new 7/30/01,updated 4/07/2004, 6/02/2004
As a Generation 3 SHO owner, I am interesting in replacing the factory
mufflers on my car. I know there are MANY different companies out there who make
mufflers. I have done some research and before I make my decision, I want to
hear from some fellow SHO owners as to what name brand muffler has a deep,
powerful sound but not to loud like a monster truck. If there are any SHO owners
who have added mufflers to their car, please get back to me and let me know.
Tell me the brand name and what you think about the sound and over all
performance of it. This will be greatly appreciated so that I can make up my
mind.
Thanks
At the Missouri SHO stopover en-route to Tulsa I had the opportunity to
listen to several different mufflers. Muffler sound is very subjective but I
will offer my observations and personal preferences.
1. Borla cat back system. Well it's on my car, so I'm partial to it. You can't
get the whole cat-back system new anymore but you can still get Borla mufflers.
They are pricey. It has the best balance of V8 sound that you can live with
day-to-day.
2. Flowmasters !
Those mufflers have BALLS, but they did drone a little to much (IMHO) when I
went for a ride with him.
3. Bullit mufflers. Bob Fijal (and I think Richard Moore) has them on his car.
They have a good mellow street presence but will bark when you open it up.
4. Rhino mufflers. Mark Hlady has them on his car. I got to listen to them about
a year and a half ago and liked them a lot, very similar to the Bullits When I
heard them on Sunday, they had developed a rasp that was noticeable.
5. Turbo Thrush Mufflers. Kenny Kopeckney has them. They really don't sound
-much- different than stock. They are cheap though. I would not cut my stainless
steel stock system out to put these on.
6. NASCAR Boom tubes. On Shannon Burton's Pace SHO. Good grief, you can hear his
car for 6 blocks. Waaayy to noisy for daily driving.
Whatever you do, understand that if you open up your intake with a cone or
drilling your airbox, YOU will hear more intake sound than exhaust once you hit
3400 RPM.
Hope this helps, you should get more replies once SHOklahoma is over with.
David
'98 TR
Borla cat-back (always seeking underpasses/tunnels :-)
Drilled airbox
Yokohoma AVS dBs, stock size
K&N panel
Mobil 1/AC Ultraguard
63K
Original rotors/pads
I too have the Borla system, and love it. Flowmasters are also a very good
muffler, and I've heard them on Kirk's car and they sound good also. Some people
on the list recommend buying cheap mufflers, that way if you don't like them,
you can replace them and not be at a major loss. I disagree though, if you're
gonna chop up your exhaust, put something back in that is high quality and you
won't have to replace anytime soon. The cheap mufflers tend to need to be
replaced after 2 or 3 years from what I've seen. The Borla may possibly need to
be replaced after about a million miles.
I'll also second David on this...if you open the intake up a bit, over 3400 RPMs
it will make some nice sounds that will be louder than the exhaust. I've driven
Shannon's car with the insanely loud NASCAR Boom tube exhaust... When you fire
it up, it sounds pretty much like a damn race car, however when you are hitting
6500 RPMs its not a whole lot louder than a stock exhaust. The intake however
screams at high RPMs. Something about the design of the SHO V8 makes it quieter
running at high RPMs, unlike all other V8s I've dealt with...where when you open
the exhaust and hit 6000 RPMs, you're making serious noise.
If you'd like to listen to the Borla system, you can find some sound files from
it on my filebox page listed below.
Troy
96 Medium Graphite
Borla Exhaust (2nd Generation)
Llumar Window Tint - 50% front 35% rear
Bendix Titanium Metallic Brake Pads
K-Deuce 4" Custom Front Air Dam
Pirelli P7000 SS Z-rated Tires
Amsoil 5W-30
Sax-Free Intake
97-99 V8 Emblems
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/tsours/carstuff
It depends on what kind of sound you want as people stated in other replays.
I put holes in my stock mufflers and it sounded nice then I just cut them off. I
plan to take out the third cat and resonator, then install some Supertrapps.
They are expensive but it is want I want. Do not forget once you take off your
stock mufflers save or get new tips. Good luck in finding the one that you like
the best.
Rob Z.
97 ES
www.V8SHO.com sticker
Silver Bullets 2 & 1/4" get them from Brent Savage bnsavage@konnections.com.
They have a very deep menacing sound that mellows out at higher rpm. Absolutely
the best sound when the resonator is removed also. IMHO
Paul Nimz
'97 TR
'93 EG mtx
My apologies for misspelling Kenny's name in the previous post. My name is
always misspelled and mis-pronounced so I am sensitive to that.
I did speak up without a lot of sound on Kenny's car. I didn't get a chance to
really listen to his mufflers while we were at Bob's. Kenny, Bob, and Mark
stopped by on their way back from SHOklahoma. I did hear Kenny's exhaust in all
it's glory. The Turbo Thrush mufflers give a very good sound for a low price. My
bad.
