So I was looking at as much of the factory exhaust as I could see today and it did not look completly crimped all over the place, so It had me wondering if just removing the factory resonator behind the cat and welding in a Magnaflow muffler give the car a better sound? Anybody done this yet. I don't really want to spend the $600 if I can get roughly the same sound by going the diy route.

 

I did.. I just removed from the flex piping back and installed a electirc cut out....look at my pics

 

I was wondering the same thing... so I went to my local car-x muffler shop (dealer for magnaflow) and talked to the manager about replacing the factory rear muffler with the straight-through desing muffler from magnaflow. he set me for this wednesday for an appointment with his special "custom" guy who is gonna look at what size of the muffler I require and get it from the local warehouse where car-x keeps " anything you can imagine";-). I used to have custom premium exhausts from Neuspeed, Borla, Magnaflow and most of the time they temper with the first-in-line resonator and I found it unpleasant as the first resonator (although restricting) has a function of breaking down the sound wave; the cherry-bomb of the custom exhaust is barely able to do that and sends most of the noise from the collector every which direction, including in between the seats. When you race- that's one thing , but when you dd your car- that's annoying. So I say leave the first resonator alone unless you can live with booming loud noise every time you accelerate. Or replace it with 2 or 3 smaller in-line cherry bombs. The sound tuning happens at the very tip of exhaust and larger straight -through muffler may achieve that sweet noise. My 2004 Subaru STI had that design from the factory and it sounded amazing. Magnaflow for 2001 Focus had mid-sized center resonator and straight -through rear, Neuspeed for 2000 Jetta vr6 had very large cherry bomb for resonator and Y shaped straight-through muffler and was probably on par with sound of Corsa exhaust of Ferrari. However the same design on 4 banger 97 GTI sounded extremely loud and uncomfortable

 

Keep me posted with what you end up with. and if you don't mind what it ends up costing you.

 

okay , so they put it on the lift and they were impressed (so was I) with quality of the whole factory exhaust. And it really is great! I mean the pipe is mandrel bent without any kinks, the welds on resonator are almost seamless and the quality of steel is A+. So after 30 min of dicking around and consulting the internet they told me that their "usual" solutions won't work, because of the driver's side rear shock/spring support cup in a way and the type of the muffler that would fit is round ( not oval) and they don't stock those. Also the muffler length should be no more than 18 inch. They gave me choice of waiting till Monday for the muffler to be delivered directly from Magnaflow or some other option. Installed cost for Magnaflow would be 320 ( including labor, taxes and authentic Magnaflow tip that looks just like what I have from the factory except heavier and with laser etched Magnaflow logo. I told them i have to sleep on it. By the way I found kinda fitting muffler at http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts...A2694A0A0.aspx for around 85 shipped.

 

If you're planning on ONLY that muffler, I also recommend some of these...

 

I don't think that the guys who dish out 600 or more for an exhaust do it only for the sound, but they have hopes of better performance gains. I paid for the Hahn system with the catless down pipe and what I'm looking for is every ounce of HP that I can get and to be ready for future upgrades. I truly wish it was as quiet as could be being that I like stealth/sleeper mode.

I hope to install the new system tomorrow at this SELF SERVICE GARAGE that I found near my home. It’s pretty cool, you rent a bay with a lift and they have all the tools you could need for $25/hour. It’s my first time finding a place like this.

 

OMG that's awesome! I wish I could find one around me. Granted I have the garage, but still... a lift would help so much sometimes.

Later
Allex

 

Man, this place was great. It's like being at a car bar, all the guys hanging around working on their cars and checking each others rides out and offering a helping hand and tips on how to get more power. I've never been one to hang out, but this is going to be my new hang out.

 

continuation of my story---- car-x installed the muffler i got at autozone ($64; 5 inch round body; 18 inch long; perforated 2,5 inch tube inside; chromed stainless can with 1 inch long 3,5 inch diameter tip; around 10 pounds weight). Man, this thing sounds vicious! BTW factory muffler IS straight through design,- the pipe goes through with 5 degree bends and is perforated alittle, muffler itself although large is pretty light- maybe 15 pounds. I will try to record and post the video of my new muffler (never done it before) so you guys have an idea. I suggest go with round muffler, but longer body- 2 feet instead of 18 inches on mine. No gain in power as I see it so far, only stronger sound