Have Flowruster - Might switch to Magnaflow - Convince Me

I've been out of the mod scene for a few years and I'm trying to slowly get back into it. One of the things that's really driving me crazy is my exhaust. I have a '97 Z28, with Mac mid length headers, off-road Y-pipe, and Flowmaster exhaust. I liked the Flowmaster until I put the headers and y-pipe on, but now I hate it. It's just too throaty and raspy. Not to mention that it resonates inside the car big time.

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Magnaflow. Although it would seem the prices have went up a little since I've looked the last time. Used to be Summit was the cheapest around for it, now the cheapest place I can find it is the Performance Peddler.

The car is basically all bolt-on. (K&N, 3.73's, headers, y-pipe, Flows, MSD, and a custom tune from Madwolf.)
Does anyone else have this similar setup with no cats, like mine? Do you guys think it would sound better if I switched to Magnaflow??

The Magnaflow offers a good, clean tone, but is a little mellow until you have the throttle mashed. The other nice thing is that it is stainless steel, that was one of the perks that caused me to replace my Edelbrock catback with it.

You'll gain 10rwhp or more switching from Flowmaster to Magnaflow.

The Magnaflow offers a good, clean tone, but is a little mellow until you have the throttle mashed. The other nice thing is that it is stainless steel, that was one of the perks that caused me to replace my Edelbrock catback with it.

Cool, thanks.

You'll gain 10rwhp or more switching from Flowmaster to Magnaflow.

Cool, but will it sound good?

i think mine sounds great, nice and quite at idle and cruise and wicked at WOT

Cool, but will it sound good?

I'm not the right person to ask; I hate the sound of Flowmasters. Too raspy. Magnaflow has a much cleaner, mellower sound, and it's not raspy at all.

I love the sound of Magnaflow. Borla and Corsa sound better IMO, but for the money, you can't beat Magnaflow's sound.

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I liked the Flowmaster until I put the headers and y-pipe on, but now I hate it. It's just too throaty and raspy. Not to mention that it resonates inside the car big time.


I really wish I knew which model Flowmaster I have, and I know that
folks say, "oh, Flowmaster XXX sounds great, but Flowmaster yyy
sounds raspy".

I have the one that doesnt sound raspy. As a matter of fact, I have
people ask me at lights what muffler I'm running, and in a couple of
instances, I've had folks follow me into parking lots to stop and talk
to me about the exhaust. If Flowmaster gets a bad rap (raspy?),
I think it's for that "other model #" :)

Flowmasters dont have a good rep because of there design, not because of sound. If you ever see a flowmaster cutaway you will see why.

Well, IMO, the Flowmasters were great for a more 'stock' car. Back in the day, I had just added the Flowmaster cat-back to my car which still had the stock manifolds, stock cats and stock y-pipe and it sounded awesome. Once I added the headers and off-road y-pipe, it sounded horrible.

i love my magnaflow! has a very nice tone. when just cruising around town you nudge the gas and it has a nice v8 sound to it

Here is the one i'm thinking of getting. $323 w/ free S&Hhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Magnaflow-1994-Chevrolet-Camaro-Dual-Exhaust-Sys-15620_W0QQitemZ110232588215QQcmdZViewItem?hash=ite m110232588215&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
My Flowmaster sounds just fine but i believe all the things i read about it. The restriction is too much for my mods.

My Flowmaster sounds just fine but i believe all the things i read about it. The restriction is too much for my mods.
That's what I've read about Flowmaster. Everyone likes the sound, but they are way too restrictive for heavily modded cars. I personally don't like them, way to quiet IMO. I feel it's my duty as an LT1 owner to let everyone on the block know I'm coming back from work :D.

Yeah, switching from a Flowbastard to a Magnaflow is a no-brainer.

Here's a page with a bunch of sound clips from various exhaust systems.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/exhaust/318269-third-gen-f-body.html

I had pacesetter lts,ory and a flowmaster catback on my 93 and it wasnt as loud as I thought it would be. Plus I could tell the flowmaster was holding me back a bit. Id switch to the magnaflow then just add a cutout when you want it really loud.

Id switch to the magnaflow then just add a cutout when you want it really loud.

:yes:

Thanks guys. :cool:

You'll gain 10rwhp or more switching from Flowmaster to Magnaflow.


