Lots of you have Magnaflow exhausts...

[woaface]

I was quoted at 98.75 for one Magnaflow muffler for the car, that's everything including: install, unit, tax.

1.) Is this reasonable? It's one of 3 places in town, but I trust this place more.
2.) Is it reasonable to get this thinking that I probably won't get any performance gain, but a much better sound?

Thanks!

[Logan]

Yes, that's reasonable. The polished stainless versions would be over 130.

[BillyGman]

just remember that almost all of us here have the 18" Magnaflows that are the stainless steel straight-thru design, and Magnaflow also makes 18" ones that are baffled. You can go on their website to check it out. www.magnaflow.com and I believe the part # you'll need is 14355 since that's the ones that most of us Marauder guys have.

[woaface]

Awesome! Thanks! I felt like saving up for something this summer:up:

[DONP1217]

For comparison, I paid $200.00 even for Flowmaster 40 series 2 chamber mufflers installed.

[woaface]

For comparison, I paid $200.00 even for Flowmaster 40 series 2 chamber mufflers installed. I'd be dishin' out the same if I had dual exhausts...pity I don't.

[darebren]

Folks, anyone catch 2 guys garage last week, they installed a new muffler - totally open flow turbo muffler as seen on the link http://www.aero-turbine.com they put it on a 5.4L Triton F150 and it sounded perfect, a deep gugling sound. I wonder if these would sound good on the MM as well, I think they might, and would be easy to fit in...??

[Fourth Horseman]

Folks, anyone catch 2 guys garage last week, they installed a new muffler - totally open flow turbo muffler as seen on the link http://www.aero-turbine.com they put it on a 5.4L Triton F150 and it sounded perfect, a deep gugling sound. I wonder if these would sound good on the MM as well, I think they might, and would be easy to fit in...??

I can't honestly imagine my Marauder's exhaust sounding any better than it does right now with a pair of FlowMaster 40s. This is all very subjective, of course, but it could be made louder, but I don't think it'd necessarily be "better."

[Shankin]

I can't honestly imagine my Marauder's exhaust sounding any better than it does right now with a pair of FlowMaster 40s. This is all very subjective, of course, but it could be made louder, but I don't think it'd necessarily be "better." Have you heard one with the magnaflows? they sound:pimp: ! they also dont drone like a flowmaster.

[Fourth Horseman]

Have you heard one with the magnaflows? they sound:pimp: ! they also dont drone like a flowmaster.

I've heard 4.6 Mustangs with Magnaflows, and personally I like the sound of the FlowMasters better.

[TAF]

Shankin knows who has the sweetest sounding Marauder...:D

[BillyGman]

I can't honestly say that I've ever heard a car w/a DOHC 4.6L engine that had the flowmaster mufflers, but what I do know for certain is that every single person of the male gender who hears me wind up the engine on my car, and then sees me the next day to talk about it, tell me that my car sounds very impressive. I'll also add that Marty has commented on this board about how he heard many MM's that had various exhaust mods done to them when he was at Ennis last year, but my car sounds the best out of all of them. And I happen to have the Magnaflows as well as the rest of the exhaust mods that you can see in my signature.

I think that people need to keep in mind that when someone tells you that they have Magnaflow mufflers on their car, then that doesn't neccessarily mean that they have the straight-thru design Magnaflows that I, and some others here do on our cars, since Magnaflow makes 18" hi=perf mufflers w/baffles also. And they DO sound different than the straight-thru design does.

[martyo]

I'll also add that Marty has commented on this board about how he heard many MM's that had various exhaust mods done to them when he was at Ennis last year, but my car sounds the best out of all of them.
Billy: This is true, but you shouldn't have posted this where Todd was going to see it. Now he will be runnin' home cryin' to his Momma!!!

[TAF]

I'll also add that Marty has commented on this board about how he heard many MM's that had various exhaust mods done to them when he was at Ennis last year, but my car sounds the best out of all of them.
Billy: This is true, but you shouldn't have posted this where Todd was going to see it. Now he will be runnin' home cryin' to his Momma!!!I didn't have my exhaust done until after Ennis...and I'll direct you to the following comments made by Professor TTA...

Oh Todd, drop the charade. :up: Be honest, you just want me to fawn all over your car in public, and tell everyone you have the most badass Marauder! ;)

Well, in all honesty, all Marauders are badass. Your mods definitely bring out a certain aspect of the Marauder in a BIG way. It's not for everyone, and I invite anyone who gets the chance to take advantage of Todd's test-drive offer... to do so. It's the ONLY way to witness it for yourself.

