I know this should be in the Exaust section but i wanted your guys opinions too. What is the best sounding muffler for a V-6?????

 

Here's what I use.
I start with a healthy larger 3.4 engine
UNFORTUNATLY I hvae to choke it at the engine "Y" pipe set up (look down at pipes of the passenger side of engine).
Luckily I have a great condition used 1995 2 1/2" AC Delco CC. only 50K miles on it & it looks brand new!
Then into the factory 2 1/4" "I" pipe, into an Arvin 2 1/2" to two 2 1/2" exiting pipes.
The muffler is new from a later 80's Z-28 at the wrecking yard. I pulled it myself. I CHOSE NOT TO REMOVE A LARGER FLOWMASTER I ALSO SAW (though I should have & sold it, oh well!).
Arvin makes about 60% of the OEM market exhaust stuff.
Car sounds really great now.
It sounded awful for abit there due to aftermarket CC that was failing. BIG TIP RIGHT THERE!
Once I inserted the AC Delco CC, man this car sounded sweet again.
And more powerful, too. LOTS OF STRONG REVS AGAIN!
I'm gonna modify the 3.4 "Y" pipe set up I got with my other 3.4 engine.
I want to regain that 5-7 HP lost at that original "Y" pipe section & get rid of those tiny 1985 issued factory skinny "Y" pipes.
The 3.4 "Y" pipe is larger diameter than the 1985 "Y" pipe.
I have a 2 1/2" pipe that is before my CC.
I do not believe that "section" is original, may have been added by previous owner choice of muffler shop.
Real upgrade in power?
Change out the original "Y" pipe & go get newer CC.
Then see how it feels & sounds.
That is my plan as I got my other upgraded exhaust parts (wrecking yard muffler & the newer CC for free) for dirt cheap.
2 1/4" "I" pipe is decent for now.
Spend money up front at those pipes for best HP gain.
IT'S FINDING THE RIGHT MUFFLER GUY for that project.
I need only get in my hands an original 3rd gen V-6 "Y" pipe for mocking up my 1995 3.4 "Y" pipe.
Then I plan on changing the "I" to larger 2 1/2"

 

Sound-wise, opinions vary. I think Flowmaster sounds too raspy, personally. My Camaro (3.1) had the Dynomax Super Turbo catback with a new Catco converter and it sounded pretty mean even though the converter silenced it. At a fast idle it sounds like a wimpy 305. It deepens the exhaust tone A LOT, but the idle volume barely raises. This system is NOT good for adding volume...only tone. I enjoyed it though, and the performance gain was astonishing. I'd guess that the exhaust mods alone took a whole half second off of my 1/4 mile. No joke. Single-handedly the best thing I ever did to that car.

 

It really all depends. There is no right or wrong answer. The sound can also change due to what you do to your engine. I have a Dynomax cat back right now on a fairly stock motor.

I think the sound is much better than stock, but I don't like it all that much under low end acceleration. I want to do a 3.4l swap pretty soon in the future and almost any exhaust used with a 3.4l engine I have always liked so when I do the swap, I will most likely love the sound of my Dynomax exhaust more.


My guess is that you want one that sounds like a V8. I don't think you can really mimick the sound with just catback. There are some catbacks that sound close, but I am not sure what brands they are.

 

I will vote for the Dynomax Super Turbo....

I had a Flowmaster 80 series on my car for about a month, it sounded great on the outside up to about 4000rpm (and if your V6 is anything like mine, you probably hit 4k on the tach fairly often) , then it sounded like utter crap, was also very loud on the interior and sounded somewhat "*****"...very nice idle though.

I had a Dynomax Super Turbo put on my car last week, in my opinion it is much better....while it produces a much more mellow and quieter sound than the Flowmaster, it is definatly better than stock and much better suited for a V6. I'm very impressed with mine, and love being able to hear myself think while inside the car

 

Try hooker or edelbrock


Akshay

 

Never heard any Edelbrock exhaust system.....wonder how they sound...

Someone on the board has a Hooker Aerochamber muffler and a custom catback...or at least he did, not sure if it's still there or if he still has the car....but it sounded BADASS. But the problem is...'custom catback'... Hooker doesn't make a catback for the 2.8/3.1.

 

The hooker AreoChamber muffler is quiter than the Dynomax super turbo muffler. I saw the box for the Areochamber at canadian tire. It showed a DB Graph and the Dynomax super turbo had a higher db rating.

 

cut everything but the y pipe off...then it will sound good...lol to loud sounds like u got a big motor till u get on it then it kinda buzzes..or was my car messed up?

 

Yup, I'm still here. Lingering anyway

Yup the car is gone

Yup, they don't make a full cat-back for our appliation.


I still have the sound file though if you'd like to hear it. mike1986fyrbird is right about the db chart. Here is a link:

http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLin...ro.html#Charts

It looks kinda low on the chart put it was always perfect for me. Great throaty rumble. The muffler cost's 75.00 at summit racing. However the install at Mineke....mandral bent, stainless steel, and welded i think cost about 250.00.

After two years it was still rust free.

 

No, it buzzes. Sounds freaking AWESOME idling around. 3500+ it starts to buzz like a fart tip'd Honda.

 

i got a seabring muffiler i got it chryser dealer where my dad woorks, it sounds ok i onlt got 1 exit pipe but that will change, i know what will soung the best right after the cc put a cherry bomb/glasspack rin a pipe back and split it in 2 right after the axel, then put 2 boom tubes

 

If your stock exhaust pipes are good, I think you should just replace your stock muffler with the Hooker aerochamber muffler, and not worry about a cat-back system for now. You could then purchase a performance coil, wires, long chrome exhaust tips, etc., with the money left over. Because the muffler causes backpressure and not necessarily the pipes.

Akshay
89 RS T-5

 

Welll the pipes cause it too. Particularly the stock pipes. Stock diameter is 2 1/4 in. Now, that's DECENT, but not GREAT. But the real problem is the bending. Stock has crimp bends. Basically, the pipe is wrinkled. Bounces the air around and creates loads of turbulence....it's wicked sh*tty for airflow. Aftermarket catbacks have the larger 2 1/2 in. diameter, and are mandrel bent. No crimps..just all smooth piping. Combine the two and it's quite a noticeable increase. I would venture to say half of all the restriction that a catback relieves is in the piping alone.

 

My problem with a catback tho... THE FREAKING PIPE BEFORE IT IS STILL CRAP!
Go catback + Y pipe Even a muffler shop's press bend would flow better than the crimp bending that comes stock. I've got a shop local here that will make a Y pipe for about $30.

 

$30 for a custom Y pipe? What are they making it out of?? PVC and duct tape??

 

No, in a nutshell, I bring him a clothes hanger showing how i want it done, and he makes it from 2.25" pipe (2.5" if I want for a little extra $$). Only problem, it's crush bent - not mandrel

 

Eek...still better than stock though. That abomination of a T-junction that we DARE to call a Y pipe.