Nice. Yeah, I have an autoparts company registered, so I get mufflers at wholesale. All I need is someone who will get my mufflers together and weld it with a 2.5" pipe. I need to find a way to let it flow better, keep quieter (I know this will be a mission, since they won't go together) for half the price of a brand catback.

By the way, how many inches are you doing your piping? Are you sticking with 2.25" or are you going wider?

 

Definitely staying with 2.25" to keep the low end. You don't need to move up to 2.5" unless going F/I, but it won't hurt if you're just trying to maximize your high-end gains.

Yeah if I could weld I'd just build my exhaust in my garage lol. So I'm going to order parts and have a local exhaust shop weld it.

 

The tC is good on the low end, but the high end is kind of dead, so I'm trying to improve the higher rpm a little bit... have you decided what combination you are doing (as far as muffler and resonator)?

I was thinking after all the info you gave me... tell me what you think about this:
a 4 or 5" resonator and a chamber performance muffler (like a XL3) to keep the car quiet and maintain some of the low end; and a 2.5" piping to improve higher end performance. Do you think that his will work?

 

The XL3 is very similar to our OEM muffler, it's baffled/chambered, so yeah you get a very quiet, good low-end muffler. But it's also very restrictive so terrible at high end. I wouldn't recommend this muffler for you but if you want to ask Magnaflow for the flow numbers (in cfm - cubic feet per minute) see what they come back with. At high RPM's it's all about flow.

There's a formula for the minimum muffler flow for keeping your maximum rated HP:

(BHP) X 2.2 = desired muffler flow (in cfm)

So for stock 160 bhp, you want your muffler to flow 352 cfm. When you add IHE mods you have to guesstimate your HP gains expected (in bhp, not whp), add to 160, then calculate your new muffler's desired flow.

All muffler makers flow test their mufflers on a bench, but most of them don't publish their numbers. That's why I'm probably going with Dynomax, their flow numbers are readily available online.

I'm probably going to go with the Super Turbo. It's a reverse-flow type muffler, which isn't as quiet as the baffled/chambered type, but it's pretty quiet - and mucho more quieter than straight-throughs.

http://www.dynomax.com/Products/stp.asp

Now it doesn't flow as well as the straight-through at the same size, so I'll probably step up one size to 2.5" inlet/outlet to keep my high end flow. So I would need a bell adapter to step up from my 2.25" pipe to the 2.5" muffler.

After I have the custom axleback installed I'll put in my DC header. Then I'll wait a week for the parts to break-in and build up a little carbon. At that point I expect my setup to be quiet overall, but I'll have to see how the rasp goes before deciding on new resonators.

And finally - Happy Birthday to you!

 

Awesome!!! Thanks!!! :D

 

What did you finally do?