taikowaza

The addition of Thorley headers and a jardine exhaust has breathed new life into the 3.0 and I couldn't be happier. Unfortunately the wife has firmly let me know that I can continue enjoying myself with my performance toys but that the noise has to drop. I have a magnaflow cat and the tubing is 2.25 (jardine tubing, looks great).

I have narrowed it down to 2 options-

1) Jardine says they make a resonator that might reduce the noise

2) get a magnaflow muffler.


the technician who cleaned my injectors said that my exhaust was really great but barked, and advised a 3chamber muffler to mellow it out.

I have found (7) 3 chamber magnaflow XL mufflers with 2.25 tubing in and out that could work at summit racing.

I am not sure what the difference is. There is case length, overall length, thickness, and width. Also case shape.
I know that the longer the muffler, the quieter.
I'd like something quiet, but still powerful. (I want to match the cat to the muffler so I'll stick with magnaflow).
thanks a lot for your opinion
T

options- case length, 18in, overall length, 24in,
inlet location offset, center, case shape oval

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case length 14, overall length 20...oval

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case shape round... case length 18, overall length 24...

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case length 27...overall length 33....round...

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I can't even tell what is different about some of these! Here is the link...
http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...8&autoview=sku

cootees

First of all Magnaflow has discontinued there XL series of mufflers so it may be pretty hard to obtain a warranty on those if something were to happen. I am actually quite surprised that anyone has any of them left. What muffler do you currently have on it?

The chambered mufflers really are not that good at quieting things down. There is not any insulation or packing inside of them so they make a lot of noise. It would give a similar sound to that of a 50 series deltaflow flowmaster...

If I were you, I would look into either a long body magnaflow and/or a magnaflow resonator. The resonator will help quiet it down. It depends on the lengths of the two as to how quiet it will be.

taikowaza

thanks cootees. I called Randy the master mechanic and he agreed with what you said. Although some people recommended 3 chamber mufflers, he said that he "wouldn't go that far". (are they that different?) I also asked him about flowmaster vs. magnaflow and the way he answered was as if it was absurd even to ask, he said "oh magnaflow is better, no comparison".

He hadn't heard about the 3 chamber magnaflow. He recommended an "18 inch magnaflow" (I assume he means standard) to quiet it down.

I guess my last question is if it is worth it to get a 3 chamber 18 inch magnaflow or just a standard 18 inch magnaflow, to get a nice quiet yet mellow/strong sound.

thanks cootees for your reply
T

cootees

Well, here is the thing. If you want a deep mellow tone then get a standard magnaflow maybe an 18" body. Any chambered muffler is going to have a raspy sound to it. I would suggest to stay away from those.. but the sound is totally a personal opinion as everyone has different tastes. Or to keep it quiet you may be better off getting a large body 14" oval magnaflow and adding a good sized resonator.

The arguement on Magnaflow or flowmaster... Well, I have been a dealer for both those muflers for a long time and it is back to personal opinion. I would take a magnaflow over a flowmaster anyday but there are many others who prefer flowmaster. They both give two completely different kinds of sound.

taikowaza

ok cootees, last question.
for a longer body magnaflow to quiet things down, on a 2.25 tubing exhaust, what are the options? (incl. part numbers)
I appreciate your help a lot
thanks
T

AH64ID

My 95 4runner with a header and flowmaster was silly loud. I had a 12' glasspack put on to act as a resonator. It was much quieter, and kept the same flowmaster tone I liked.

cootees

haha, easy enough. First you need to understand the different body sizes of mufflers. I am assuming you are going to go with an oval muffler as opposed to a round one(the oval will do a better job of controlling the noise)

With that narrowed down. We look at the body sizing, Magnaflow makes there oval mufflers in a few configurations, these are(in order of popularity) 4"x9", 5"x8", 5"x11" & 3.5"x7".

The most common muffler size is 4"x9". This means from top to bottom the muffler is 4" thick and 9" wide. From there you can choose from a vast array of lengths.

Now, out of those choices the 5"x11" will quiet the exhaust down the most. (Naturally the larger the body the more "muffling" will incur) Now Magnaflow only makes this muffler in a 2.5" inlet/outlet or larger. So this option is really narrowed out.

The 3.5"x7"... well this body size should speak for itself.. it's going to be loud.

4"x9" & 5"x8" ok.. these sizes are very similar. They took one inch from the thickness and gave it to the width or vice versa. The muffling done within these two styles should be the same if not, very similar. Basically one of these sizes were created just to help out with fitment issues on some applications.

So it is narrowed down to your choice of 4"x9" or 5"x8". Either one will work well for you. 4"x9" is the most popular so it will probably be a bit easier to obtain as well so we'll work with that one.

Time to choose a length. The priciple on choosing a muffler is... and I quote;
Now, to add to the confusion Magnaflow makes several different lengths. 11", 14", 18", 22" and 24". The 24" and 22" are not available in the 4"x9" or 5"x8" so that leaves us with the 18", 14" and 11". Where as the 18" body(24" overall) is the best choice for quieting down the exhaust so that is what we will go with.

Almost done...

So what we have is a 4"x9"x18" muffler with a 2.25" inlet/outlet. Whats left? The offset. The offset determinges where the inlet and outlet pipes are locating on the muffler. I.E. If I say center/offset then that means the inlet is centered and the outlet is offset to one side of the muffler. There are many configurations of inlet/outlet such as: center/center, center/offset, center/dual, offset/dual, offset/offset, dual/center, dual/offset, dual/dual, offset/offset (same side), Transverse(this one is made for late model f-bodies which utilize a same side inlet and outlet with an additional outlet on the opposing side)... and that is to name a few off the top of my head.

