Just Installed An Slp Loudmouth... First Impressions

[ratio411]

My son thought that the MAC Flowpath cat-back I put on his 5.0 wasn't loud enough.
He complained that it sounded too much like "everyone else's" car... too much like a Flowmaster.
He is right about it sounding alot like a FM, and many other cars sounding the same, but it sounded good to me.

Anyway, he bought a Loudmouth, and we just installed it, here is my opinion...

Fit and finish: Excellent. Fits like a glove and the stainless is gorgeous. The entire cat-back is near polished, and can be finish polished if one so desired. The parts seem high quality, and it even comes with top notch band clamps.

The one thing that I didn't like is the use of so many joints. The MAC system had 2 joints per side, compared to the SLP having 5 joints per side! Made the install a bit more involved and time consuming.

Sound: LOUD. Too loud for me... But my son loves it, and I guess that is all that matters. Did I say it was loud? Way too loud...

He is running 1 5/8" non-equal shorty headers, BBK ORH pipe, and the engine is internally stock.

My .o2, your results may vary.
Dave

 

[ratio411]

BTW: I am now looking for opinions...

I have a MAC Flowpath (2.5") cat-back that I can put on my 87 GT...
but I also just had a pair of 2.25" Flowmaster 40s given to me off another 5.0...

Which would you put on a stock 87 GT?

My guess is that they will both sound roughly the same.
The car is so very stock, I am not looking for a performance gain. Fact is that the 87 is currently without muffler!
(As a side note, it sounds good running through the cats with no muffler. Better than the LM! and not nearly as loud!)

 

[boostfrk]

Sounds like you liked the MAC you had on your sons car, right? Are the FM 40's you got just the mufflers or is it a complete catback system? What kind of condition are the FM's in compared to the MAC?

If the MAC is still in good shape, you like it, and it's a complete setup I'd install that. You know it works and you know you like it.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I'd go with the Macs. Your son is crazy, Mac with an X pipe is one of the sweetest sounding 5.0 exhaust combos available. All loud with no sound quality, you may as well put him in a hillbilly truck with Cherry Bombs. To me LM's sound too much like an open exhaust, but to each his own.

 

[ratio411]

Your son is crazy...

No... he's 18!
Nuff said.
I remember when I was his age and knew it all.

 

[ratio411]

Sounds like you liked the MAC you had on your sons car, right? Are the FM 40's you got just the mufflers or is it a complete catback system? What kind of condition are the FM's in compared to the MAC?

If the MAC is still in good shape, you like it, and it's a complete setup I'd install that. You know it works and you know you like it.

Yeah, I guess it really is that simple.
I like the MACs, they are complete, and in great shape.

The FMs are just the mufflers. I would just put turn-downs and dump them.

MAC it is. Easy cheezy.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

No... he's 18!
Nuff said.
I remember when I was his age and knew it all.

I'm 18 as well. My dad told me to straight pipe my car. I told him to piss off.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

At some point, all sound and no balls is venturing into rice territory IMO, whether it's a Mustang or a Civic. I've seen 10 second cars that sound as quiet as any factory car.

 

[bentley429isBAC]

Gotta loud stock cars that are deafening. Put the Mac's on your car, flowmasters suck.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

There used to be this burgundy red convertible LX that came to our local track all the time. If you saw this car, you'd say it's a nice looking stock car with Warriors on it. It literally sounded like a stock car..probably quieter than they were when new. No cam lope, nothing. No cowl hood, no stupid wing, but it did have a pretty serious cage, but we all passed that off as "cool effect" and because it was after all a vert. First pass it pulled the wheels about a foot off the track and ran 10s. You could actually hear the sound of the slicks sticking to the track and chirping over the sound of the car. You could take a newborn baby around the block in that car and it wouldn't know it.

 

[wht93gtEd]

If you have SLP, then it was designed on my car, so you're welcome!
SLP had my 93 GT for about a week back in the winter of '06 to design a kit for 87-93 GT's. They then hooked me up with a free system a few months later when it went into production.

After owning MAC and Flowmaster I can say that the SLP was leaps and bounds ahead of them in fit, finish, and quality. They really do make awesome parts.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Mac Flowpaths....40-series Flows....it's all the same. Both chambered mufflers, both sound identical. One isn't made to any higher standard than the other, nor does one suport any more horsepower than the other. Both sound great at idle, drone like a mofo at cruise and are hard to beat at WOT.

I had a Mac cat back on my last Fox and a Flowmaster knock off system on my current one. Ones as good, or bad (depending on your viewpoint) as the other.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I gotta completely disagree with you guys saying Macs and Flows sound the same. You guys must be tone deaf. Flows have a really deep rumble to them...Macs have a more rippy throaty sound. Ironically, i think Mac sound like crap with an H, and Flows sound like crap with an X, but Macs with an X and Flows with an H have a sound all their own. I've had'em all except Bassani, and i wouldn't bother because i don't like the sound or the price. I've settled on Magnaflow and will probably never change them.

 

[krazedstang]

I love the way the FMs sound on my car, BBK equal length shorty headers and a Bassani hi flow catted x pipe (picked that up for $100 off a friend). I agree i think SLP is just too loud with no tone.

 

[ratio411]

After owning MAC and Flowmaster I can say that the SLP was leaps and bounds ahead of them in fit, finish, and quality. They really do make awesome parts.

Materials and finish are really top notch. High quality, and a price to match.
Fit is good when all is said and done, but there really are too many joints to deal with and each must be clamped and adjusted, making install a pain in the butt. The MACs are just 2 parts per side, and a breeze to install with ball and socket joints instead of clamps. They may not be as pretty under the car, but the MACs fit perfectly too, and were not poor quality at all, just cheaper materials.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I gotta completely disagree with you guys saying Macs and Flows sound the same. You guys must be tone deaf. Flows have a really deep rumble to them...Macs have a more rippy throaty sound. Ironically, i think Mac sound like crap with an H, and Flows sound like crap with an X, but Macs with an X and Flows with an H have a sound all their own. I've had'em all except Bassani, and i wouldn't bother because i don't like the sound or the price. I've settled on Magnaflow and will probably never change them.

I too have used most of the popular (and unpopular) brand mufflers out there at one time, or another and am quite sure I'm not tone deaf. The two mufflers are built using the same pricipals, based on the same open chamber design, are almost dimensionally identical and create damn near the same sound. Yes...pairing them up with different components or compariong mufflers of different inlet/outlet diameters are going to change the sound a little, but the mufflers themselves sound very much like on and other.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I too have used most of the popular (and unpopular) brand mufflers out there at one time, or another and am quite sure I'm not tone deaf. The two mufflers are built using the same pricipals, based on the same open chamber design, are almost dimensionally identical and create damn near the same sound. Yes...pairing them up with different components or compariong mufflers of different inlet/outlet diameters are going to change the sound a little, but the mufflers themselves sound very much like on and other.

Well, you can get a Chinese electric guitar from Walmart that's built around the same design as a Les Paul, but they won't sound anything alike

Also i've cut open both mufflers, and the baffles making up the chambers are pretty different between the two. I used to make m own 1 chamber Flows.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Well, you can get a Chinese electric guitar from Walmart that's built around the same design as a Les Paul, but they won't sound anything alike

Also i've cut open both mufflers, and the baffles making up the chambers are pretty different between the two. I used to make m own 1 chamber Flows.

Meh...there are only so many ways to make a mouse trap. They all do the same thing in the end though.

 

[bentley429isBAC]

I agree with 85SS. You guess must be deaf. Mac's and flowmasters do not sound nearly the same.