Custom vs. Kit

[J. Henley 17]

I'm about to put exhaust on my car, my only mod. If I can find an affordable high-flow cat, I'll do that, too, but I'm doubting it at the moment. Anyways, I'm trying to decide whether I should order a kit or just buy a muffler and take it to a muffler shop and have them make me an exhaust. Will this save me anything, usually? Will the performance gains, while I know they're small, be comparable? Will the sound still be about as good?

From what I've heard so far, Flowmaster 80s sound a little ricey, especially at high RPMs (moreso than others, I hear), but Magnaflows are supposed to sound better, and all the other good guys are expensive. Is it possible for me to get a Magnaflow muffler and a custom exhaust for around $300 installed? Or will it not make that big of a difference?

[madmaxx050505]

Unless the shop has a mandrel pipe bender a kit will always be better. this is becuase the pipe benders that most shops have tend to crease the pipe while a mandrel pipe bender produces a smooth bend which equals better flow. I made this mistake when getting my exhaust. My custom installed was 300 with dynomax muffler, a universal highflow cat and 2 tips.

[97rs4life]

def. go with the magnaflow catback system.

[J. Henley 17]

Only problem, the kit alone is more than I want to spend, but I guess if I have to, I could chip in.

If the shop does mandrel bends, though, would they still be very comparable? I'm thinking they do, being about the only muffler shop in the area that cares anything about people who want performance, and the only guys that keep Magnaflows in stock. I'm going to stop by in a little while to get a price quote, I guess I'll check for both. But the Magnaflow is a good choice?

Thanks, guys.

Oh, and 2.5 inch is a good diameter for it, right?

[stevethepirate]

the tsp rumbler was just on sale for 200...

[J. Henley 17]

Is it still on sale? Where? And I haven't really looked into that one... how does the sound compare, or as far as you know, how does it compare? There are no strips around here and gains are small, anyways, so I'm really more worried about sound. I want a good sound, but not obnoxiously loud.

[97rs4life]

2.5" is plenty, the tsp rumbler is from texas-speed.com

[BLLDOGG]

i purchased all my stuff custom from jegs and summit and have never come across anyone who got a kit cheaper than me including installation. the great part about it was my i-pipe and over-axle pipe were pre made peices in 3" for a LS1 so it was basically the same thing you would get from anyone else, mandrel bent. :cool:

[dmw319]

Originally posted by BLLDOGG:
i purchased all my stuff custom from jegs and summit and have never come across anyone who got a kit cheaper than me including installation. the great part about it was my i-pipe and over-axle pipe were pre made peices in 3" for a LS1 so it was basically the same thing you would get from anyone else, mandrel bent. :cool:

im the same way. i bought a borla muffler off ebay, then everything else i bought the same as BLLDOGG from summit. the exhaust shop made the U pipe i bought from summit into an S, and made the tailpipes, and i already had some tips when i bought my car. altogether was around 300 including install for an almost borla system including a cutout [img]smile.gif[/img]

[J. Henley 17]

I called today, scheduled to have it installed Friday. The only thing, they ended up not being able to do mandrel bends, but they said it would only be $180 installed with 2.5" and crush bends. Will this flow at least as good as a 2.25" with mandrel bends? If I'm not happy with it, I'll probably get just the piping redone this summer (I'll be going to school in Baton Rouge, so I'll have access to better shops), but I don't race, so as long as I'm not losing power, another .1 in the quarter won't really make a difference to me.

How big are the stock pipes? Please tell me they're not 2.5"...

[loser]

stock pipes are 2.25 after the cat. id just go 3inch if its crush-bent.

[J. Henley 17]

Ah... I already ordered the muffler with 2.5" inlets... oh well... just getting into this, so I doubt it will be my first mistake...

[J. Henley 17]

I got it on yesterday... after a little thought, I decided to stay with the pipes that were on there... they were mandrel bent, and I really didn't want a crush bent exhaust on there. So, I got the Magnaflow muffler ($180), the pipes and hangers for dual outlets, and two stainless steel tips, which were expensive as hell... $60 each! After all was said and done, I'm pretty satisfied. It's not as low as I had hoped and it does get pretty raspy, but the idle sounds fantastic. It all came out to $380, though, which I was not happy about. Now, I'm thinking that I should have just ordered the Rumbler and got a full cat-back system for much less, but it's too late for that.

The sound level is good... I didn't want to hear it inside the car all that much, and I can't. It's weird, though. Usually, I heard the intake more, and it made it sound to me like I was going harder on it than the exhaust note does. 3k sounds about like 2k coming from the exhaust, so shifting is a little late until I get used to it.

[Question]

Originally posted by J. Henley 17:
I got it on yesterday... after a little thought, I decided to stay with the pipes that were on there... they were mandrel bent, and I really didn't want a crush bent exhaust on there. So, I got the Magnaflow muffler ($180), the pipes and hangers for dual outlets, and two stainless steel tips, which were expensive as hell... $60 each! After all was said and done, I'm pretty satisfied. It's not as low as I had hoped and it does get pretty raspy, but the idle sounds fantastic. It all came out to $380, though, which I was not happy about. Now, I'm thinking that I should have just ordered the Rumbler and got a full cat-back system for much less, but it's too late for that.

The sound level is good... I didn't want to hear it inside the car all that much, and I can't. It's weird, though. Usually, I heard the intake more, and it made it sound to me like I was going harder on it than the exhaust note does. 3k sounds about like 2k coming from the exhaust, so shifting is a little late until I get used to it.

Well, if you don't want LOUD or to be able to hear it inside the car, then trust me the Rumbler is not for you. I love mine though, check out my sound clips.