Why did you buy a custom exhaust/muffler?

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Was it sound?
Looks?
Performance increase?

I haven't bought a custom exhaust/muffler in decades. When I first started driving I bought headers and cherry bombs, thrush or turbo mufflers. I wanted the sound mostly but also a little performance boost.
 
Originally Posted by Miller88
The factory one fell off.

The perfect real life answer!!!
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Some of it for sound, but on the WS6 and Caprice they are pretty restricted. It certainly added power on it was measureable on the dyno.
Both are full header out the back aftermarket exhaust cars.
 
Changed out the exhaust on my 83 Silverado with a 305, went to a 3" single exhaust with a High Flow Magnaflow cat and Flowmaster 40 series muffler, got rid of the stock pancake cat and restrictive muffler, love cruising thru parking lots and setting off alarms.
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Originally Posted by bdcardinal
The factory exhaust on the 14 Mustang was extremely quiet, I could barely hear it. The Borla ATAK catback more than made up for that.

I love cars that are quiet...my wife's Avalon and my RAV6 had the same engine, but her car was much quieter. Even when I really got on it in driving her car, it would really just hum loudly and not roar. The FXT is also pretty quiet and I like that.
Our stupid neighbor bought a Harley and it is just SO cool when he revs the engine on our quiet suburban street when he goes out for his Sunday morning rides! Luckily he is a lazy bum and we are almost always up and about when he heads out.
I just don't get it....why is it so trendy to be obnoxious?
 
Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
The factory exhaust on the 14 Mustang was extremely quiet, I could barely hear it. The Borla ATAK catback more than made up for that.

I love cars that are quiet...my wife's Avalon and my RAV6 had the same engine, but her car was much quieter. Even when I really got on it in driving her car, it would really just hum loudly and not roar. The FXT is also pretty quiet and I like that.
Our stupid neighbor bought a Harley and it is just SO cool when he revs the engine on our quiet suburban street when he goes out for his Sunday morning rides! Luckily he is a lazy bum and we are almost always up and about when he heads out.
I just don't get it....why is it so trendy to be obnoxious?


I had a quiet car for my last car, my S60R. The Borla exhaust isn't obnoxious at all. I have checked with all my neighbors and none that matter have any complaints. They always joke that it makes a great alarm clock. I also make sure to keep it under control when in a neighborhood.

Besides, no-one buys a Track Pack Mustang GT to be quiet.
 
Originally Posted by ZZman
Was it sound?
Looks?
Performance increase?

I haven't bought a custom exhaust/muffler in decades. When I first started driving I bought headers and cherry bombs, thrush or turbo mufflers. I wanted the sound mostly but also a little performance boost.



My 2009 F150 with 5.4L V8 has about the most restrictive exhaust this side of the Berlin wall. The exhaust is clearly too small for the engine and HP suffers. In this particular case, just about any aftermarket exhaust will reduce backpressure and free up about 20 HP at 5000 RPM. Adding a tune gives a touch more peak HP, with 93 octane.

Ecoboost trucks and 5.0L V8 trucks do not have similarly restrictive exhausts and don't stand to gain anywhere near as much.
 
My muffler fell off while i was driving. I bought the biggest stainless steel muffler i could find. Paid around $35 and connected it via many other scrap pipes i had laying around. Its an old truck and im cheap so this is what you get.

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I wanted a little rumble from my F150 I didn't see power or mpg gain. Put an OE replacement back.
 
Easy answer ... way less expensive.

Now, once you decide you are going to DIY the exhaust, the next step (if you're someone like me) is to engineer the system. So materials (Stainless Steel), diameter / length, resonator or not, and muffler geometry all get studied.

It's actually not that hard. Inevitably you should get some performance improvement over the OEM system, but it's important not to build a "racing" exhaust for a daily driver. Proper scavenging, torque powerband, etc have to be taken into consideration.

My Miata and my RAM both have modified exhaust, from header to tip, all Stainless Steel, new High Volume cats (yes, I leave them in the system) followed by a resonator and then the muffler and to the exit of the vehicle. Details like the exit tip clearing the bodywork properly (a FMVSS requirement) and minimum lengths are taken car of.

I use software to help design the exhaust (the SW deals with the entire motor) so I know what the effects of diameter and length are (for example) and it's important to remember that any change in exhaust also means a change in intake (or vice versa) so rather than let that fall where it may, the breathing of the motor is also addressed.

But cost, aside from my time? Headers, cat, stainless piping, stainless resonator, stainless muffler and some welding, total cost per vehicle well under $C 500.00 [$US 380.00], Magnaflow and Hooker cats and mufflers, fabricated resonator, eBay (China) headers.

The Engine Design software is $US 500.00 a license, and that has to be taken into consideration as well, but of course it's used for a number of other alterations so it's not exclusively amortized on the exhaust system cost. Use whatever method you like to account for that. Based on what I've spent on the engine(s) as the % allocation of it's cost, it's about $25 (5%) but you could include the whole amount if you like; it's up to you. It's still cheaper than just one Cat-Back system and labour at a competition muffler shop (mandatory if you are buying performance exhaust; don't go to the local Midas).
 
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