Considering Doing a Muffler Delete?

[crk5600]

This thread is for people who are considering doing a muffler delete. I recently did the exhaust on my car and this is for anyone that is considering doing a delete or a variation of it on the V6. I have seen many post from those who have done a delete but nothing in detail. I am new to the forum and have seen many different opinions about the subject and I am simply putting some of my opinions out there in hope it helps some of you with your decision.
I have been searching all over like many of your for the perfect exhaust system for my car. I was looking for an aggresive sound, but nothing too obnoxious as this is my DD. After reading dozens of threads and watching clips, personally, I could not justify paying the amounts they wanted for an axle back exhaust. I do have experience mechanically and have a welder and figured I would attempt my own exhaust.
Throughout the build I took the car for some runs to see the improvements (if any) on the way. Here is my build and some thoughts on the way,
The first thing I did was a true Muffler delete. All that was done to the car here was I Jacked it up and cut off the mufflers.

I took the car for a drive and was not impressed at all. The initial start up was a huge difference from stock and as many say did not sound too bad at idle, however I cant say the same for driving. The best way i could describe what the car sounded like was very similar to an old 78 Chevy pickup that drives around town with no exhaust on it. The sound was very loud with deep drone and tons of rasp at acceleraction. I would rate the sound at 3 out of 10 for what i was going for.
Before starting this project I had seen several people do a resignated X pipe and thats what I had planned on. I went with the Magnaflow #12468.

I decided to use this in place of the stock H pipe. I read that it significantly reduced rasp and drone on a delete. In order to do the install and fit, I had to cut 1 1/2 inch off the inlet tubes and mount it right after the bend where the pipes connect to the headers (this allowed clearing for the drive shaft). I left the stock resinators in because they are what give the exhast a smoother sounds and figured removing them would possibly increase either drone or rasp.


After everything was alligned and where I wanted it, I tacked it and then pulled it out to weld in the X pipe. I then attaced the rest of the exhaust (resignators to axle only) and went for another ride.
With this set up I was still not satisfied with the sound. The X pipe did eliminate nearly all rasp however driving in the RPMs from 1000 to 2200 was almost unbearable for me. The incabin noise was very loud because all of the sound was dumping into the truck bay and i felt it was louder in the car than out. This issuse only became more present when I took it down the highway. Rating 6 out of 10.
The next step was to run the exhaust out the existing exhaust ports. Unforunatly i do not have a pipe bender so I droped the car off at a local muffler shop and they bent the pipe for me from the axle back.
I brought the car back to my garage and hung the remaining pipe.


After centering the pipes, tacking them in, and instaling the tips I went for a final drive. I could tell at startup that just by having the exhaust exiting the rear the incabin noise was greatly reduced. This is how I have been driving the car now and I must say for the price ($150 Xpipe and mechanic labor) and sound I would rate the sound at a 8 of 10. I give it an 8 because there are still some minor things i am not completly satisfied with. The normal exceleration on this setup does at some times sound import like to me (can be expected of a V6). The in cabin noise is also at times a bit more excessive than i would like. This only occurs around 2500 RPMs though.
However, at rapid exceleration 3000 RPMs + the sound is very pleasing. Also at highway speed, there is some drone but it is much more bearable and i would not mind driving longer distances. VERY little if any rasp with this setup.
As you can see I have not welded the end tips on yet. This is because im going to wait to see after a couple hundred miles if the sound improves more to my liking after the setup breaks in. If there is no significant improvment, I will most likely install a set of magnaflow mufflers in the rear to get the sound I am looking for.
I know this is a v6 and will never sound like a 8 but I wanted to create this thread to help anyone like myself decide if they should do this setup. I know the cost was lower for me since i did the instalation myself, but i hope the input on the outcome can help some of you guys decide. I do not have a video but I did find one afterwards that I feel is very similar to mine

Hope this helps some of you if you want to go this route or help some of you confirm you would like to go with a different option.

[Sikoriko]

Welcome, nice write up. Yeh I would not weld the tips until you're fully satisfied. I have not done a X pipe yet. just having flowmasters the drone gets bounced around the muffler chamber. Iextended the tips about two inched to keep the noise away from the rear bumper, helps a little. For a little V6 it does sound good, not like a V8.

