General LSX Automobile Discussion - Best mufflers?

Hello I have been trying to figure out what system to go with for a while now. At first I wanted true dual but I live in Colorado so I would have to have cats which is too expensive for me and not at all worth it. So I have decided to go with just a cat back system but not really sure which mufflers to go with. I want a real deep loud sound like a rumble. So let me know what you guys think. Thanks

I can tell you first hand that flowmasters kill power.....so decide on if you want power or sound

Dual/dual is a bit quiet. Look into GMMG.

Borla ia you have the money. No better sound out there.

Borla ia you have the money. No better sound out there.

My experience with Borla was that it sounded pretty good with the partial bypass plates. Not so good going thru the muffler. I'm not a fan of the tips either but it's all subjective.

The Borla and the GMMG (madhammer) are both stainless and about the same price. The tone of the GMMG is better IMO. The Borla when ran in the open configuration is basically open exhaust which sounds a bit toneless but is very loud!

I think you would be happy with either catback.

[QUOTE=ShifterLou;16352604]I can tell you first hand that flowmasters kill power.....so decide on if you want power or sound[/

Such a dumb statement

Borla's sound good.

Any muffler besides Flowmaster.

I can tell you first hand that flowmasters kill power.....so decide on if you want power or sound
Stop reading and actually do your own testing.
[QUOTE=ShifterLou;16352604]I can tell you first hand that flowmasters kill power.....so decide on if you want power or sound[/

Such a dumb statement

I couldn't agree more.

OP, I've had a flowmaster catback, true duals with magnaflow bullets, a jegs catback (full 3" pipe), an slp lm1, and am currently running a hooker aerochamber. I'm here to tell you that its all preference.

-the flowmaster was loud, but sounded tough. It had a rumble that I didn't like. As far as power, the car still ran like a bat out of hell. Ran a 13.0 with this catback.
-SLP catback is perfect with stock manifolds. Anything else and it's rediculously loud and very raspy with hwy drone. I ran a 12.9 with this exhaust. Not much difference between the supposed "chokemaster" seeing how the LM1 is 100% unrestricted pipe.
-The true duals were great til I cammed the car then they got obnoxiously also. Ran an 11.8 with that setup.
-Jegs catback was perfect (nice growl at idle, good mellow tone at cruise, and a deep throaty sound at WOT) but, after 4yrs it started to rattle on the inside. Ran a 11.8 through it as well and this was after everyone told me I would slow down after ditching the duals.
-Aerochamber is deeper at idle, nice aggressive tone around town, and down right nasty at WOT. I absolutley love this one so far. No track times yet.

Borla (on my mom's t/a) is loud but loud in a different way. It can be annoying yet comforting if that makes any sense? It sounds deep at idle, and very aggressive around town and down right nasty at WOT as well.

These are all I have experience with. Keep in mind that headers and an ORY change every aspect of ANY exhaust. A cam will change it even more. Be sure to listen to as many sound clips as you can with good quality recordings.

I'm about to buy Pypes Violators for my 2nd gen. I get tied of hearing flowmasters everywhere I go !

Gmmg or borla with an open plate, no catback will sound better than duals though, there is always ways around emmissons test,you could get tsp duals add 2 fake cats, and have it ran to the back

But if you bound to stay with a catback i would do a ory,fake cats since you have to have them ( check and see how many you need because in ohio they just need to see one )gmmg cat back ( its badass for a catback and has a really nice tone, i like them better with a magnaflow bullet in the i pipe, less rasp more tone, but im sure ya can get a pretty good dual setup made for about the same price or a lil more, just go to the top custom exhaust place in your area and ask what they can do,bring pics of other setups you have seen on tech,that will give them a good idea what needs to be done, going under the axle is easy,but over the axle can be done easy with 2.5 inch pipe

I have borla now, but I had hooker on my last car. The hooker sounds better to me.

runnin true duals w/ magnaflow mufflers. nice deep sound, sounds great to me and gets alot of compliments.

As you can tell by the reply's in here the best sounding catback is Subjective! All will give you the same power except for the flowmaster catback. Honestly I would ask yourself how much you want to spend, that will narrow it down some. And then I would try to find someone local to hear the ones your thinking about. It really shouldn't be that hard with the car shows and cruise in's that go on during the summer.

Like most say the Borla and GMMG are great catbacks but some that are still great but a little cheaper are SLP LM, Magnaflow, and Hooker.

Hooker Maxflow, have been proven to out flow everyone.

Stop reading and actually do your own testing.
[QUOTE=surfsideracing808;16353147]

I couldn't agree more.

OP, I've had a flowmaster catback, true duals with magnaflow bullets, a jegs catback (full 3" pipe), an slp lm1, and am currently running a hooker aerochamber. I'm here to tell you that its all preference.

-the flowmaster was loud, but sounded tough. It had a rumble that I didn't like. As far as power, the car still ran like a bat out of hell. Ran a 13.0 with this catback.
-SLP catback is perfect with stock manifolds. Anything else and it's rediculously loud and very raspy with hwy drone. I ran a 12.9 with this exhaust. Not much difference between the supposed "chokemaster" seeing how the LM1 is 100% unrestricted pipe.
-The true duals were great til I cammed the car then they got obnoxiously also. Ran an 11.8 with that setup.
-Jegs catback was perfect (nice growl at idle, good mellow tone at cruise, and a deep throaty sound at WOT) but, after 4yrs it started to rattle on the inside. Ran a 11.8 through it as well and this was after everyone told me I would slow down after ditching the duals.
-Aerochamber is deeper at idle, nice aggressive tone around town, and down right nasty at WOT. I absolutley love this one so far. No track times yet.

