rheath011

Strictly low budget right now but I do need to replace my muffler on a 97 30th Anniversary edition z28.

I am looking for any helpful info. on which manufactor has the best muffler.... My definition of best starts with performance and ends with sound .

I have been looking at flowmaster and hooker. THere is a lot of confusing info out there and most of it seems to boil down to basically opinion.

Can anyone help me find some hard facts that I can use to make a discission ??

rheath011

I love my hooker!!!
Better performace than flowmaster I had on it nice deep throaty sound outside the car... can still talk normally inside the car.
When I had the flow master on my car I hated to take it on long trips.
I have a large long hill on a highway near me. Going up the hill with the flowmaster at 60 mph a little over 2000 rpm With the hooker just over 1800 rpm and I can still have a normal conversation
Hope that helps

Soory I don't remember where I got the info or the exact numbers...... but flowmaster tested at abou 50 percent the flow of a straight pipe.... hooker was in the 90 something percent of a straigh pipe

Fatdog2

Previous posts have stated a 5 hp loss with flowmaster.To make the sound that it does requires a little loss.My02.(This is dyno stuff,not opinions).Hope this helps.

Injuneer

Which specific Flowmaster muffler did you dyno test? They make many different models. I've used the 30-series race muffler (part of the Mufflex 4" catback) behind my 800HP nitrous LT1, and there was no detectable change in HP (dyno checked) when comparing it to an open system, or my current system of dual 3" Borla XR-1's bolted to the collectors, with 3" pipes to the rear axle. Buddy of mine with a 900+HP 30th SS convertible had the same results. We only ditched the 4" Mufflex/Flowmaster catback to save weight.

The LT1 exhaust responds best to a full catback, with a 3" mandrel-bent intermediate pipe. Gains of 10-15HP are possible. Just changing the muffler isn't going to change much at all.

Fatdog2

It was the 80 series Flowmaster.It kept blowing out the welds of the cut over the axle that was cut during the cat and muffler installation .The previous dynos are from this forum many years ago.Hope this helps.P.S. Regular set ups,not blown to the max.My02.