Magnaflow VS Flowmaster?

[WuchaGot]

I am betting this is a Apple VS PC or Harley VS Yamaha type question that is highly opinion based but maybe I can get some solid tech spec advice and not just preference of sound (I am interested in opinions of sound as well.)

I want a nice low idle rumble and I want to hear the power when I take off but I don't need everyone in a 3 block radius turning their head when I come into the neighborhood. I want performance and/or fuel efficiency improvement, not just scull shattering sound. I know fuel economy and performance do not go hand in hand but looking for info on either or.

Opinions of true dual over single to dual?

1987 k20 single to dual currently and interested in going true dual.

Finally, I was kinda leaning to Magnaflow, what is the recommended Magnaflow muffler in a true dual set up? inlet outlet pipe size and such.

Thanks yall

[THE "10" SILVERADO]

Oh boy. True dual all the way. You can get comprable performance out of single but its harder to get the good sound. Pipe size could depend on engine. Larger engine = larger pipe. I have magnaflows and 2.5 inch pipes on mine and it sounds good.
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[1981Stepside]

Definately go with true dual. When I bought my truck it had flowmasters on it with no cats. It was so obnoxiously loud. When I dropped the lt1 I had to swap them over to magnaflow. The easiest comparison I can make is the flowmasters sound very deep and hollow with a bit of a warble to them. The magnaflows sound a bit tighter and have more of a growl when you tap the throttle. It all depends on what kind of sound you're going for.

Check these out. (neither belongs to me)

Flowmaster 40's Chevy C10 (without tailpipes) -...

1984 Chevrolet C10 - TBI 305 with custom...

gives you a basic idea to compare

[WuchaGot]

Originally Posted by THE "10" SILVERADO

Oh boy. True dual all the way. You can get comprable performance out of single but its harder to get the good sound. Pipe size could depend on engine. Larger engine = larger pipe. I have magnaflows and 2.5 inch pipes on mine and it sounds good.
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Well, sounds like you went true dual exhaust

Ya, mine is a 5.7L TBI. I have a crack in the bend of my pipe coming down from the manifolds and the pipes are in bad shape so even if I could patch the crack up I think its better to just change the piping out. I am thinking about getting new manifolds and running new exhaust all the way back. Once I am into it for a new single to dual setup its only a bit more to go true dual. If there is no benefit then I can stick to single to dual but if I am into it a little might as well go all the way for another $100 even if its only a little bit of performance and or sound improvement. What the old Britt saying "In for a penny, In for a pound"

[dieseldawg142]

i have actually had both mufflers on my truck, 85 k30 crew w/454, heddman headers & 3" duals. the magnas were louder at idle then the flowmasters ( delta flow 50's ), but about the same everywhere else. the magnaflows also seemed pretty rusty after 4-5 yrs, where as a 70 series flowmaster on my d.driven 90 gm s.side survived for 14 yrs. the flowmasters feel heavier & more substantial. both good mufflers, but i like the durability of flowmasters

[cory d]

you will find some people love flowmasters and allot of people that hate them. im not a flowmaster fan. if i wanted my truck to sound like a boat, i would have gotten a boat. i havent seen many magnaflow mufflers. the price is scary, you sure can pay allot for a glass pack that says magnaflow

[INSIDIOUS '86]

How about comparing a muffler of quality against a muffler of quality.? Not crap vs gold.
Flowmaster has lost anything good about them. Take a muffler off a random car on the junkyard pull the insides out and weld wrenches sprockets or a TiVo in there and you still have a better muffler than flowbastard. Lol even the employees there run magnas
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[WuchaGot]

Originally Posted by 1981Stepside

Definately go with true dual. When I bought my truck it had flowmasters on it with no cats. It was so obnoxiously loud. When I dropped the lt1 I had to swap them over to magnaflow. The easiest comparison I can make is the flowmasters sound very deep and hollow with a bit of a warble to them. The magnaflows sound a bit tighter and have more of a growl when you tap the throttle. It all depends on what kind of sound you're going for.

Thanks for the vids, but they made the decision even harder, LOL. I like the volume of the Magnaflow but I like the hearty rumble of the Flowmaster. Any suggestions for a Mild volume sounding rumble? HAHA

Thanks for the info. Food for thought.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=466886

So this thread is created for this purpose
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[WuchaGot]

I know a lot of muffler shops offer to bring different mufflers to the floor and they cut your pipes and set your options on the pipes so you can hear them before you buy them and have them installed but I am also a bargain shopper and don't want to pay the high retail prices at exhaust shops.

I think I will call around and ask prices and if the prices are not insane I may just go that route but online I can get a pair of Magnaflow 4x9x18 for $120-$150 shipped. I don't know if that's good or not. I am not even sure as of yet the ideal model for my truck, the website does not list my truck.

