which resonator???

Personally I like the way the stock resonator sounds.

With gutted cats or down tubes and stock mufflers It has a nice hollow quite rumble to it. Sounds tough . Resonator don't make much difference unless you have big CU IN and are looking to flow more exhaust. I have read that aftermarket mufflers are too loud and tend to drone.
 
Personally I'm going with a Borla XS Pro muffler with a single 3" inlet and dual 2-1/2 outlets (reversable) as my resonator. It's a little less expensive than the resonators. And Borla is very good about eliminating drone. It's just another option available to you as opposed to the resonators.
 
Here's a pic of what one of those mufflers looks like from the inside.
 

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I'm trying to eliminate the drone. It's driving me crazy.

My car has no cats, 2 1/2" pipe from the manifolds to a 3" Y-pipe with a Dynomax bullet. The 3" tubing extends just past the differential then splits into two 2 1/2" tail pipes each with a Autozone Turbo muffler.

Rob
 
My SC is at the muffler shop as we speak. The owner squeezed me in, and he can't promise he'll finish her today, but as soon as it's done, I'll make an mp3 recording of what gutted cats, Magnaflow resonator and Magnaflow mufflers sound like.

I do NOT recomment gutted cats, no resonator and stock mufflers.

I think it sounds worse than a Honda coffeecan fart tip exhaust. I was literally embarassed to drive the damned thing, it sounded so bad.
 
I don't know first hand, but from what I've heard, the Borla's are excellent at reducing drone. (I've made it VERY clear to my wife what I'd like for X-mas ;) ) I think that your Y pipe is actually where the drone is coming from. The muffler after the Y will reduce the sound there, but nothing stops the sound from the Y pipe. You want to reduce the noise where the the two exhaust systems (left and right) join together. I've heard good things about the Magnaflow resonator. But at around $140 or so I'm not willing to spend quite that. I can get the Borla for $110. I'm not sure if it'll be better or not, but that's what I'm going with.
 
Been right where you are at. I tried all kinds of stuff and the only thing I found to get rid of the drone is the Magnaflow muffler. I even think the Flowmaster would still have a drone to it, but didn't try that one. But to save a little time and mods to current exhaust the Borla is a nice replacement for what you already have with the Bullet.
 
My old set-up was stock everything except no rear mufflers. It sounded alright, but you couldn't really hear it from the out side. It was kind of loud on the inside and I gess had a drone at around 2000 RPM. So I got the Magnaflow res and it made a world of difference. It is actually quitter inside the car and no more drone! It now kind of sounds like a 5.0 with a deep rumble. I like ths set-up the best so far, and might move up to the Kooks Long-tubes. Anyone have any info/advise with the long-tubes?

Thanks!
Shane
 
Exhaust note

I just recently had to do my exhaust due to a plugged cat and\or other blockage. I found this out when the boost gauge started pegging at 15-16+ PSI with a stock 90 pulley on a stock 90 S\C at 3\4 throttle or less. As I just put a new engine in ~20K ago I feared for the lives of my HG's. I went with a custom job at a local shop. The setup I went with is: 2 1\4" to high-flo cats, y-pipe into magnaflow resonator ($114 not the $140 I saw posted earlier?) into 3" connector, custom y-pipe (a more even balance and as open as you can get it) into 2 1\2" tail pipes coming straight back with polished 3" S\S tips. The rear valance is notched just a little bit so that the tips are tucked up nice. It looks very similar to a Mustang GT exhaust setup and has a nice deep rumble at idle, especially once it's warmed up. It sounds absolutely awesome when I get on it. About the only problem I've had is a bit of a drone at lower RPM's when there is only a light load on the engine (with a heavier load it sounds good). It's really not too bad now that I've learned to adjust my driving style to avoid the drone zone as much as possible. My exhaust guy says he left me enough of a straight stretch with the 3" connector that I can put in a second resonator which will eliminate most of the drone if I want. I may do that at some point if it starts to get to me. If I had a 5-speed, it probably wouldn't be much of a problem. Even with the shift-kit, my AOD does that double-tap 2\3 shift so fast it drops it right into the drone-zone. I may do a Lentech VB in the future, as I can't really afford a 5-speed conversion and definitely don't have the necessary do it yourself knowledge.
 
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borla exhaust

I went with a Borla XR-1 muffler on my car. It's a 3" beast. Very light weight and compact but beastly. hha. I have 2.25 down tubes to high flow cats, custom y-pipe to 3" to the borla muffler/resonator, and 3" to the left side of my bumper (hidden). It's very unique. 5.0 guys don't know what the funk kind of engine i have because it's very low and rumbly at idle and up to about 3000 rpm...then when i get on it, it screams like a demon being sent to heaven. hahahaha. It's weird. there is a slight drone in 3rd at around 30mph (most common speed in my town...just my luck) but it's not bad. No one mentions it but i notice. I have a 90' 5 speed and the exhaust shop managed to snake it around my gas tank down there. it looks great. i still never got pics of it though. if someone tells me how i can get some sound files i'll be happy to do it. sorry for hte long reply...i got a little excited. I noticed a HUGE jump in high end power (where i feel our cars lack anyway) and a little bit down low but my tires break loose constantly down low now so maybe i just couldn't feel it like i could high up. anyhow i love it. my friends love it. and that's what counts. I have a friend who told me my car sounded just like his buddies dinan 540i bimmer. i'm sure no one knows what that sounds like but oh well. happy birdin. steve the guy who types too much. :p
 
Exhaust note (pic)

Here's a quick pic I took to show a friend. I don't have any from underneath yet. I plan on taking some when I get a chance to get my car on a lift.
 

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That exhaust looks real nice.

The sound really depends on your engine. The same setup that sounds great on one car might sound terrible on another.

I used to have stock heads, ported manifolds, and the lousy stock cats, going into a Y-pipe and back to two Magnaflow mufflers. This sounded fine, not ricey. But after upgrading to ported heads, MAC headers, 2.5" custom downtubes and high flow cats, those same mufflers sound AWFUL, worse than a ricer fart cannon.

I'm going to try something else, probably the Borla muffler, as a 2-into-1 resonator in place of the Y-pipe, and maybe get rid of the Magnaflows completely. I'm just going to mess around until it sounds good. My landlord lets me borrow his MIG welder so at least I don't have to pay the local exhaust idiots...
 
Thanks Rob. I know what you mean about the same exhaust sounding totally different on another car. Even with just a couple hundred extra pounds of weight in back for winter, my exhaust sounds a lot different.
 
RGuy said:
Flowmaster or Magnaflow...what are the pros and cons of each?

Rob

Flowmaster doesn't make a resonator, just mufflers.

I would suggest a Magnaflow resonator though, sounds great without any mufflers too :)
 
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