Flow systems I've heard don't have any real 'bite' to the sound either.

 

.. agreed. Flowmaster was the 1st muffler I ever had on my 'bird. Back then I had the 'loud is better' mentality.
The thing that drove me close to my now insanity point was regardless of how easy you drove... the Flowmaster always made the car sound like you were driving '***** out' fast.

Do they sound good on a mustang... sure... but, you're only listening to that mustang for 10-15 seconds as it passes by/ Not from point A to B. After awhile.. the 'sweet tone' will grate away your nerves. It's not an immediate thing though...

Most people who own flowmasters or obnoxious loud exhausts (exhaust makes more noise than engine makes power) only want the attention anyways. Oddly enough... this theory is fine only for v8 owners.. anything less is a r____ (4-6 cyl cars with loud obnoxios mufflers). Double standards are great....

 

Since when are "too loud", "too raspy" or "too much drone" invalid reasons for disliking a muffler? They're perfect reasons. Beauty (in this case) is in the ear of the beholder. If you like Flows, more power to ya. But there's a lot of us who don't like them for whatever reason, all valid.

I like Magnaflow.

 

it's the flowmasters are like ricers


they are everywhere


it's like that joke that was for honda owners


what does a flowmaster and a tampon have in common

every putty has to have one

but no in all honesty it seems EVERYONE has them.
and in my opinion most of them don't sound that great. just not my cup of tea

 

Dear g0d ive stirred up a hornets nest. I didnt realize how many people are passionate about their mufflers.



Calm down Nate, i wasnt trying to offend you.
I liked my 40 because i felt a noticeable difference in upper end power as well as i liked the way it sounded. Ive always been more drawn towards the old school muscle car kinda sound rather than the newer LT1/LS1 kinda sound that some of the other mufflers gave my car. I just love that old school thunder

 

Not sure why others don't like 'em but I love my flows. v8 355, headers, dual 2.5" cutouts (usually closed but hey) with true dual 40 series flowmasters... and I really enjoy the way it sounds when I cruise... sounds deep and pretty mean...

 

I want to disagree with deadbird on this one.

My exhaust is probably louder than 95% of the street cars on this site. I did not buy it for attention, although EVERYONE looks at my car (also due to the fact that it looks great).

I didn't buy it for attention, I bought it because I thought it sounded nice, I don't really car what other people think, and the fact that it flows better than the damn flowmaster that was on there.

 

i liked the sound of my flowmaster but i like the sound of my hooker better. even though i am one of those people that everyone talks about with a 170 horse car i think the hooker sounds nicer and cleaner than the flowmaster

 

I would have to agree that it is a taste thing. I like the sound of a flowmaster system.......personally. There are other systems out there that are nice but I wouldn't touch them cause they don't "do it" for me. I also went with my system to be different. There was not a lot of 4 inch flowmaster setups out there when I bought it compaired to any other system on the market.

Plus it's hidden real nice.

 

Well, I wrote up a big reply for this topic... but decided that leaving it simple would be better.... "Opinions are like @ssholes, everyone's got one".

 

sellmanb, you got it right!

 

Why? Because they are the best sounding muffler and everyone has them, so people like to bash them. Sound is an opinion, but to me nothing sounds better than Flowmaster mufflers on a properly done setup. IROCThe5.7L covered the flow issue nicely. Just go with what you like.

 

Before I bash I have a 40 on my camaro. I only have it because the muffler shop happend to have this on hand ready to install at a discount and nothing else avalible for a day.

I dont like the hollow sound it's not a raspyness issue it's a chamber muffler issue that makes them sound like an echo chamber, empty. They make bone stock engine sound meaner then it really is like an enraged minature poodle going for a kill.

 

I'm just telling you that sounding bad isn't a wrong reason to not like a muffler.

 

I have had 2 Flowmaster on my car since I have bought it first was an 80 series it was never raspy till I installed headers and a high flow cat. Then I went to a 40 that made the car much louder and was not raspy at all didn’t ever pop. Then I went to true duels with Dynomax bullets it really bassy at idle it’s near unnoticeable but when you tap the gas it really comes alive! As far as Flowmaster hurting a 170hp motor my car would fall in that category it made a noticeable increase going from single 3” with a Flowmaster 40 to duel 2 ½” with bullets. I don’t have anything to prove the increase though but it sure felt like more power especially in the top end.