That being said, the only way I can do the end result justice is to comment on it item by item. In my opinion, it's the only way I feel will convey a better sense of what the amalgamation of these parts comes down to.

The exhaust note: right there, we have a winner. I'm used to a quick shifting stock program, and the exhaust note takes a vacation once the 4R70W hits 3rd and TCC-locked. The combination of the improved shift schedule with the exhaust mods results in an engine that is always communicating with you through the different combinations of tones, burbles and barks. Personally I have to make sure I don't ever go overboard on the exhaust note, with kids back there to worry about, and a somewhat mod-sensitive wife to look out for (there's only so much I can pull off before I run outa luck). I'm sure the 4.10s have a hand in keeping the engine in a more vocal range, too.

... ah yes, the 4.10s. Right off the bat, the moment I moved the car a few feet in the parking lot at crawl speeds, I noticed what seemed like an increased ability to move forward with less throttle input. The end psychological result is that one almost begins to believe that the throttle pedal has become harder to move, firmer perhaps. This is probably due to the increased forward motion that occurs before we have a chance to move deeper into the throttle, in 1st gear. Todd assures me there is no fuel mileage hit... I'm gonna have to trust him on this one, because it's a mod that manages to somehow shave a few thousand pounds off this behemoth (the car, not Todd).

And speaking of shaving pounds, the suspension mods also transform the car a great deal, both aesthetically and functionally. So much so, I think they deserve separate treatment. As far as looks go, the springs are a dramatic drop. Perhaps not in absolute numerical terms, but the whole look of the car is changed. More aggressive, longer looking almost... I wish I had seen the car with the front wheels unturned, as the aggressive caster of these cars plays with the front height when the wheels are not straight ahead. All I kept thinking of was what it could do to the ride quality...

...and here comes the functional part: the ride does not appear to have become harsh. Just firmer (best word I can think of). I believe Todd when he states the OEM shocks are of good quality, and they can take a hard hit off a pothole and dampen the heck out of it, without any jiggling or slamming. Would I do it? Tough call... the notion of tightening the car's handling to something equivalent of a smaller sporty car is enticing. But whereas Todd's Marauder took what the North Atlanta potholes had to offer, they can't hold a candle (in either frequency or severity) to those lunar craters we enjoy up here in Montreal (God bless our efficient and frugal city administrators, you slimy bast.... er, I digress). Every year we probably lose 200-300 citizens to these worm holes, their bodies never to be found as they probably burned up once they got too close to the Earth's molten core. You get my drift... the springs are nice, but I wonder if the Marauder's structure is up to the task of dealing with our road surfaces. But the sway bar certainly must have a great role in this tightening of the car's manners... Pontiac has always been a big "sway bar" type of company, and my old Parisienne certainly benefitted from this. Todd's car brought back many memories of the sense of control I enjoyed with that old car. I'm fairly sure a sway bar is in my future, but the springs will have to wait pending more feedback over time. I already have one massive rattler ('87 GTA), my sanity cannot afford a second one.

Truth be told, I didn't get a chance to sample the braking potential of Todd's upgrade. But the lack of nose dive once again scores big points for the springs... damn. *sigh*

And believe it or not, the one aspect of Todd's Marauder that I enjoyed the most... I enjoyed while not even in the bloody car. While following him to the airport in that bulbous white tampon with a Caddy hood ornament rental car, I was surprised to HEAR his exhaust note so clearly. :eek: Hypnotic, I found myself suffering from tunnel vision as I stared at the back end of his car, cruising at 70-80 mph, letting that muted growl block out all other senses. Now the Caddy is well insulated, acoustically speaking, so I can only imagine how nice it really sounded out there, to motorists as we passed them. Just as BillyGman searched for the holy grail of tire smoking launches, so have I searched for a way to make my Marauder announce its presence a little more loudly on the highways.

Okay?

[BillyGman]

LOL........even my username somehow found it's way in TTA's reply. Interesting. Okay Todd, both you and I need to discuss just how much each of us are paying guys like TTA and Marty to brag about how our cars sound on this board. After all, we wouldn't want to be overpaying them. And if we don't watch it, I'm sure that Marty will be throwing some kind of written contract at one of us for his services that can have all kinds of litigation potentials.

[woaface]

BigSlim has Flowmaster 40's eh?

