What should I look for in a resonator?

275hptbirdsc

Registered User
I have everything picked out and ready to buy for mods/exhaust but the resonator. Ive literally spent hours looking at past exhaust threads( believe me there are alot!!!) and I still cant come to a conclusion. For my exhaust its all about flow im not looking for noise or v8 like sound(but if the best resonator in your opinion has some noise to it thats fine aswell) , the more quiet the better but it must flow! Im also looking for one that is dual in and single out. Ive looked at borla,magnaflow,flowmaster,etc and ive found some that look like they would be good but I dont know what to look for as far as how they are configured inside,depth,length etc. Thanks for the help. If it helps any Im getting 2 magnaflow high flow cats and will be using the stock mufflers.
 
Borla would be quietest

Thats good to know since I have been hearing good things about borla on these cars. When looking for a resonator is there a certain type I should look for? Ive heard x-type but I think thats for dual in dual out mufflers. Would any dual in single out muffler work?
 
When your at your exhaust shop ask for a true (y) pipe in place of a resonator,I did this and it was great for flow!Its like the X pipe but its a Y ,2 into 1 molded piece.Made a big difference with my SC:D
 
When your at your exhaust shop ask for a true (y) pipe in place of a resonator,I did this and it was great for flow!Its like the X pipe but its a Y ,2 into 1 molded piece.Made a big difference with my SC:D

How was the noise? What kind of mufflers did you use?
 
I had several exhausts.

Are you running a cam? My full dynomax ultraflow sounded great however I blew up the resonator..Currently running an x pipe...And its loud but I still like it

Borla xs mufflers with a borla resonator will be sweet.

Are you running a cam? headers? WHat year car? Upgraded fuel pump?
 
sounds ok put gets into boost fast!!!!Looking into dynomax mufflers for more flow and alil deeper sound
 
I had several exhausts.

Are you running a cam? My full dynomax ultraflow sounded great however I blew up the resonator..Currently running an x pipe...And its loud but I still like it

Borla xs mufflers with a borla resonator will be sweet.

Are you running a cam? headers? WHat year car? Upgraded fuel pump?

No cam or headers as I dont plan on going that far with this car im only going to mildly mod it and keep it that way. Its a 92

sounds ok put gets into boost fast!!!!Looking into dynomax mufflers for more flow and alil deeper sound

Got any sound clips? Could you explain sounds good? Is it raspy or just kind of loud?
 
I am running ported manifolds, Magnaflow cat pipes, Magnaflow resonator (2 into 1), and a stock back-half. Mine is not loud, but I feel it sounds better than stock. I have a clip of it that I posted for someone else to listen to on here. Might be able to find it if you are interested.

benny
 
If you are going mild then Bennies set up ^ would be what I suggest, keep the stock back half and just add a Magnaflow resonator. They dont call it resonator when you go buying one, It would be a 2-1 long muffler. Part number is floating around here. But the stainless one. So it does not fall apart on you.
You have an option of deleting the cats if your state does not do visual inspection and smog. Or high flow. Def get rid of the stock cats.

If you want to go mild with a dual then magnaflow comes to rescue again just get a 2in-2out. Then just run two pipes to the back and finish them off with borla xs mufflers. Or use the 2in1 Magnaflow res and just run one large pipe and split it after the differential and add the borla xs

If you want louder then x the borla xs and put on Dynomax, magnaflow or Pypes mufflers. Pypes after broken in are quite loud.

You have the choice of putting cats or no cats to all you do. But remember that cats muffle a bit.

The larger the cam the more noise the car will make at idle. Cruising should be the same regardless of cam.
 
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If your not doing a cam I have had one exhaust I really liked

It involved high flow cats, a flowmaster as a resonator and dynomax mufflers. Regular dynomax turbo..It just sounded real good

But as Rico said. If you arent going crazy save yourself some bucks and work on the front half of the exhaust. High flow cats, and swap resonator. They will tell you they cant do 2.5 inch but they can if they are good.

Now I asked you about fuel pump because if you have an 89-92 a later model tank swap would be a good idea before doing a new full exhsust..and along with that a new fuel pump. The newer tank has a better exhaust pathway.

You can go dual with new tank pretty easy as well

And with a stock cammed car, so long as you keep the resonator and cats.... its hard to make the car sound awfull

My advice

dual 2.5 or dual 2.5 into 3 back into dual 2.5..
 
I am running ported manifolds, Magnaflow cat pipes, Magnaflow resonator (2 into 1), and a stock back-half. Mine is not loud, but I feel it sounds better than stock. I have a clip of it that I posted for someone else to listen to on here. Might be able to find it if you are interested.

benny

I was thinking of running that exact setup without the ported manifold, if you could find that clip that would be awesome

If you are going mild then Bennies set up ^ would be what I suggest, keep the stock back half and just add a Magnaflow resonator. They dont call it resonator when you go buying one, It would be a 2-1 long muffler. Part number is floating around here. But the stainless one. So it does not fall apart on you.
You have an option of deleting the cats if your state does not do visual inspection and smog. Or high flow. Def get rid of the stock cats.

Ill have to go looking around for that part number then cause ive found a couple stainless magnaflow 2-1 muffler but I dont know which one is the best. And as far as cats go there is no inspection where I live I just want cats on there since most of the SCs on here without cats are to loud for my liking.

.

Now I asked you about fuel pump because if you have an 89-92 a later model tank swap would be a good idea before doing a new full exhsust..and along with that a new fuel pump. The newer tank has a better exhaust pathway.
I always thought 92 was when the tank was updated? I had a 90 and the exhaust path is alot different on my 92.
 
Here is a link to the vid. Sorry it is not the best quality. I would try to get you a better one, but the car is broken and about 150 miles away. Also included a link for a pic of my front half. I am running a cam with my set-up, but it is a mild cam. I am happy with the sound of the system and have no drone. Thomas A is running the Magnaflow cat pipes with a Flowmaster res and back half. It sounds really nice.

http://s899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/gogo5_0/?action=view&current=VIDEO0003.mp4

http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/gogo5_0/SC pics/IMG_0227.jpg

benny
 
Here is a link to the vid. Sorry it is not the best quality. I would try to get you a better one, but the car is broken and about 150 miles away. Also included a link for a pic of my front half. I am running a cam with my set-up, but it is a mild cam. I am happy with the sound of the system and have no drone. Thomas A is running the Magnaflow cat pipes with a Flowmaster res and back half. It sounds really nice.

http://s899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/gogo5_0/?action=view&current=VIDEO0003.mp4

http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/gogo5_0/SC pics/IMG_0227.jpg

benny

Sounds good to me, do you know the part number on your resonator? Is it the one with the 3in outlet?
 
Sounds good to me, do you know the part number on your resonator? Is it the one with the 3in outlet?

It is the 2.5" with dual 2." Part #12280 My cat pipe assemblies are part #23393 and 23394. I'm sure that the 3" version would sound similar, I don't have the part # for that one. My back half socket slid right over the 2.5 outlet after I trimmed a little off of the outlet and I welded the back half to it. Made for a nice install. The cat pipes look nice out of the box, but the fit leaves a little to be desired. Overall, I am happy with all three pieces.

benny
 
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