Really???? That switch itself will actually gain 10 hp (RWHP!). Is this on stock car or mod??? I would be interested in that number.

To clear a few things up, its the 80 series or crossflow style Flowmasters that sound like ass and don't flow very well. They use these exclusively for our cars in the single in dual out configuration. The 10, 30, and 40 series Flowmasters sound awesome and flow very well. You can buy a single in/out catback from Flowmaster for our cars that uses a 40 series muffler, and it sounds great.

Really???? That switch itself will actually gain 10 hp (RWHP!). Is this on stock car or mod??? I would be interested in that number.

It has been demonstrated that the Flowmaster catback for an F-body is good for about 5rwhp less than stock. I believe this was on an LT1 F-body. Not sure about their LS1 kit.

It has also been demonstrated that pretty much every other popular F-body catback, including Magnaflow, is good for at least 5rwhp more than stock. This is true for both LT1 and LS1 cars. The straight-through muffler designs (Corsa, Borla, and Dynomax; maybe others that I'm not aware of) offer the best gains. Magnaflow is decidedly better (in terms of flow) than a Flowmaster, but I'm not sure where it falls among your other options.

On an otherwise stock LS1, Borla and Corsa catbacks typically gain 10-15rwhp over stock. I'm not sure what numbers can be expected on an LT1, but I would be surprised if the gains were significantly different.

As far as I know, the Flowmaster disadvantage only gets worse as you modify other parts of the car.

It has been demonstrated that the Flowmaster catback for an F-body is good for about 5rwhp less than stock. I believe this was on an LT1 F-body. Not sure about their LS1 kit.

It has also been demonstrated that pretty much every other popular F-body catback, including Magnaflow, is good for at least 5rwhp more than stock. This is true for both LT1 and LS1 cars. The straight-through muffler designs (Corsa, Borla, and Dynomax; maybe others that I'm not aware of) offer the best gains. Magnaflow is decidedly better (in terms of flow) than a Flowmaster, but I'm not sure where it falls among your other options.

On an otherwise stock LS1, Borla and Corsa catbacks typically gain 10-15rwhp over stock. I'm not sure what numbers can be expected on an LT1, but I would be surprised if the gains were significantly different.

As far as I know, the Flowmaster disadvantage only gets worse as you modify other parts of the car.

Previous posts on this subject have said on a modified Lt1,that the power loss was 40 H.P.(blown).Leave the slowmasters to the big suv's,.They seem to think it sounds great,even though thier gas mileage is suffering,and are soo common.Beer time.My02.:cool:

Something doesn't seem right when you are paying money to lose power.:confused:

As far as I know, the Flowmaster disadvantage only gets worse as you modify other parts of the car.

Previous posts on this subject have said on a modified Lt1,that the power loss was 40 H.P.(blown).
Yeah, that's what I was saying. The more power you add, the more the restriction is going to be a problem.

Something doesn't seem right when you are paying money to lose power.:confused:
I completely agree; that's why I'm saying he should get rid of his Flowmaster! With a 4th gen F-body, Flowmaster is about sound and attitude, not horsepower.

The Flowmaster catback itself is a decent design and that is why i am just changing the 80 series muffler for a Hooker Aero Chamber.My first choice was the Hooker c/b but there was a backorderin(2000)so i got the Flowmaster instead.I want something w/less resonance on highway and quieter at idle,not to mention better flow.

The Flowmaster catback itself is a decent design and that is why i am just changing the 80 series muffler for a Hooker Aero Chamber.My first choice was the Hooker c/b but there was a backorderin(2000)so i got the Flowmaster instead.I want something w/less resonance on highway and quieter at idle,not to mention better flow.

True -- it's just the muffler that's the problem. Any 3" mandrel-bent pipe is going to perform pretty much the same. They all route the same way anyway! :)

I've cut apart a 80 series to show one of my buddies why they are such a restriction, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were more than a 5hp loss. I believe your higher end catbacks are the ones that get the best gains like you said JakeRobb, Magnaflow and SLP are the in-between types netting you a 5-7 hp gain while the corsa and borla more like 10-15 hp. It all changes with cats, and no cats...w/ a 3-5 hp gain there.

I just put the magna on my 94z and love the sound like everone has said that are using the magna it is quite at idle and putting speeds but sounds good at wot. i will never go back to that crapmaster sound. Plus the noise reduction has brought out noises that i could not hear before. good luck.