i would really like to get a sound clip of a 5.0 with stock exhaust, but weld-in 40 series delta flows. I'm on a budget, and this would be the easiest, cheapest thing to do, to make my exhaust sound louder/better.
To be honest, the best bang for the buck exhaust wise would be an offroad h-pipe. When I first put my catback on (you can see right through the mufflers) I was dissapointed at how quiet it was, once I got an offroad x though, wow, that was more like it .
I have them also,with the muffs (quiet thunder) they are 425.00 or in stainless steel for over 600.00. But Bassani's sound the best Ive had the 3 chamber flowmasters,and yes they are a little quiet,but they are louder then the stock ones,and deeper The 2 chamber flows are "alot" louder.And the 1 chambers are crazy loud
I've been at these exhaust "crossroads" before and I made the less effective choice by going with flowmaster 40's first. I had the flows for a couple years before I changed my stock h-pipe to an X-pipe with cats. WOW! The X-pipe, even with two cats, increased the sound big time as it opened up the air flow from the engine and allowed the mufflers to resonate more.
This is not a terribly accurate analogy, but bear with me to basically describe the difference in the mid-pipe and the muffler:
1. The stock mid-pipe restricts air flow considerably. An aftermarket mid-pipe (H or X) will increase the air flow volume traveling to the muffler. Two cats are way better than stock, but off-road will give you the loudest sound possibilities.
2. The muffler will change the "pitch" of the exhaust sound. When more air volume is passed through the muffler, the more sound volume is produced. Different mufflers resonate at different rates (rpms), thus some are quieter and some are very loud. When the volume of air is increased, the muffler will produce more sound in the rpm range it was designed for.
3. In audio terms, think of the mid-pipe as the "amp" and the muffler as the "speaker". Put a killer speaker alongside a weak amp and you loose the effect, but match a good amp and speaker and you will get an increase in performance.
4. X and H pipes are different because they send different pulses of air to the mufflers (in basic terms). Therefore, some mufflers sound great with one and not the other, but yet some sound fine with either mid-pipe.
Sorry so long. If it doesn't help.....oh well. I explained this to someone else and they began to understand this process.
Go with a mid-pipe first, then match a muffler to it later on. I'd listen to different H and X pipes as they sound different from each other. From there, it's your personal opinion and your tastes in sound. Mid-pipes are not always expensive.
You guys make very good points, and have pretty much sold me on getting a midpipe with my stock exhaust. What midpipes would match up with stock headers and catback? I'd rather put it on myself, there arent any exhaust shops who would take off the cats, that i know about, cause its pretty much illegal, the emmissions laws around here, (if any) arent enforced at all, and it would be great to get a midpipe that i could bolt on myself.
I have the Flowmaster American Thunder cat back (40 series), and I love it. It sounds great with my otherwise totally stock 94 GT exhaust. It's definitely not too loud.
Any 2.5" mid-pipe will work with stock headers and catback. Some may have slight fitment issues, but ultimately it should fit.
My cats went bad and caused some weird noises, so there was no issue having a local shop install my Bassani X. Georgia requires you to have at least 50K miles or so to replace them, unless they are deffective. Do you own a hammer?
If you go to a muffler shop, they will swap them out for 40 bucks... at the local meineke in the town next to mine they will swap out my OR X pipe, swap in my stock H, smog test me, then swap back on my O/R X for 70 bucks cash plus 29 for the sticker...
Now this is illegal, so you gotta pay the guy in cash, and I drop him 10 bucks for a tip.