From the factory exhaust the 3.0 and the 3.4 use a center/offset configuration. If you look at magnaflows site you will notice that they do not make a center/offset configuration but that they do make an offset/center. Magnaflow mufflers are universal so the offset/center muffler can be used a center/offset.

So there you have it... the part number 11255 is the one I would suggest to use.

**note - any muffler shop should be able to make most offsets work on just about any application fairly easy
***note - Not all mufflers are reversible so please leave my text in it's context. All Magnaflow mufflers and cats are reversible(with the exception of the xl series of mufflers or one indicated otherwise by Magnaflow) but majority of other aftermarket and oe mufflers are not.


Let me know if you need help picking out a resonator or a cat.

taikowaza

cootees what a complete and righteous answer. You took a lot of time to work through that response and I feel enlightened as to magnaflow muffler sizing.
Thank you!! I really appreciate it. I'm pretty much convinced that I will go with your suggestion of the 11255 or 12255 (5x8x18)

Cootees, you seem to not like the 3 chamber mufflers very much (either Magnaflow or FLowmaster). Can you tell me why? Don't they make things the quietest of all? I heard that they reflect sound to cancel out waveforms that cause resonance.

My last remaining debate, that I have been thinking of all day, was concerning the 3 chamber mufflers, especially the flowmaster 50 SUV, or the magnaflow XL 3 chambers. My current muffler is the jardine (14x9x4) and it is noisy with the headers, sounds like a jet engine. it seems to have an area of 504 square inches.

the magnaflow 12255 has 5x8x18=720 square inches (big improvement).

the flowmaster 50 SUV has 5x10x17=850 in3. when I do the math, it would seem to be quieter, especially with the 3 chambers...

however you as a dealer, seem not to like it.

can you explain your reasoning about this, and tell me about resonators, and then I'll order a muffler/rez from 'ya.
(what do you think of a combo 18"magnaflow+rez ?

thanks cootees

best
T

PS. also, what are your thoughts on these MFLOW 2.25"
13255 (4x9x24) 3 chamber oval
13645 (27"body 33" total length 6" round 3 chamber (longest! quieter?
13745 18/24.
13744 27/33 7" round
thanks c
T

taikowaza

cootees- was wondering, I heard that I can get 2.5 mufflers, slide them over the 2.25 tubing, and have them welded on...
this would open up the world of 24/30" mufflers, like the
12286
with 960in3 of area...would be a lot quieter?
thanks again
T

cootees

You can do this but it is not usually recomended because of the "bottle neck" effect. On a chambered muffler it will not make that much difference but on a straight through muffler the core typically has the same size as the inlet\outlet.

Don't get me wrong about the chambered mufflers. It is my personal opionion to not like them. The chambered mufflers have no packing to quiet down the exhaust tone. Instead they have the chambers which is basically the exhaust running through the mufflers and getting knocked around by metal walls. In return that makes a lot of noise.

The difference in notes between a chambered and straigght through are very distinct. Chambered mufflers will give you a higher toned, raspy kind of exhaust note. The straight through mufflers will generally give you a lower toned, mellow exhaust note. And that is the main reason.

I do see what you are saying about the larger body flowmaster but if you were to take the standard original 40 series flowmaster and the same size bodied magnaflow muffler and test them out for noise. You would find the Magnaflow muffler to be a whole lot quieter.


On the resonator side there is really a couple options to go with. You can add a simple glasspack or magnapack or magnaflow even makes a round muffler with a 4" body that they use as a resonator on most of their catback systems. It all depends on how much room you have to work with though.

Do you still have the factory cat in the factory location? How much distance will you have between your cat and the muffler to work with?

AH64ID

You also have to remember the design of the chambers will be different. Like where cootees compared a flowmaster 40 series, but that is a 2 chamber muffler. And even between 50 series flows, there are 3, there are differences. And the 30, 60 and 70 series are also a 3-chamber.

Take a look here and you can see how much design affects volume.



In addittion if you go to big on muffler for the flow of your engine it can have adverse affects on you flow.

IMO, if you like the tone of the jardine, but not the volume..have a 12 glasspack put in, preferablly before the muffler, but anywhere will do the job. If you go that route have them weld it in so the openings in the straight thru face the motor. This cut my volume in half.

taikowaza

I've been driving the magnaflow 24/30" muffler with magnaflow free-flow cat for a few months, and like the volume level. The sound is pretty liquid and sounds aggressive without being ricey, and is pretty subtle thanks to the length. The sound is still a little bit high for my taste though, and was wondering if there are ways to pitch the tone down a bit, without taking the muffler or cat off. I remember reading about resonators and glasspacks, can these be added after the muffler, or tailpipe, without requiring major surgery?
What would you recommend adding, and will this affect power a lot?
I'm not looking for more volume, just a little more damper, maybe, and transposing the sound lower
thanks a lot!
T

ironroad9c1

trust me ,no matter what happens ,you do not want a flowmaster , ther ethe biggest POS out there next to stock. as far as quieting things down a larger case on a muffler will do the job ,here is a good artical on mufflers.
http://www.pontiacstreetperformance....p/exhaust.html
make sure you read the second page.

AH64ID

I disagree, I haven't seen or used, many better mufflers....