i run Super 44's
love em.
Pete.

 

I have the oldest set of Flowmaster 30s known to man on mine.
They are loud, throaty, drone me out in the car at around 30mph and idle like a hotrod, I love them!

 

Nearly 20 yrs ago, my daughter was working for a muffler shop in Cucamonga CA, and as a Father's Day present she took my '79, had them strip out the faux duals, put in true duals and Flowmasters. I've always felt the fiberglass body allows more of the exhaust sound to radiate out somehow. The hollow Flowmaster rumble does the Vette credit. BTW, anyone know the difference between the 40's and the Super 44's?

 

My wife and I must be getting more conservative in our old age. We just switched from Flowmaster 50-like chambered mufflers to Magnaflows. Our '80 with a GM Performance 350 HO crate, full length headers, and 2 1/2" true dual mandrel bent exhaust with an X-pipe droned too much. We want to be able to carry on a conversation at a normal voice. The Magnaflows flow REALLY well and have a nice mellow rumble. Juuuussst right.

 

Got a set of Delta 40's on mine too. Love the sound. I'm a kid again!!!

 

 

Hey I was thinking of getting sidepipes because of the style and the sweet sound, but I watched these videos and man the flowmasters sound great. For those of you who have heard both before, how do flowmasters compare to say... STS Baffles?

 

Everyone that has sidepipes says they and their SO have at least one burn on their legs from them. I love the look and the sound but I don't think I would ever go with them for that reason.

 

I hadn't looked into it but am glad the drone isn't just something unique to my setup (327 with factory manifolds venting into true dual 2.5" and flowmaster 40's). Of course the downside of the great sound they make as the secondaries open up is that my gas bill is suffering.

 

Azz...."I hadn't looked into it but am glad the drone isn't just something unique to my setup (327 with factory manifolds venting into true dual 2.5" and flowmaster 40's). Of course the downside of the great sound they make as the secondaries open up is that my gas bill is suffering."

Mine was old 2-1-2 stock when I got it so I researched and listened to Borlas, etc. and every thread I read said the Flowmaster baffles in their low resistance mufflers gave it a fairly famous drone about 30-35 mph but below and above that it gave it a throaty and reasonably deep rumble. If you have good speakers play the link I put in here with mine on the chassis dyno when he has it running about 130 mph in place and listen to them wound up. To me they are the right balance between deep and loud and soft. Some of the others I have heard snap and rap quicker and brassier and there are many fans of any kind of muffler you can name but Flowmasters, Borlas and a few others are the ones people seem to settle on for C3's. I can't say what C5-6 use other than they are probably a little more complex.

I have seen it said that you count these cars not in mpg but smiles per gallon. Mine if I drive it smoothly on highways at 60 mph gets 17.5 mpg with the new mufflers and duals, advanced timing and recurved HEI. However, if I get a chance to drive a twisty road, pass on a two lane where 75 would make it an easy pass I often run it up to 90-95 just because the darn thing is soooo much fun especially on curved roads. On two lane roads where it's wooded a steady 55-62 or so seems to be a great mix of sound you can hear behind you and the wind in the t tops which are open and if it's cool I just turn the heater on and keep right on rolling.

The Flowmasters aren't wickedly loud like some of the sidepipes with little or no baffles in them but they are loud enough for me and remind me of what I heard back in the late 1950's and 1960's when I lusted after one of these cars or a GTO.

Have fun with it...but be safe. I always write too much but I just absolutely love my little red Vette. No other way to say it.

Lance P.

 

I always hear from 2 different groups of people. 1 group for Flowmaster, 1 group for Magnaflow. Can someone outline the differences? Is Flowmaster really "too loud" and too high pitch and is Magnaflow really that much quiter and deeper sounding - maybe too quite?

 

Go to youtube and search for examples of each on your car and listen. that's what I did. I forgot the name Magnaflow...but that, borlas and flowmasters were the biggies I saw. Each has youtube examples of various cars with their mufflers on them.

 

For me, Flowmasters are too loud for daily driving and moderate distances with someone you want to converse with (such as my wife, who also likes to drive the Corvette for errands) at a normal voice or when you'd like to hear the radio above the engine noise.

If I want to let everyone around know "I'm driving a hot vehicle", I drive a highly mod'ed Chevy 355 S10 with Flowmasters and electric cutouts, but only for short trips and special events.

My '80 is a sleeper. It looks and sounds fairly tame/slightly modified, and I like it that way. I know it's a upper-13s car that turns on a dime and gives you change compared to most cars on the road where we live. I can see straight through my Magnaflows. I read a few times that they flow better than chambered mufflers, including Flowmasters, but I couldn't name references off the top of my head.

Previous posts mention the drone. That's not for me. Been there, done that, we hated it. Loud exhaust is cool for a while, but we drive our '80 a lot, including some all-day cruises. For that kind of driving, a loud exhaust gets old REAL fast.

So, IMO, Magnaflow (mellower, glass pack) vs. Flowmaster (louder, chambered) comes down to your priorities and usage. Of course, other exhaust configuration items matter too; H-pipe, X-pipe or neither, stock 2-1-2 or true dual, etc. It all depends...

 

1. What's a wife and why would you be talking to one in a Corvette? That's a job for a good looking, sport model, leggy blonde isn't it?
2. My Flowmasters aren't at all loud even at idle but when I drive anywhere above 35 mph they ae non issues to the people in the car as the sound is so far behind the car you just don't hear it.
3. Radio dials have volume controls but I rarely listen to them preferring the feel, motion, sounds of the engine going through the gears and the sounds of nature with the t tops out.

For me, speaking only for me, this is a sports car and those are many of the attributes I like about it. The SUV is quiet, powerful and pulls the boat when needed and gets driven in the rain to carry ladies to their teas.

Lance P.

 

i've always used flowmasters since the early 90s and loved them. when it came time for mufflers for my 82 i wanted to try something different for a change. so i went with hooker aero chambers 3'' center in/out and they have a good sound. not as loud inside the car and no drone or hardly any i should say. but i miss that flowmaster sound and wish i would of got the flows. live and learn

 

Here's a not so good video of my 40 series Delta flows. I just switched from Magnaflows. I really like the Flowmasters, they sound great. There's a very slight drone around 1,600. They're pretty loud, but not ridiculous.

It's a 71, rebuilt 454, hooker headers, and a mild cam.

 

This may be an amateur question, but how can you have headers and flowmasters? Don't the headers stick out from the sides so you can mount sidepipes?

AWESOME sounding car btw

 

Headers are just long tube aftermarket exhaust manifolds. There are headers made for side-pipes and headers for under car exhaust. But you are correct, you couldn't use flowmasters with side pipe specific headers. Well, I suppose bubba could/would.

 

Oh I see. Shoulda probably done research before asking that. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

LOL!!! I just got a really good laugh visualizing what that would look like driving down the street!! Sidepipe headers with a Flowmaster sticking out off of the collector. Thanks for the laugh, man, see ya,


Scott