I've been stumped on this for a long time!

Whenever you upgrade your stock exhaust (especially with a cat-back), your noise level goes up. Most likely, the stock muffler is the best way to quiten your exhaust setup.

What is I were looking to get a muffler to replace the stock, but I'd like to have the noise levels as close to stock as possible during highway or constant speed (city) driving, i.e., constant rpms below 2800rpm.

I'd really like to get a bigger tip stainless steel muffler coz it looks great (and retain stock y-pipe & b-pipe), but I don't want to put up with an exhaust drone when driving on the highway.

BUT, I do want that deep growl when it's pushed hard

Any suggestions? I'm sure there are alot of other Max owners who want this setup, so anyone with some info, do share

Thanx!

 

Here is what you do get a Y-pipe + B-pipe, keep the stock muffler and put your choice of tip on it. Otherwise the car will be loud with an aftermarket exhaust.

 

Hmm, while we're at Muffler 101, is welding a bigger tip to the muffler advisable? Because those screw-on muffler-tips don't look as good as a good ol' stainless tip.

Will welding a bigger tip increase noise levels? What exactly causes the drone, the muffler build?

Thanks!

 

That's the exact setup I have. Cattman Y, Stillen B & stock muffler. I welded on a Bosal 4" tip to finish off the setup. The exhaust note is a bit louder that stock thanks to the resonator-less B pipe, but overall it's sounds pretty good. I also have a CAI which adds a nice growl on hard acceleration.

Luke
99 SEL

 

what purpose does the b-pipe server other then connecting the muffler to the cat? is there a performance gain? also, if i just replaced the y-pipe and not the b and muffler, why does it increase power? it seems all you did was push the "bottle neck" down from y-pipe to the b-pipe. sorry for the dumb questions, but i'm just trying to learn before making any exhaust mods.

jhlee

 

The aftermarket B-pipe removes the resonator, which allows better flow. I don't know if there is a significant gain, though. The best setup for the most amount of power with the least amount of noise is intake, Y-pipe, RT cat, stock exhaust. It is as quiet as stock under part throttle, then has a loud growl under WOT.

 

does the oem cat get worn out faster since there are no precats in the y-pipe?

 

also isnt an aftermarket b pipe usually wider than the stock one? i think the stock pipes are 2.25" wide while 'most' aftermarket b pipes are atleast 2.5" wide.

 

I was told that even without your pre-cats, your stock cat should never fail. Also I was told that there are NO gains from a stock cat and a High Flow cat. As we all know there are emission standards that these things have to stay within. So if you buy any highflow cat thats CARB or EPA approved, you just wasted $100bucks, if you did it for a performance gain. I was also told that there are really no gains after the cat(there are but they are minimal), because of the restriction done at the cat level.
Just some info that I recieved from Dallas at WSP.

 

what about those cats without a resonator in them? does that make a difference if any?

 

I wasn't aware of cat convertors having resonators in the them. I was talking to them about replacing my stock one for a new one. He told me that there will be no real gains by going with a different converter high flow vs stock.

 

what does it mean the after market y-pipe doesn't have "pre-cats"?? please clarify? thanks.

jhlee

 

The aftermarket Y pipes don't have them. Thats one of the ways you get so much more power. No Pre-cats.

 

For those who welded custom tip to the stock muffler:

Where's the best place to buy a tip? Will muffler shops sell tips? And what do they typically charge to weld one on?

 

You can buy tips at any muffler shop. Also, surf around on the web, you're sure to find places with a good selection of them. Most muffler shops charge 15-20 bucks to weld them on. No big deal at all.

Luke
99 SEL

 

Tips are nearly as expensive as a muffler with tip, and slightly ugly where welded on. Any SS oval cross-section (not straight-through) design will work without adding much noise. Check out Magnaflow.

 

It is almost 100% dependent on the muffler with regards to the sound and noise.

All those companies like Stillen, Greddy, HKS make "straight-thru" designs which are very boomy in sound -- Having a 2.5" pipe through the whole system isn't what causes the noise -- Even a new Lexus with those types of mufflers would sound very loud and annoying --
Its all in the muffler sound chamber design --

I have a 2.5" inlet to my muffler -- but it has a 2.0" outlet -- still much larger than stock -- Reducing the boomy low frequencies is dependant on the shape of the sound chamber -- All of the above mentioned brands use short chambers. A longer one would attentuate the sound more --

A quiet muffler does not have to restrict flow. There is one reason and one reason only that the products from those companies are noisy -- Because all the young kids want that big boomy sound so that is where all their profit will be made -- I don't even know the name brand of my muffler -- it was just some generic high flow muffler the shop engineer pulled off the shelf.

 

JC Whitney Sport Compact has a big list of tips that you can buy...

http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jht...D=158981&BQ=sc
or go to their site and type "exhaust tip" in the search box.

A local shop in Chicago wanted 10 bucks to weld on a tip...

 

If I buy a tip to put on my stock muffler, what size should it be?

IanS

 

JC Whitney sells tips, but per their website, "resonated tip is fiberglass packed to reduce noise." Good or bad?

Here's the tip styles they have, what would be your pick of the following:


I'm gonna go check out my muffler shop too, to see what they have in stock. I'm kinda going for a bigger outlet, clean look (welded on) like the Apex-I.

 

i like the "rounded pointed" the best!

jhlee

 

I like the special resevoir tip...
Oh, I like the Apexi the best oo