Flowmaster; Junk?

Which is noisier Magnaflow's or Dynomax Ultraflow's? I'm planning to get new mufflers to my '66 Mustang, now there is 2 chamber Flowmaster's =) And a noise is LOUD!!

I am extremely fond of Full Boar turbo mufflers myself.. installed them on my car & the sound is music to my ears.. gotta love having a V8.

-Mike

98 Mustang GT

That's exactly how I'd describe my MagnaFlows.

I am having Bassani mid-length headers and removable cat x-pipe installed on my Bullitt. What do think that will sound like? Low growllll!

Heavyiron

Flowmaster and MAC mufflers have all kinds of baffels inside that disrupt the exhaust flow and cost power. Their worst trait is a horrible drone at

2000 rpm. They also tend to rust. A lot of people like them a lot so in their eyes they are most certainly not junk.

The Dynomax link shows they are finally getting with the program with a stainless straight through muffler (turbo mufflers reverse flow twice). This doesn't address the drone problem but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Bassani and Magnaflow have had stainless straight through mufflers for a long time. Both are truly straight through with no change in direction at all. However, Bassani is the only manufacturer to address the drone problem with drone cancelling resonators in their cat back system.

LJH

95GT

to me I like the flowmasters.

i dont think they cost power though. I dynoed 374 std stock and 433 std with the flowmaster catback and open filter. (03 cobra) that is about as high as i have seen for any of the catback systems

also if that sound at 2000 is drone, somehow i like it - to me it makes the car feel more alive

but like you say, to each his own

Someone I know says he gained at least 20 HP on the dyno by changing from Flowmaster to Dynomax.

The drone (resonance) that "makes the car feel more alive" nearly drove me out of my car. Long trips were torture and required driving in 4th gear to keep the revs above 2000 rpm.

I love a good sounding exhaust but can do without peaky resonance. The Bassani is PLENTY loud and very deep with my 331 stroker. Even with the high flow cats many people wonder if it's legal (too loud). I don't need or want an additional loud resonance to "make it more alive". Believe me, one touch of your right foot and there's no doubt it's ALIVE. LOL

LJH

95GT

Remember the rule of TANSTAFL, (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.) Without any other changes to the engine open mufflers will not significantly increase horsepower, 2 or 3hp at best and what power gains you do get come at the expense of low end torque. By comparison close to 15 hp can be gained by a simple tune up.

The trick with owning flowmasters is understanding gearing and drone. I've know about the 2k to 2.2k drone for many years, and its not just FLowmasters that have this problem (if you see it as one). When setting up your car you can address the issue and never have a problem just by using a calculater.

I run a 4.11 gear with an AODe gearset in my tranny (2.85, 1.7, 1, .68) with a 25.5 inch tire.

With this combination when I want to cruise 55 on the highway I am at

2500....I off course don't drive 55 (like so many others) so I actually cruise at 3000 RPM which is just about 70-75 MPH. But even on those rare occasions I do drive 55....I get no drone.

When I am plugging along on a country road at 50 or so, I am not using my overdrive gear anyway (3k non-lock up stall) so I drive it in 3rd (which is the 1:1) and once again that keeps me in that magical area between 2500 and 3000 RPM. So when driving my car all I hear is the wind rush, the rattles in my dashboard, the occasional hum of the rear, and the blub blub blub of my 2 chamber flow masters. Total exhaust system is: long tube headers, 3 inch pipes, x pipe, 3 inch in and out 40 series, and then 2.5 inch over the axle and out the back.

Here it is idling:

And here it is pulling to 7k on the dyno:

You are usually at 2500-3000 RPM? Bet your gas mileage could use improvement.

-Mike

It's less of an issue on the Cobra because it has 6 gears. Doing 70 or higher in 6th takes you out of the drone-zone. This engine is also rev-happy so shifting back is no problem either.

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Yeah, but that's based on lower hp engines usually. Do the change on a

400 hp engine and you'll see more. (depending on how good the OEM stuff is).

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** You are usually at 2500-3000 RPM? Bet your gas mileage could use ** improvement.

I was just thinking the same thing. At two-bucks plus a gallon, those end up being very expensive mufflers.

Flowbastards sound meaty for about a year, then they start sounding something like a mixture of a dentist's drill, fingernails on a chalkboard and a female with full-blown PMS. I was at the Gates of Hell when I drove straight to my muffler guy on a Saturday morning and *begged* him to rip the damned things off and throw them into a volcano. He laughed and said, "Flowmasters suck, don't they?" The sad, desperate look on my face spoke volumes.

Something else I noticed whilst the Flowbastards were installed: a slight loss of low-end torque. Between that, and bobbing the intake snorkel, I'd probably lost 25% of my low-end pulling power, which was disappointing. Big TB's, K&N's, CAI's and other stuff tends to make the problem even worse. More airflow doesn't always mean more power across the board. You usually sacrifice a lot of torque for a few horses more at the top.

Now, there are those Mustang owners who are only concerned with how the car looks and sounds --performance is secondary. This is fine and all, but its not for me.

-JD

________________________________________________________ | | | 1998 Laser Red GT RAMFM Member Since 1998 | | M-5400-A Suspension http:/207.13.104.8/users/jdadams || Subframe Connectors & Seat Bracing, Strut Tower Brace || 4-point K-frame Brace, Tremec T-45 & OEM 3.27:1 Gears ||________________________________________________________|

I didn't build a 408 cube stroked out of my 351c so I could worry about gas mileage.....I do however get 12-15 MPG depending on the way I am driving.

Why did you go with an automatic tranny just out of curiousity... with such a powerful motor? I'da went with a 6-speed manual.

-Mike

I am referencing a stock or near stock engine, I try to remember to put that caveat in all my posts. Relatively low hp, low rpm stock engines will not benefit much from exhaust or manifold or even head changes. High hp, and high rpm are a totally different ball game and outside of my experience. (They're not very streetable either.) Your entire car is engineered around a whole series of compromises, but the engineers who built it are some of the best there is so the compromises that they arrived at are the best to be had. Most improvements that you can make to your car come with advances in the technology, not by re-engineering perfectly functional subsystems.

significantly

Just as a matter of reference, I'm getting over 23mpg on my 88GT, and that's on a engine with over 231000 miles on it.