Hello everyone! Ive got a question for you all... after doing an exhaustive search (heh heh) of the forums and google/youtube, im still stumped as to what to do with my exhaust. I own a 93 LT1 6 speed and live in Alabama. The 'vette is my daily driver, so the sound cant be obnoxious. Im not looking to spend an exorbitant amount of money on an entire catback system. Im looking into either going to a muffler shop and having straight pipe installed instead of mufflers, (while maintaining the complete stock exhaust, minus the mufflers) or replacing the stock mufflers with another kind of muffler (considering borla, dynomax, magnaflow, etc).

Ive heard that the muffler eliminators are reasonable at cruise speeds, but ive also heard that they are ridiculously loud. Im guessing that this has to do with modification of the rest of the exhaust. How loud are they with the rest of the exhaust in place? (cats, resonator, etc)

Also, What are everyones opinions on replacing the mufflers? while keeping the rest of the exhaust mostly stock.

Ive driven a few cars with flowmasters on them, a 95 5.0 mustang with an h-pipe (no cats) and flows (not dumped), and a 94 T-bird (4.6) with super 40s, which wasnt very loud imo. The mustang was decently loud but not ear splitting, definitely sounded great in my opinion.

I appreciate everyones opinion and hope to get some good feedback!

 

anyone? surely someone else has some experience with replacing the stock mufflers

 

I have muffler eliminators on my LT4. Rest of the exhaust system is stock.
To me, it has a great sound. Not so loud that it's obnoxious, but sound is so subjective.
What's too loud to one person might be perfect to someone else.

At a steady cruise, the sound is not bad at all.
It WILL however have a slight "drone" to it at certain rpm's and/or load levels.
To give an example, when it does that the wife thinks it's too loud.

Driving around town, it sounds good and does not attract the wrong kind of attention if you stay out of the throttle.

 

Interesting... it seems like muffler eliminators might be the right choice for me... its definitely cheap, and if I dont like the sound, I suppose I can find a muffler to replace the straight pipe.

Thanks for the info RollaMo

 

For me, every car I have heard with muffler delete is just a tad to loud when putting around the "hood" for my taste. It will sound nice when you are cruising at higher speeds.

I put magnaflow mufflers on, rest stock. Gives it some low end grunt but no drone but sounds pretty good when you dig in pretty hard from a dead stop.

Sound is pretty subjective.

 

I eliminated the stock mufflers and had some flowmasters put on...either 40's or 44's not sure. But I get ton's of compliments on the sound. Not loud enough for me but sounds good.

 

That is exactly what I am thinking about for my 94. Do you have a sound clip?

 

I have Flow 40s i will be selling along with the y pipe
Stock exhaust with Flowmaster 40 series 2 chamber and TPIS Y-pipe.

 

I had muffler eliminators on mine. They fit horrible, the angle of the pipe was so far off and wouldn't allow the tips to sit in the bumper cutouts. Eventually I made it work, but never liked them. Fortunately they eventually rusted out and the tips fell off so I could replace them.

Now I have the Magnaflow mufflers. Much better fit, better looking, etc. They are a little quieter than the eliminators, but if you remove the center resonator they sound awesome!

 

I have the Magnaflows as well, with everything else stock. I do have the rear y that has the crossover. They say the crossover helps reduce drone but I can't qualify that at all as I bought that when I first bought my 90.

At first the Mags didn't seem that much louder but they do. I like the sound. It could be just a touch louder though but I am sure it will get a little more so as they age!

As rolla said, sound is subjective. get on youtube and start listening to sounds. That's what I did. It took me over 6 months still to decide.

 

Why don't you keep the stock mufflers and remove the resonator. In it's place put a X pipe. The X will cost you about 85.00 to your door and probably 45-50.00 to have it installed. That's what I have now and love it! It's quiet around the hood, yet when you punch it you'll get an ear full. Several guys on here run theirs this way.

Here's mine in a spirited punch........

 

sounds great what engin any mods where can I get x for $85 to door?

 

'96 LT1, mid range cam and headers, stock heads.

Get in touch with RacerX70cc here on the forum. He'll fix you up with a X.

 

dang weav that sounds pretty nice... how loud is it exactly when you punch it? any resonance at cruise?

 

Thanks!
NO resonance at all at any rpm range. Loud is a general term. All I can say is It's perfect for me.

 

This is loud to me.......cut outs are open.

 

Im supposing that this is the X-pipe in question?

http://advancedautocc.com/item--The-...-ltx_pipe.html

Seems like a good deal to me, I may order one soon, if its not loud enough for me, I suppose I will add mufflers down the line, but I think this will fit the bill