Borla (on my mom's t/a) is loud but loud in a different way. It can be annoying yet comforting if that makes any sense? It sounds deep at idle, and very aggressive around town and down right nasty at WOT as well.

These are all I have experience with. Keep in mind that headers and an ORY change every aspect of ANY exhaust. A cam will change it even more. Be sure to listen to as many sound clips as you can with good quality recordings.
Have you actually done any testing at the track....all on the same day....within 2 hours??
I HAVE!!

I have 20 witnesses to the testing too.
this was published and verified on 4 different website/forums.


Here is the write up from yellow bullet...I'm the Author, car owner, and driver....I also turn the wrenches.

We've all heard the rumors and stories, and I admit...I change exhaust a lot due to boredom. I've always wanted to do some sort of comparison, and here it is.

Here are the contestants. I tried to make them all a bolt on "cat back".
Mufflers like the vibrants could obviously be shorter but I wanted to keep variables to a minimum.
My car repeats very well and this wasn't done on a dyno but at a track!
My car is a budget 347, with 1 3/4 big tube shorty headers and a X pipe.



Starting top left and going clockwise
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll144/Shifterlou/7abbd195.jpg

Vibrant race mufflers
Flowmaster super 44's
Mac Flowpath
Pypes race pro (similar to magnaflow/ultraflow?)

Last year I ran the race pro's the entire season.
All the passes today were made in a 2 hour window, so D/A should have changed little.

Up first was the Pypes race pro's (they were already on the car). These are a straight through and most people say they are quiet...but sound good at WOT
Off the trailer it went 11.41 and 11.42 at 116.3
1.57 60'

Second was the flowmasters....solidly the losers of the group. Typical flowmaster sound but the super 44's are a deeper sound.
back to back 11.48 at 115.4 and 115.3
Literally on the first pass when I pulled it into high gear I swear it felt slower than the previous passes with my pypes....and the time slips tell the tale.
1.57 and 1.58 60'

3rd was the MAC mufflers. IF you must run a chambered muffler run the MAC's! These had a chambered sound but definitely different and a bit louder than the flowmasters.
11.46 with a 1.59 60'
11.44 with a 1.57 60'
trap speed was 116.1

Last up was the vibrants.
First these are about 15lbs lighter for the complete exhaust vs the others.
These are LOUD, but sound pretty bad ass.
Ran the rest of the day with these and made 4 passes:
11.38 with 1.56 60' first pass
then we had lunch and I ran a buddy 3 times as the day rolled on
11.34 with 1.56 60'
11.35 with 1.57 60'
11.34 again with 1.56 60'

trap speeds were all 116.5 - 116.6

I don't care what anyone says....flowmasters kill power on a 450hp car.
They were ran in the middle of the field, and lost .15 et and more than 1 mph.
In my world that's equal to 125lbs of weight or 1500' of DA or about 10-15hp


Believe what you want...I'll believe what I proved.

My car is a SE points car and sees 150 passes in year. Last weekend I raced trophy and STreet eliminator and went 11.53, 11.53, 11.54 first 3 off the trailer.
So it repeats like clock work.

Here is the car, the test was done at Numidia Dragway 4/14/12
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll144/Shifterlou/1984%20GT/7027ded0.jpg

Thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate it. Looks like im down to Gmmg or borla. Borla has the adjustable 4 tips for 1,000 but I hate the square tips, They also have a normal dual setup for 750. I am leaning towards that one. Gmmg is about 800 and I think borla sounds better for what Im looking for, has more of a growl.

Hooker Maxflow, have been proven to out flow everyone.

Do you have a link to some kind of testing to support this? Curious... as the GMMG and Borla (open plate) are basically straight pipes.

Hooker Maxflow, have been proven to out flow everyone.

I saw the test were it out flowed a lot of other mufflers but it will never out flow a lm1.

Do you have a link to some kind of testing to support this? Curious... as the GMMG and Borla (open plate) are basically straight pipes.

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forum/general-discussion/performance/400800-muffler-flow-ratings-exaust-pipe-sizes.html

Mufflers are a personal decision, as some will make more power than others, but how it sounds to you is what matters most. Go to LS1sounds.com or youtube and hear some sound clips to decide for yourself.

And I put down 324HP to the wheels through a Flowmaster, a heat soaked BBK intake, 853 heads, an A4, and a Dana60. I'm sure the Flow might have cost 1 or 2 HP compared to say a Borla, but the Dana eats a lot more than that.

If you want cheap and louder just put a straight pipe in place of the resonator. All catbacks have minimal performance difference with stock headers and cats in place.

You don't have to take fluid dynamics to realize chambered mufflers will not work as well as a straight through design.

Flowmasters website argues that their mufflers make more power because chambered mufflers have more volume. That is just sad and misleads consumers.

Flowmasters website argues that their mufflers make more power because chambered mufflers have more volume. That is just sad and misleads consumers.

Most people are stupid enough to believe everything they read.

Depends on what tone you like just stay away from Flowmaster

Honestly just listen to ls1sounds.com or better yet other fbody cars. And if your like me and don't race your car and its just a fun street car than who cares what the flow rate is. Im guessing every after market muffler is better than stock. Or of you race get a cutout and bypass the muffler. Just do what makes you smile when you turn the engine on.