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About a year ago I built a custom Y pipe and flowmaster exhaust for a friend. He loved the performance gain and some of the sound but hated the resonance. We got together today and added a 14" dynomax bullet. I don't know how to describe it but now it sounds like an engine with a good exhaust vs an open pipe. Resonance is far decreased and sounds is improved while cruising.
i got rid of the resonance with the transverse mounted Flowmaster exhaust setup in my 71 Nova by replacing the Flowmaster H pipe with a Hedman X pipe..
Idk why people like flowmaster... outdated tech, cambered mufflers, sound good at idle (deeper/raspier tone) but everywhere else resonance, horrible tone, I call them echo boxes. They are not by any means a good muffler. But they have great marketing!
Now onto the proper muffler, for optimal flow and resonant sound absorbtion should be a straight through perforated core muffler with roving fiberglass insulation. Plenty of quality brands use this design for a reason. Their straight through design doesn't affect flow (it's not like a glasspack) and absorbs resonant sound waves.
My father had a flowmaster catback on his 86 and it was blah (single in/out) I had chambered mufflers on mine and took them off. Best mod for quality sound is a perforated core style muffler. The larger the case the more length their is to absorb the sound waves, so a 18" case muffler is quieter than a 14" case muffler.
Best thing to do is throw the flowmaster in the garage. They are hit or miss on the dodge forums for the hemi trucks as well.
I am not a fan of flow masters but I am more than happy to attach the muffler of choice to a car that is not mine. I am still very impressed how much better that resonator makes the flowmaster sound.
Personally I like borla the best but I like the magnaflow on my TA with a resonator in the Y pipe.
Its all in your own personal preference. I think 3rd gen firebirds are ugly, but love the Camaro. I like the flowmaster sound. That is all some care about. Not worth any arguments when personal preference is the only debate. Now if someone wants to start a war over performance, that's a different ball game.
And next exhaust I put on my Camaro, wont be the flowmaster. getting old and the resonance aint as fun as it used to be!
i love the Flowmaster sound- it's better than the wanna be Eurotrash sound that all the other brands seem to be trying to go after. no one ever had a bad thing to say about the sounds that my Nova made once i put the X pipe on it, and a few people i know got Flowmaster exhaust for their car based on mine.
but my cCamaro is getting a pair of good old fashioned Dynomax Super Turbos with an X pipe on it once i get around to it.. should make the car "silent but deadly" and flow plenty of air for the 400ish HP that i ever plan on making. right now it's got a single 3" glasspack with a side exit exhaust and the noise is starting to annoy my almost 41 year old ears...
The biggest problem was not the sound it was the never ending sound. The entire cabin sounded like a giant echo chamber a at all times. The resonance was amazing. Yes it sounded ok when you jumped on it but cruising was just terrible and that resonance was always there. The resonator really cleaned up the sounds almost like getting rid of the static on an audio recording. No more major background hum just a clean exhaust note.
i had dual flowmaster super 44's on my camaro. same thing, that aweful drone. i did the same thing, added some bullet mufflers. i liked it so much that i cut the flowmasters out and added 2 more glasspacks. super quiet, and no droning. flowmasters are actually terrible flowing mufflers.
I think the flowmasters sound pretty good when you're NOT in the car. Of course every different car, system, part number etc. etc. sound a little different. ...most the cars I've been in with FM's sound terrible once you're above idle. On the highway forget it! ....and while I agree it's simply an opinion as to good or bad, I think the overwhelming majority of people in the hobby agree they resonate WAY more than others.
My fave, Hooker Aerochamber. In my opinion, it's got the least artificial sound. Just sounds natural. "in my opinion".
On a stock motor, I LOVE the sound of a Borla. Once you have a cam and headers, I think the Borla adds to much flavor, for lack of a better term. I mean you can tell it's a borla comin down the street. You shouldn't be able to tell what it is. ...and that doesn't mean it's a BAD sound....just not "natural" imho.
I think pretty much you have to listen for yourself and make that call if you like the sound or not. People have complained that the 80 series was way to loud inside and out on a stock L98. I thought it was fine on mine. I run 3" duals now with flowmaster 50 series. I can have a convo easily when driving, until I take it above 3k rpm. I have super 44's waiting to be installed. Curious how the sounds going to be.
You can "definitely" hear the Flowmaster "80" series inside the cockpit.
If you want silence or just a slight exhaust tone inside you will not like it.
Says so right here.
08-07-2015, 09:19 PM