[crk5600]

I had considered that setup as well. I was recomended the flowmasters 40 series. I myself will probably end up going with magnaflow if i decide to add mufflers simply because i have used them on other vehicles and was pleased with the sound. As far as the X pipe, im not sure how much it has reduced the drone (rasp a ton), but i installed it because I had only heard of improvements after install and i would be willing to sacrifice exhaust volume for better tone. Also considering J pipes... not sure how long they would need to be though

[KMPrenger]

I've passed over this thread because I figured it was just another exhaust delete question thread, but really this is a good write up! Appreciate you taking the time to do it.

If you add magnaflow mufflers to the rear you may end up with a setup very similar to mine, since I am running a custom magnaflow setup consisting of the resonated X up front, stock resonator delete, and 14" oval body magnaflow muffers with thick double walled Magnaflow tips out the rear.

I will say though, even though I love the tone of my exhaust very much, I have always wanted to somehow give it a bit more aggression....more growl since it was a very smooth sound (A bit too smooth)....without getting raspy or ricey. I also wanted to add a little more outside volume without increasing the inside volume. When I added the Vararam intake that added a nice amount of growl to the exhaust, very pleasing to me, but when I added the ported intake manifold that kind of smoothed it back out again. That is why I tried removing the stock resonators...hoping to get the growl and more volume. Didn't cost me much at all, but thats a good thing because with this setup, removing the stock resonators made very little difference.

You may want to try oval magnaflows that are considerally shorter than the 14" ones that I have (if they make them...I'm not familiar with their entire line) so you don't wipe out all of the aggressive nature of your exhaust.

If you do, I'd really love to hear your thoughts....or better yet hear a video like the one above

I am pretty familiar with the video you posted as a reference and have conversed with the owner many times on here.

Have you heard these videos? I'd like to see how you think yours compares:

This one has the resonated X, but straight pipe out back (no resonators):
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106250


This one has the resonated X pipe, and has the stock resonators, but no mufflers past that. Click on the last image in the first post to see a video.
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161943

[KMPrenger]

By the way, this is the exhaust I am running out back:
http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/d...rtnumber=11235

and here is the link to my personal exhaust thread with more info, pics and videos:
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78932

[crk5600]

The first thread you posted with no Res did seem to have a little more growl then mine. I would be curious to what it has done for the drone though. The second is very similar to mine both in the set up and from what he decribs his sound as. I really like the volume of this set up i just wish i could eliminate some of the drone. I would then truely be happy with it. I am considering the same muffler you have but with center inlets. When i had my muffler guy bend the tubing i had him leave me 16inch of straight pipe so i could easily cut and add in the magnaflows but if i could just get ride of the drone it would be perfect! Anyone with knowlege on Jpipes?

[crk5600]

P.S just realized it was you that put together the exhaust thread much appreciated helped with some of my decisions!

[KMPrenger]

No problem!

You speak of J pipes...which I have seriously considered doing in the past (deleting my rear mufflers but then adding in J pipes to kill the drone....it would be super easy to add them with no rear mufflers) but I'm just not 100% sure of the sound it would make without the rear mufflers as I've never heard it in person....so I just never did commit.

Something else that crosses my mind would be to use the very small oval 6" magnaflow mufflers in place of my larger mufflers to hopefully keep a nice low tone, but allow for a more aggresive sound. This would also allow room for J pipes very likely.

Please keep me up to date on what you do and if you happen to do any videos.

[DJ ATOMIX]

Deleting the resonators will deepen the exhaust note and increases volume but introduces rasp if you don't have the resonated xpipe. Also, you will get a more aggressive sound deleting the smaller cats after the sensors if you choose to go that route!

I noticed a bigger difference in sound deleting the smaller cats then deleting the resonators. Also, I heard that using 3" pipes after the resonated xpipe will further deepen the exhaust note without loosing any power.

I plan on deleting my mrt exhaust soon since I use the resonated xpipe now so we'll see what the outcome is.


Shaun

[crk5600]

If you do the delete please let me know. It will probaly be much louder than mine since all i did was replace the H pipe and straight pipe where the mufflers were. I really like this set up but just want to reduce some drone.