Im debating on either buying just a magnaflow muffler in place of the stock or the full exhaust. What are your suggestions??

im on a college student's budget

 

magnaflow makes quality stuff but you might be disappointed if you want something louder.

 

No im not really looking for something loud because this is my dd. Down the road ill go the headers/ory/cutout route.

 

I went with a Magnaflow muffler over a full catback on my former LT1 and plan on doing the same with my current LS1. I did this for several reasons: One being that I didn't like the truck cannons that come with the Magnaflow catback. The second reason was cost: I bought the muffler for $100, tips for $80 and figured I'd get the overaxle/intermediate pipe from Walker. The third reason is that I was told the stock pipes were 2.75 inches, the catback is 3 inches, so I wasn't going to gain much with the stock manifold. I was going to eventually go with headers on the LT1, but I ended up spending most of my mod money just keeping it running.

With my LS1, once again I got the muffler for $100, Corsa-style tips for $60 and I'm going to run with that for awhile. Later on if I decided to do headers, I can still use the muffler and tips and get the rest of the pipes later on.

I will tell you that the Magnaflow sounded a helluva lot better than the stock muffler on the LT1, and I'm hoping the same with the LS1. I'm more into a good sound v. loud.

 

thanks for the input. I also am more sound > loud because I think loud can get old real quick. where did you get your tips from?

 

i would just do full catback becuase your gunna get better performance if you get the right one and it will sound alot better

 

i did the same thing to my car except i kept the stock trans am quad tips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPy4nxmQZbk

 

I would just do a full exhaust at once, I did the whole step by step exhaust and if i could just cut the crap now and do it right once it woulda been better.

 

Just weld a cheap muffler in. The power gain of a cat back is minimal and definitely not noticeable or worth the money. Once you're out of college then just do the whole exhaust from the headers back.

 

I was kinda thinking the same thing so i just have to do it right once.


Just outta curiosity, why do the single tip catbacks range so much in price? (384.99-ws6store sale to 520.43-summit)

 

I have pacesetter long tubes, texas speed Y, and a 40 series muffler. Ill be getting a loudmouth cat back installed next week and I will update any power gains. My guess is it will be good for around 5-8 rwh over just the muffler welded in the stock 2.75 catback.

 

I agree with you, but a lot of people apparently disagree with us about the power gain. From what I've read, without going full exhaust (headers/y-pipe) the main reason to change the muffler/tips is mainly for looks and sound - and like I said, it DOES sound a lot better than stock. The cheapest I've seen a new Magnaflow catback is about $380. This is compared to $100 for a Magnaflow muffler only and you can reuse the stock tips. If I recall, $280 is a lot of beer money!

 

gas money too lol.

 

ws6 store has the magnaflow catback for 384 shipped~!

 

I just installed a Loudmouth 2 and I really like it. I'm planning on doing long tubes this summer with a catted Y so the LM2 should still work well for me.

 

ya gas is gettin outta control lol

 

I did the same thing on my LT1 with a Spintech. Sounded great....

The magnaflows are a little quiet, but that's cool if that's what you're looking for. As far as power vs. a catback, I'm sure a catback will gain you more power, but you'll never notice.

 

I just took my car and cut the muffler out and strait piped it. When you have it at high rpm's sounds great but when you are cruising around or on the highway its nice and quiet just a touch louder then with the muffler and you can do that for about a $100.

 

On stock internals you really have to wonder how much you will really gain going from a 2.75" I pipe to a 3". Now if your building a heads/cam car it will def be time to upgrade to either a 3" cat back,cut out or TD's.

 

I thought the main restrictions in the stock exhaust was the cats,y pipe, and muffler. The larger diameter is a plus but yeah i dont think it helps the stock form that much at all.