 

Don't know if I've ever heard of headers and a high-flow converter making a Flowmaster system sound lousy. Doesn't seem to work like that on L98's and higher ci engines I guess.

 

It's possible if you were to add those items and keep a stock sized pipe after the cat to the muffler. With the different pressure zones it would have an ill effect on sound not to mention power.

 

bottom line, a muffler is not gonna make that much difference between each one as far as sound goes..as far as power goes, some will flow better than others....but 90% of a cars sound comes from your motor...you can have 2 cars, different setups, same muffler and they will sound totally different...if you have a nice built motor, your not gonna see much of a difference in sound if you change one out for another....i think the people that are bashing flowmaster are people that have half assed exhaust system...you can't expect a muffler to be at its full potential when you just swap out the stock one for a flowmaster....you have to start with the headers and go all the way back, i my self wouldn't go with a flowmaster just for the fact that everybody does have them...i like to be different....i'm in no way shape or form bashing them, i think they are real nice sounding mufflers....if i could i would run straight pipes because that is the sound i love...so the next best thing is dynomax bullets, so I think thats what i'm gonna be running....but i also don't understand by people blatenly just rip on flowmaster...

 

Personally im a old schooler type of person grew up hearing muscle running around with 2 chamber flows dumped. I was raised with that sound its mean sounding to me. I start drooling when i hear a old muscle car camming real hard shaking the ground. Thats just mean. I agree a lot of the mufflers today sound good. I have the hooker aero chamber on my car right now and i get compliments on the sound all them time. But there is no replacing that old school sound. Im about to do my own dual 3inch exhaust w/ no cats, 2 chamber 40 series flows dumped before the axle. I already have all the pipe and the mufflers and i have a welder and cutting tools just got to get out and do it.

 

And if anyone is worrying about loosing horsepower because of the muffler run cutouts then it doesnt matter what the hell is back there. Thats what i intend to do put them right up at the front so i can run open headers when ever i want. Im going to do electric ones.

 

with dual 3" i don't think your gonna need cutouts at all! dual 3" exhaust can handle like 600 HP....i was orignally gonna do dual 3" but changed my mind to dual 2.5" dumped before the rear axle...i'm gonna go with dynomax bullets or maybe those flowmaster single chamber race mufflers they got out now...

 

ok i had a dynomax ultra flow on my 305 and it sounded ok but when i baught my 80 serries flow it mad the 305 sound pretty dam good ! compared to my slp loud mouth that i have now it doesnt even compare but i would have to give flow master credit ! when i was looking for the loudest muffler i could find flowmaster web site said that the 80 was the loudest? some one clear this up whats the loudest muffler the 40 or 80?

 

My 40 was louder than my 80.

 

that's been the case with both my engines and both exhaust sytems both the 2.5" with my 350hp 350 and 3" with my 575hp? 388. Below you can kinda see where the mufflers dump in front of rear axles, and with both systems I did'nt pick up or lose any ET or mph. My friends that run packed mufflers pick up on average .2-.4 by dropping the exhaust with the weight lose and restrictive nature of fiberglass/stainless packing. Once you start adding bends to the system it will slow down/restrict exhaust flow so trying to keep it as straight as possible helps alot. So if your going to run it out the back bumper, going with larger tubing will help. I've only known 2 people I race with that tried the 3" cut outs (manual type) and neither one of them picked up anything, but these were big exhaust/flowmaster equipped mufflers cars to begine with, so that really did'nt surprise me a much.

Some guys dont like the Flowmaster type becasue of the tinney sound they have, I like them becasue growing up all I ever heard were cherry bombs/glass packs. IMO either system sounds nice, I just want then to PERFORM first and foremost so sound really is'nt high on my list becasue I HATE dropping exhaust, and the cut outs take up quite a bit of room, I mocked up 3" cut out's near my LT headers a long time ago and there just was'nt the clearance I needed/wanted since I drive this quite a bit on the street. With the set-up now I'm yet to bottom out with a passenger and full tank of fuel so I'm pretty pleased.

