dmccain

iTrader: (2)

I've always loved the sound of my 3in Flowmaster exhaust but after reading so much on how restrictive it was I decided on a more free flowing muffler. Wanted something different and the Flowtech Afterburner had good numbers so I bought one $88 shipped to my door. Three inch inlet, dual 2.5 inch outlet. It has more of a Magnaflow sound just deeper but maybe a lil louder. To me it doesn't sound near as good as the Flowmaster at idle but It sounds great under throttle. I think a lot of folks will like it, seems very well made. I've had pretty much every transverse muffler they make for these cars owning 5 of them over the years. Borla is still #1, Flowmaster#2.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

Was this a crossflow style? If so I always wonder how they add the 3rd pipe to their standard layout. Back in the day a lot of manufacturers would just add a second outlet hole in the appropriate location on the muffler case and not worry about flow to that pipe, what it got is what it got. If they started with a good design it wasn't a problem with performance but in some places, it could cause you to fail emissions due to the drastic difference in flow side to side (the reasoning was that you're either dumping out half your exhaust somewhere so it's not being read or you have a leak).

I'd love to see flow tests of all the different chambered designs from the last 30 years, I suspect that not many of them flow better than flowmasters, but some might like these. I put an early flowtech terminator (similar design but with larger internal tubing) on my K1500 when they first came out and that was interesting, it sounded very different on and off axis since there wasn't much to the tailpipe after the muffler. On axis, lined up with the tailpipe it sounded like an open exhaust, loud and raspy, a lot like a lot of the exhausts sound on current mopars. Off axis it sounded like a quieter chambered muffler. I'm not sure if I was happy with it... if you stood in just the right place it sounded great, and where that "right place" was could change depending on your mood, but in general, you weren't where you heard what you wanted to hear, and it was a little too raspy and "racecar" for a truck.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

I did find some numbers somewhere late the other night and the Afterburner outflows Hooker Aerochamber, Flowmaster 80, right there close to Magna Flow anyhow it had good numbers and it has huge open tubes you can tell it flows straight through. I still wish I'd left the Flowmaster on and I did keep it. The Afterburner kind of has a more tame glasspack sound to me as the Magna Flow does, just louder. I'm sure it's great performance-wise I'm just not wild over the Ear Test. I probably even liked the old Flo-Pro and Dynomax transverse mufflers a bit better. Magnaflows Transverse muffler is a bit quiet for my taste. I've used their glasspacks on a C10 before though and it sounded great.

brian p

I have the Aerochamber on mine, nothing wrong with it but always looking. Spintech's name comes up now and then but I don't know how they compare.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Ive heard a Hooker Aerochamber and sounded good. Never heard a Spintech. Heard a Texas Speed Rumbler system a while back I liked, very similar to SLP Loudmouth.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

After a few weeks of regretting I ever swapped out I will be putting my Flowmaster back on as soon as the rain subsides around here. Id rather have that good Flowmaster sound and lose 2 or 3 HP any day. LOL. The Flowtech does sound awesome at higher RPMs though.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

My go-to muffler for everything is the dynomax ultraflow welded. I think they sound much better (but quieter because of the thicker case) than a stainless ultraflow or Magnaflow even though they are the same design, even with the steel case it's heavy enough that they last forever (the one on my car now has been on 3 cars, and I think I've had it for something in the range of 20 years), and there are 3 models that pretty much flow better than everything else on the market.

My "best sounding out of everything," muffler is the Hooker Aerochamber. (and this is coming from someone that used to work at a speed shop and has seen, heard, and sold a lot of mufflers)

If you're sticking to crossflow mufflers, the Flowmaster 80 series is more like a 15-25hp loss on a 250-300hp car over a stock muffler (late 3rd gen or 4th gen stock muffler).

When I decided that I wanted louder than the ultraflow welded I ended up installing an electric cutout and wiring it to a power window switch- I can dial in the exact volume that I want, from what is slightly quieter than stock to full race car...

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

You think it's that much loss on a 250-300hp engine ... That's what range I'm in I figure 250-270.. I figured 5hp loss maybe.. If I knew it was 25hp I could live with the free flowing Afterburner.

Manic Z

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone actually have proof of the horsepower difference of going from the 80 series to another transverse muffler?
I've never actually seen any proof.
Just curious with all the claims that flowmaster robs power.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Yea, by design I could see where it would slow the exhaust down with all the baffles versus a straight through design such as a Magnaflow or glasspack type deals but I just cant see it robbing 25 hp on a lower end 200-300hp engine..

Manic Z

iTrader: (1)

I run 117mph in the 1/4 mile with the 80 series. I just don't buy the idea that switching to another transverse muffler would gain me another 3mph.

Either way, I love the way the 80 series sounds on my car. Been running it for just over 20 years.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

There was a magazine article a long time ago now, maybe 10 or 15years, maybe more that someone scanned and posted on here that tested crossflow mufflers on the dyno and they showed a 23 or 28hp loss with the flowmaster from their baseline (this is from memory, I remember 20 and a rounded number like a 3 or 8). It was actually the worst one in their tests, worse than stock. Basically for a while after that it was a non-issue, no one on here put the flowmaster 80 or the American thunder crossflow setup on their car (there used to be a single 3" flowmaster cat back that did better, I haven't seen it in years). None of the crossflow muffler setups have ever done that well in tests, I believe that the dyno tests showed the dynomax cat back as making the most HP and it at the time had a TTL setup like the SLP cat back (even similar stepped down tips, but for a while they put square outlets on them). Back in the late 80's/early 90's all of GM performance parts test cars (various crate engine swaps...) ran 3" setups with a dynomax muffler and a single 3" outlet on the driver's side, I suspect it was because it was the only setup that worked reliably better than the factory setup. Even GM didn't bother keeping the crossflow when performance was an issue.

I've never been able to show any increase between a factory 90's crossflow muffler and any aftermarket crossflow and back in the late 90's I tested a factory '97 WS6 TA muffler/exhaust vs no muffler and wasn't able to show any change on a high 11-second car (one of the first things that I've done on every f-body I've ever owned is cut the exhaust before the muffler and put a flange in there so I can unbolt it and test anything I wanted, it allowed me to change the car on a whim, drive it around with a factory exhaust all week and then take it off and put a turndown on it and go to the track, swap exhausts between f-bodies quickly, at one point I had 3 in my driveway). I've only had 1 crossflow setup that I've liked on my car and it was one that I built myself- basically, 2 sections of 3" tube large holesaw holes cut in their sides (I think there were 3 or 4 and they were 2 or 2.5" OD) facing each other and then I took some sheetmetal and boxed it all in. It sounded OK and I wasn't able to show any loss from my "normal" setup (I've mentioned it a few times, a dynomax ultraflow welded and just a single 3".

On the 3rd gens I don't think it matters, they mostly look better with the exhaust tucked up. On the 4th gen Trans Ams you really needed the twin tailpipes because they had cutouts in the rear bumper for the tailpipes and it looked funny with only one side.

ploegi

I put the Edelbrock Catback system on my Formula. I loved the sound so much, I never turned the radio on again. And I owned it for another 8 years......

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Put my Flowmaster back on. It sounds better at idle and low speed. The Afterburner sounded bada$$ at high Rpms. I will sell it $40 plus the ride. 3 in inlet dual 2.5 outlets.