[dieseldawg142]

wow! lot of flowmaster haters kicking around. haven't seen or used any muffler to match the durability. had dual 40s on my '68 910 w/383 stroker for close to 20yrs, truck was driven around 3-4000 miles per year, & they definitly dont sound like my 17ft cobra w/350. glasspacks? what the kids put on, look at me mr. officer. lots of good mufflers out there, mostly boils down to price ( what you can afford ), a rumble is nice but not too loud, gets boring real fast on long trips. if you want to save money, buy the pipe & do it yourself. i was quoted almost $800 for 3" duals. bought the pipe for less then $100, made patterns with heavy wire, got charged $50 to bend them up, even got a free adjustment on one pipe. flowmaster mufflers where $220,less then half the quote from shop

[gchemist]

Magnaflows outflow Flowmasters!
I run dual 14" Magnaflows, x-pipe, true dual, and Chevelle headers. Great sound and power.

[77ChevySharkBite]

I've heard flowmaster, I've heard magnaflow, I've heard cherrybomb, I used to have a cherrybomb extreme on my dd which is a dodge magnum v6, but after time the noise just got too loud I would set off car alarms all the time I would actually have to back into the road without turning my car on so nothing happened. I now have a magnaflow on my magnum and I personally love it I like the deep rumble it has when it idles but when you punch it, it comes alive. I'll be putting magnaflows on my 77, flowmasters are good but too me the tone doesnt change and they can sound too raspy for my taste.

[Jedipartsguy]

Originally Posted by 1981Stepside

Definately go with true dual. When I bought my truck it had flowmasters on it with no cats. It was so obnoxiously loud.

I am in the same boat, flowmaster 40 series no cats and true dual. I cant even hear the exhaust on the freeway. Weird how it varies truck to truck.

[Bloodhound]

Borla mufflers with Hooker headers, no cats, and true duel. Not obnoxious at all and sounds awesome.

[Rogier]

Originally Posted by gchemist

Magnaflows outflow Flowmasters!
I run dual 14" Magnaflows, x-pipe, true dual, and Chevelle headers. Great sound and power.

I am not a fan of one or the other, but this statement is not right and should not influence your judgement. On any 'old-school' flow bench the magnaflow will easily outflow the flowmaster. However, this is due to the continuous flow being pushed through and it is not comparable to the use of the muffler on a car. If you measure the flow with a modern bench and computer simulated inflow, the flowmaster and magnaflow will flow equally good. On targeted RPM ranges however, you can get flowmasters to create an accelerated flow at a very specific RPM. This allows for tuning of the engine to perform OK for the whole RPM range and to work great at a specific RPM range.

All of this muffler talk is completely obsolete if you make any mistake in the rest of the exhaust setup. The whole system should be setup so that the flow not only goes through easily, but also in a way that maximizes the harvesting effect (and sound dampening of course ) .

Important for the exhaust system performance for your engine and your desired RPM peak performance range are (simplified explanation): Exhaust valve porting, the header type and their length, distance between exhaust valve and x pipe, diameter of the tube, muffler.

To make life easy: Choose based on sound you like and forget about tuning if you can't measure changes.

[stock75]

If you are not set on duals check out the flowmaster 40 series. I just got one installed on my truck, along with new 2.5 inch piping for 135$ at my local muffler shop. My truck is stock, we are talkin straight off the factory floor 55,000 orig miles stock, and before the flowmaster it was quiet, you honestly couldnt hear the engine from inside the cab. So I had them yank the cat, install the flowmaster then threw a k&n along with it just for fun. truck is a lot more responsove now and sounds great, has that mean low rumble when you fire it up, then mellows out a bit at idle until you step into it a bit, sounds clean! For 135 bucks, I can not complain one bit!

[jrblanke]

I'll throw in my two cents.

I have an 84 with the over the counter goodwrench 350. It still has the factory carb and manifolds on it. I put true duals, magniflow cats (paid 50 dollars each with the advanced auto online coupon), and borla mufflers on it. The borla muffers were really expensive (I think 350 for the pair), but I like the sound, and they are stainless so they will last longer than the flowmaster. They are pretty quiet unless the engine is under load. I really really like them. They will not fill the need to be obnoxious if that is what you are going for, but if you want people to know your truck has a V8, or you just enjoy a nice mellow tone, then I would recommend the combo above.

I may go with headers soon because I am tired of messing with my manifolds.

I will also say that the combo I suggested is quite expensive. I spent 450 dollars just in parts.

[Edahall]

I like to combine a pair of Flowmasters with a pair of Glasspacks. The Flowmasters take out the low frequency noise and the Glasspacks take out the high frequency noise. The result is a nice mellow tone.