[TripleTransAm]

Whoa... some judicious interpretation of my comments there...

I did clearly state that I enjoyed Todd's exhaust note a great deal, but let's keep it in perspective... I haven't heard all the systems out there nor have I had the chance to compare them side by side. Besides, one man's favorite exhaust note may sound like azz to another...

And I did clearly state that Todd's approach was certainly a good one to bring out the best in the Marauder, but it's far from the only one. We don't have much to work with here, with the MM's exhaust note (in my personal opinion, that's all), so the possibilities of sound shaping are endless and the directions many.

Someone get me a lawyer...

[BillyGman]

Uh ho, did you say that word? "Lawyer"????? ...there's no telling where this thread will go now.......

[woaface]

And all I wanted to know was if the Magnaflow was worth it...:baaa:

[Haggis]

And all I wanted to know was if the Magnaflow was worth it...:baaa:


From what I have read here and on other Threads, the answer is YES!! That is what I will be going with.

Each person has their favorite. So decide which muffler sound you like best and go with it. I hope this helps, after I have exhaust and other mods done you are more then welcome to take a ride in her to help you decide. And maybe I will even let you drive?? ;)

[TripleTransAm]

I still maintain my offer of collecting and digitizing any snippets of exhaust recordings that anyone may want to volunteer.

[Fourth Horseman]

I still maintain my offer of collecting and digitizing any snippets of exhaust recordings that anyone may want to volunteer.

You know, that's a good idea, provided we could get good quality recordings. But you know, I suspect we'd still all have our favorite sounds. It's a bit like taste in music, I think. I still can't believe more people don't like Norwegian black metal, but that's another topic. :)

Re: Magnaflows on a DOHC engine, that's a good point. The ones I heard were on a SOHC 4.6 Mustang GT. Don't get me wrong, fellas, they sounded way sweet. But then I heard a set of FlowMaster 40 series mufflers on a couple of other cars and I just liked the tone a bit better. They can drone a bit (in a pretty narrow RPM band), but overall I liked the sound better.

EDIT: one more thing I forgot to mention. I'm really looking forward to listening to some of the exhaust systems you guys have when we meet at Indy. I'll tell you this: if I hear the Magnaflows you folks have and like it better, I'll cut my FlowMasters off and put the Magnaflows on in their place.
:rock:

[woaface]

I still maintain my offer of collecting and digitizing any snippets of exhaust recordings that anyone may want to volunteer.I'll get one for you so I can show comparrisons to friends of stock and not stock...

[TripleTransAm]

I still can't believe more people don't like Norwegian black metal, but that's another topic. :)

Sacrilege...
(ever hear of a Swedish band called Death Organ?)

The thing about exhaust notes is that a poor sap like myself doesn't have the benefit of being able to sample a nice cross section of exhaust setups. Indy probably won't work out for me this year, $$-wise.

[Haggis]

....The thing about exhaust notes is that a poor sap like myself doesn't have the benefit of being able to sample a nice cross section of exhaust setups. Indy probably won't work out for me this year, $$-wise.

I should have my new exhaust before the STAP meet in June, you can hear the Magnaflows then.

[MARAUDERCHICK]

Here's some sound bytes from the magnaflow website!





http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/cat-backs/mustangsound.htm

[BillyGman]

First let me say that as much as Mchick wants to help out here, I must say that my car sounds nothing like the exhaust notes on the Magnaflow website. Secondly, the problem w/recording sound bytes of different exhausts in order to put them on the net is that it's usually done w/the sample car standing still, and the engine isn't under load while simply kicking down the gas pedal when the car is standing still in park. So you don't get even close to hearing really how it sounds while driving it.

Now if someone was able to record their Marauder from inside the cabin during WOT, and also have someone else record it from a standing position on the street while the car is passing by at WOT, then it would be interesting to hear. Although it still might not tell the whole story unless the listener in question had some colossal speakers on their computer. Bottom line is, you will never get the true sound of the car from a recording like you will hearing the car up close in person.

[TripleTransAm]

The Magnaflow website has sound clips from a 5.0 engine. Totally different engine... and if you have to ask why, it's time to start reading some.

Personally, I'm not hot on the quality of the sounds on that web site. I don't like the exhaust note itself, and I think they really didn't try very hard to record it right. With a crappy video camera standing about 10 feet away from the car, a fellow F-club member was able to record this sound bite of my WS6 firing up in a parking lot.
http://www.tripletransam.com/ws6-old/exh2.wav