Peace, SHO brothers. Should we be taking up a benefit fund for the speeding
tickets??
David
'98 TR
hmmmm.. if i recall correctly I think I recommended them to Kenny after Ron
Porter recommended them to me. I said they aren't too loud.. but sound better
than stock and are cheap. But your post has made me want to take my resonator
out even more now! Scott P. Miller's car sounds great w/ 2 chamber turbos (the
thrush's have 3) and no resonator. Not loud at idle.. not too loud when giving
it "get outta driveway gas".. but when you step on it you KNOW there's
a V8 under the hood!
Ryan S.
Pittsburgh, PA
97 TR
Porterized w/ K&N panel
Dynomax Thrush Turbo Mufflers
SARC Switch
Xenon Remote Control Driving Lights
I know my Home made chopped up cheap mufflers sound allot different than stock and people do notice. now it is not blow in your face look at me I am loud,. unless you open it up and you can hear it a block a way. Trust me every time the Friggin Dakota is in the shop. (7x since purchase).. MY wife drops me off and some times steps into the gas. I can hear her on the side street when she is well out of site. Co-workers like and you can hear them on the highway at 120km/h with the radio on I have notice a deeper tone to them when at idle with the A/C on. a steady blub, blub blub. ALL my cars have had a system that was subtle at idle and noticeable as you roll on and off the gas. I love downshifting by hand to get the exhaust note on decel.
I did it that way as I hard a really hard time paying $100 cdn for each muffler to make the car way to noisy. with no performance gain. I have to visit some really high-end car dealerships and a representative of my company I had to take that into mind when choosing my decision. I have heard the clips and I know mine are not as loud as some of them but very nice touch and go with the whole sleeper image I have tired to maintain with the car.
Clare Allenby
96 TR w/Graphite Cloth Interior
35% Window Tint
Chrome Explorer V8 Badges
P225/55/16 94V Yokohama Avid V4
Cherry Bomb Turbo II Mufflers
London, ON
I just got back from the SHO Convention and had a great time. Met some wonderful Gen III owners there and on the way...Mike and Michelle Holhut, Kirk, Shannon, Ron Porter, Murdock Family, Dwayne, Holly, and more. We had a great time although it was HOT with temps of over 105. Anyway at Hallet I didn't race but just observed and took some pictures which I will be posting on my picture page soon. I got to listen to a few different muffler combinations at a distance under WOT race conditions. Here are my observations: Shannon Burton running straight pipes, both dumping before the left rear wheel sounded the best...most like a NASCAR racer. Next after Shannon's car was close one between Mike Holhut with Bullets and Kirk Duchette with Flowmasters. They both sounded real good with Mikes having a bit of a more "race car" sound even though Kirk's were a bit louder....both were music to your ears. Mark Hlady's was next with Rhino mufflers. Although the Rhino's are a straight through design like the Bullets, they didn't have the sound of the Bullets. Both Kenny Kopecky and Ron Porter have the Thrush Dynomax Mufflers. Kenny doesn't have the resonator and his was louder than Ron's but nowhere near the sound of the other three. Ron's sounded almost stock as there was a few GEN III's racing with stock exhaust. The GEN III's did pretty good against the other SHO's. We seemed to have an advantage in the turns but coming out of the turns onto the straight's we lost some. The ATX just didn't perform like we needed it to and on one turn wouldn't kick down into first which the guys needed...1st gear. My next post will be on brakes at Hallet as the GEN III's went through some brakes there...
Bob Fijal
97
Missouri
__________________________________________________________________
Hi Larry,
I just wanted to add my 2 cents to your muffler reviews. I live in Edmonton,
Alberta Canada and had my 3rd cat and resonator removed and installed a set of
FLO-PRO FP774 mufflers and original tips put on my 97PG SHO. I just wanted the
members to know that these have to be one of the nicest sounding Performance
Mufflers I have ever heard. Sounds Like a V8 when Idling and has a great sound
(Bark) when accelerating not as loud as a Flowmasters but when you reach highway
speeds they are excellent, no drone or resonating into the car. They also come
with a 5 year warranty. They are not listed on the
www.flopro.com site that's why I have
give the model number which is an 18" body and 22" overall.
Clay
_________________________________________________________________________
6/02/2004
I did want to drop you a note and give you a review of some mufflers I had installed. I had a pair of V-Force mufflers http://www.flopro.com/VForce.htm installed before I left for Chicago and couldn't be happier. I consider them a generic Flowmaster. They give a good rumble that you can feel at idle and do not drone much at highway speeds. My wife and I can talk without raising our voices. If you are interested, I would be happy to get you some clips or a video, just let me know.
I did notice Eric under the car checking them out after he welded the cams,
not sure if that is good or bad :-). Everything else on the exhaust is stock,
including the tips. Total bill for the 2 mufflers, extra pipe (the mufflers were
shorter than stock) and installation came to $170.
Thanks!
Joe Wede
97 ES - Welded