[Firebirdjones]

I run a variety of mufflers on different cars here. Magnaflow, Flowmaster, and Pypes currently on different vehicles, and have had Spintech, Borla, Mac and SLP in the past.

The past few years I've been a huge fan of Pypes. They are stainless steel, good quality sound with high CFM flow, yet don't cost your first born like Magnaflow does. Pypes are even cheaper on price than your Flowmasters,,,which aren't stainless.

They will all create similar performance, as we tested about 7-8 different brands of catbacks on a 4th gen and came up with similar results for all of them. It really comes down to the sound you want. And the sound will vary with any given muffler simply by changing the pipe diameter, adding an "H" or "X" cross over, having headers or manifolds etc....

My personal favorite is a dual system with a pipe size of your choice, with an X cross over and Pypes mufflers.

[liftlawssuck]

I personally have Walker Dynomax Turbo Tubes on my truck. Stock 350 with headers and no tailpipes. Everyone I know from my era runs this set up around here. Love the way they sound. Nice rumble at idle. Even my stock motor sound real good. Yet really comes to life when wound up. Not obnoxious like glass packs. Weird too because they are a pass through style like glass packs yet sound way different. The problem is they don't make them anymore. At least I can't find them. I'm with you. I like the same sound your looking for. These mufflers fit that sound. Had them now for about 20 years.

This will determine age here: Anyone remember Hollywood Deep Tones?? They sound good too.

[bigblock73]

I started my '73 for the first time this past week. Its a 500 HP 468, Sanderson 3/4 headers, 3" exhaust front to rear exiting out the back behind the rear tires, going thu Flowmaster 50's (I believe). Long story short, I don't care for the sound at all...very dissapointed. high flow or not, the sound is enought to make me switch these things out before I ceramic coat the entire exhaust.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

I started my '73 for the first time this past week. Its a 500 HP 468, Sanderson 3/4 headers, 3" exhaust front to rear exiting out the back behind the rear tires, going thu Flowmaster 50's (I believe). Long story short, I don't care for the sound at all...very dissapointed. high flow or not, the sound is enought to make me switch these things out before I ceramic coat the entire exhaust.

Yeah, I only care for the flowmasters if I use an H or X in the system, seems to tame down the resonance and cackle a bit and give them a more refined sound.

I used to run a pair of 2 chamber flowmasters on my 454 pickup with long tube headers and dual 3" pipes complete with tailpipes, you could hear it coming for a couple miles Put an H pipe in later and that tamed it slightly but after years I decided I wanted quiet, so I removed them and installed a pair of stainless Pypes Street Pro's. Wow what a difference, I get comments all the time on how good that sounds now.

I still run a pair of Super 40 Flowmasters on my big block chevelle that makes 640 HP, and that's another dual 3" system complete with tailpipes but with a Dr. Gas X pipe. It's not nearly as loud as you would think, and actually sounds sweet under power, that X-pipe makes all the difference.

I'm changing out the other car with a complete Flowmaster kit that I've had on the car since the early 90's, a 70 formy that uses a dual system with a single tranverse Flowmaster muffler at the rear by the gas tank, and also has an H-pipe. It's an old Force II system that Flowmaster doesn't make anymore, and is much quieter than the American Thunder system that has since replaced it. But I'm going for the Pypes transverse muffler system with the X-pipe for a little quieter and more refined sound. I run this exact same system on my 71 ventura Sprint (uses the same style muffler setup).

I don't know, as I get older I get sick of the noise and I've been slowly taming the exhaust systems down a bit, which is kind of funny because my wifes 4th gen camaro needed a new system recently, and I went with the 4" Mufflex system with a 4" Magnaflow muffler,,,and now it sets off car alarms So I'm doing a cone style resonator in the tailpipe to tone that down a tad. It's a bit too obnoxious. Had this system on another 4th gen years back and I just don't remember it being this loud. It's hell when you get old LOL.

[bigblock73]

I forgot to mention, I have an H pipe as well...oh well, live and learn.

[Pyrotechnic]

bigblock73 I ran a system much like you described behind a 450HP small block with 2.5 inch pipe. I was great on the highway with no drone, nice rumble around town, and was still pretty loud under WOT.

My only complaint was that the mufflers really hid the lumpy idle, which is something I like to hear. Hard to have it both ways. I ended up building cut outs so I can go from mild to feeling like i'm 16 years old with the flip of a switch.

Not sure what you didn't like about the 50 series, but I imagine a straight through muffler with the appropriate length case for the volume level you want would be a better bet though. They seem to turn down the volume but not drastically mess with the natural sound of the motor like the long case FM's will.