There is a guy down the road (welder by trade) that got some internal specs on building your own "flowmaster" type chambered mufflers. He build 1 set a buddy installed on his 9 second 68 camaro, they're approx. 26" long but only 2" thick and the ground clearacne the 68 gained after installation was huge. First time at the track this year it racn the same numbers it did through the pipes as it did open headers so I signed my name on the list for some, would like to lower my car a couple more inches out back and just dont have the ground clearance with these 4" thick Flowmaster cases and dont want to buy all new oval tubing either.

 

i havent heard anyone mention preassure waves yet. PHR just did a huge write up on "Exhaust Science Demystified" . Its actually really interesting, although i've got to re-read it b/c alot of it was over my head the first time through.

On the topic of flow they came to the conclusion that a muffler should flow 2.2cfm/hp. Anything that flowed greater than that showed minimal improvements.

The flowmasters are designed to eliminate the preassure waves created from the exhaust. I'll have to reread the article and get back to you on what they say the benifits to this are.

on a side note, i love the 2 chamber flowmaster sound.

-chillen

 

Wow, ... I want to hear every set up there is.

I think loudest car on street would be a fart cannon r.ice .... You can hear them miles away, farting and buzzing...

I have 5.7 (350) with dual 40 series Flowmaster, and I think it sounds perfect for engine's power. What the hell do other mufflers sound like? i LOATHE and HATE the way borla or SLP sound , they sound like shiat to me.

Personally I like the sound of a 5.9L Chev engine installed on MARCOS LM600 (it's 630 bhp, GT1 class), and I dont care what exhaust it has I only know it sounds close to that flowmaster I got for my 5.7L and it gets loud at high rpm. Like that sound of a cigar boat, awesome.

 

My car used to have a 80 series back when the car was stock. It sounded really good, but it did drone. No biggie though.

I just wish people would take the time to research and decide what you want and not just buy a FM cuz you heard one when you were a kid, ya know? If you do the research and you still decide you like it, then that's all that matters.

All hail the Hooker AeroChamber!!!

 

its a cigarrette boat by the way ...

 

The proof is in the numbers. Flowmasters are a well built muffler, but for the money or less there are mufflers out there that flow more.

 

Hold up wait a minute.......FLOW BETTER ?????? What for? To gain extra 3-5 horses out of it? Or for the sake of how sound flows? WTF???? Okay, you need to explain it a little more to me. I do not understand why do you need that flow? Flowmaster , lol, I didnot buy it because of its name and that it's master at flow... the sound is what made me like it, not the flow.

 

function over form is good

form over function is r1cer

 

RAV3N, no need to get your feelings hurt. When flow is critical what I stated above is true. If you take the time to call the manufacturers, or some have it on their website, you will see what I am talking about. I personally prefer not to pay more for less horsepower. When my car was still injected I had the flowmaster forceII single in/out setup on it. The car consistantly ran mid-low 13.7's. I swapped the muffler out with the same size case magnaflow and the car responded with low 13.6's with no other changes. To me, it was worth it.

 

I had Flows on my Mustang....they didn't sound bad, but didn't sound good either. I *believe* they were delta flows, but they were run from heads (which changed the exhaust sound and volume DRASTICALLY), into equal-length 1 5/8 shorties, into a 2.5" offroad X-pipe, out a pair of 2.5" dumps. Mostly just made a lot of noise.

I put a pair of Spintech Pro Streets on and never looked back. Idle, it sounded wicked....very reminiscent of drag cars, with that tin-like burbling note... At cruise, well they suck...they sound terrible and drone like a **** inside (but not outside oddly enough). But at WOT is the real reason I like them. They sound HELLACIOUS, and I've scared the living hell out of people jumping on the throttle next to them at about 40 mph...

So in my experience, I don't DISLIKE flows...but I don't like them either. But as far as mustangs go, around here every guy has a flow and the sound gets old. I like being a bit different. Especially when I get a phone call that says "dude I couldn't see but I just heard a car leave the gas station and goose it, was it you?" That tells me it sounds different.