I'm considering a magnaflow for the Buick. Sound levels?

[Tim's Buick]

First off, I DO NOT WANT MORE HP! I just want a nice low rumble sound that does NOT intrude into the cabin unless you romp the engine up, like 2000 plus rpms. This series one cranks out enough power for me.

The aftermarket muffer I put on 2 years ago sounds awful. Always has that drone under light loads at 2000 rpms and it sounds raspy and like a bunch of nuts loose in the muffler.

Essentially the stock muffler that was on it before had a nice deep note at idle that was never loud. If I could get the stock stainless cheap, I would, BUT....

We have an old Magnaflow muffler at work. Its old stock. Maybe 4-5 years ago. It is the nice stainless one, and has dual outlets. I had an old Lesabre with a OE muffler with duals, and it looked sweet. I can get it for next to nothing.

It has a 3 inch inlet and 2 1/2 outs. I can make an adapter to fit the extension on the muffler so its not an issue. I work at a muffler shop so this stuff is a piece of cake.

Thing is, with a 3 inch inlet, is this healthy for my engine? I also do not want a drone or too much noise. The other thing is, what do you guys suggest for a resonator??

Thanks!!

Its a 93 PA with a 3800 series one L.

[nos4blood70]

You could use a glasspack as a resonator and try a Flowmaster 44 for the muffler. Make it a bigger glasspack and I bet it'll sound pretty good without drone.

[MattStrike]

Morose spiral flow in place of the resonator is what I used.

[nos4blood70]

Did the 93s have a resonator?

[RJolly87]

First off, I DO NOT WANT MORE HP! . . . This series one cranks out enough power for me.

HAH!. . . but okay

Essentially the stock muffler that was on it before had a nice deep note at idle that was never loud. If I could get the stock stainless cheap, I would, BUT....

I dropped a high flow cat on mine, and even the stock sounds like the exhaust will turn raspy at the drop of a hat.

Thing is, with a 3 inch inlet, is this healthy for my engine? I also do not want a drone or too much noise.

My money is that there will be no change in how it runs, just how it sounds. The restriction in the exhaust is the catalytic converter, the same exhaust is used on the stock L67, and is still not restrictive. If you keep the 2.5" piping, I don't think there will be any issue.


Also, 93's have no resonator. I think it is a good idea for one to go in, especially if you start fiddling with mufflers. My exhaust hangs low, and drags on everything, so you will want to be careful where the resonator goes.

I am also a fan of a custom intake over stock. This also adds to the theater while on the throttle

[Tim's Buick]

My exhaust is still stock after 450,000 kms, and it never had a resonator on it. I had a 94 in my yard and it had a resonator. I kept it and I still have it, lol.

Again, I love my series one. It has a different feel from a newer 3800. I do realize the series two is more powerful, but I am quite content with my series one.

I wondered about using a glasspack as a resonator. Thought it might be the same idea. I should get a nice magnaflow stainless glasspack maybe? Here, regular pipes seem to rust faster than welded factory stainless.

Biggest thing I want is the quiet stock rumble it once had, with some nice looking dual stainless tips.

[Jrs3800]

You really do need a resonator to tone it down.. The magnaflow will be ok with a resonator, it will have a decent grumble at idle and smoother sounds through the revs.. But they do have a deeper heftier sound on a series I, as well the series I isn't as raspy as the series II.. You should also have 2.5 " Mandrell bent pipe all the way... Should sound nice when you are done..

[J Wikoff]

There are different lines of Magnaflow mufflers. You'll want to be sure of what the one from work is.

<<<Wanting to add a resonator to the 92 with a Magnaflow muffler and cat.

[gweg_b]

Yeah, I think the addition of a resonator is a must.

I have an Edelbrock muffler on my LeSabre (well, did, it kind of fell off), and it sounded nice - low rumble at idle, and a nice growl on acceleration. Well, about 6 months later I removed the resonator, because back then I just wanted loud. Well, it got loud, and terribly raspy at the same time.

Looking back, I realize that was a not a wise choice on my part to remove the resonator. I plan to add one back in when I redo the exhaust on the LeSabre on of these days.

[yourgrandma]

I hate the sound of my magnaflows, but Im also running a 3" system into two 2.5" mufflers, so theres gonna be drone.

Ive heard a lot of good things about the Moroso Spiral Flows, so Ill probably try one or more of those in place of the glasspack I currently have in the resonator ocation.

FOr a subtle bump up in sound without drone and whatnot, I would suggest a simple turbo muffler. It seems like most of the big name brand stuff is pretty aggressive. Id say something cheap like a thrush turbo or the like would be just dandy.

[Tim's Buick]

You have a point. I just have this magnaflow for free I'm willing to use though. :D

Its called the wide open model. It is similar to what you find on the mufflers on their website. Its all stainless and has the mesh layers in it.

2.5 is what this exhaust is on this car. Except for the back extension pipe, its all original for a car with 450,000 clicks.

I will look into a glasspack or a Spiral flow resonator.

Biggest thing I want is QUIET highway cruising. No drone. When I did an F body muffler on my lesabre, there was drone at accel and highway speeds. This muffler was a maremont OE replacement though. When I added a res, the car was whisper quiet except for the sucking intake woosh noise, lol.

[repinS]

You could always add J-pipes. There is a ton of G8 information about this, but I couldn't really find an organized source. I did find some info on LS1 tech though: http://ls1tech.com/forums/cadillac-cts- ... tubes.html

and some theory: http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28831

This way you can add whatever exhaust you want, and as long as you can add the J's, you kill the drone without altering the sound. I have a friend who did his own homebrew calculations on his Saab 9-3 Aero (2.0L turbo four cylinder), and the J's cut the majority of his drone out. Corsa use the same idea, but their pipes are housed inside a muffler - look on the LS1 Tech link for the cutaway.

The equation is Length=(1100/Drone freq.)/4(*12). I'm not sure how you would find your drone frequency.

This is for the Camaro, I'm not sure how applicable it will be to the 3800:

[The extension jpg has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]

The G8's setup looks something like this, look at the J's towards the back:

[MattStrike]

Makes me want to try a good 'ol muffler delete..

[repinS]

That's all the Solo axle-back kit for the G8 is Rear muffler delete with J's to silence the drone.

[Ghosthawk]

I learned some hard and expensive lessons about exhaust on my 2001 Grand Prix GT. I experienced lots of different sound and drone levels over four different exhaust systems and this is what I came away with.

Just like Bonnie, the GP wasnt heavily modded so I kept the 2.5 downpipe and used a hi-flow cat (the stocker on the GP cooked and plugged) For me, glasspacks as resonators dont cut it, and the resonator is the most important component in battling the hi-way drone (I cant take the buzzing glass and teeth fillings!) I can see how the Moroso Spiral flow would work well because I settled on a canister type straight thru muffler for mine. It was a local brand supplied by the muffler shop and a good price bargain (worth gold to me for killing the drone) I also finally chose Thrush Turbos out back. They are readily available for good prices from Summit and last very well, especially if you paint them (I sprayed Bonnie's with flat black hi-heat engine paint) Any straight thru or un-chambered muffler out back was always too loud and buzzy for my taste, but the Thrush Turbos have a nice idle sound, a gentle tone on the hi-way (enough to hear without being intruding) and a healthy growl under hard throttle. For me its the ideal system for the 3800.

[nos4blood70]

I almost wanna try some Thrush Turbos. Believe it or not, my Flowmaster 44s with the stock resonator are too quiet... XD Can't hear them at idle once the motor is warm.