Hi-flow muffler--What's everyone using?

[BillR]

Please give me some recommendations for an updated muffler for my 2001, with links if possible to suppliers. Mine's not worn out at all, but I installed an air tube w/K&N and wanted to get the gasses out quickly too. What are the favorites?
TIA!:cool:

[xjdaddy]

Flowmaster baby! I have a 40 series on mine and love it. Great rumble too!

[DharmaDog]

Flowmaster cat-back system from Rusty.

[BillR]

Originally posted by xjdaddy
Flowmaster baby! I have a 40 series on mine and love it. Great rumble too!
The 40s DO have a rumble. I had one on my '87, and thought it was a little TOO loud.:( This XJ may be different w/2 cats on it.:confused:

[5Cent]

Originally posted by xjdaddy
Flowmaster baby! I have a 40 series on mine and love it. Great rumble too!

These do sound tough, but seem to resonate in the cab quite a bit. If that doesn't bother ya then go for it. I opted for a Magnaflow and love it! Nice low rumble, but not to loud!

[juicexj24]

Go with the Borla exhaust. 289.00 www.quadratec.com
or truckperformance.com. I got mine there and it was 310 shipped. Money well spent since it's stainless steel and all and you will never have to get one again. I had the Rusty's Flowmaster, great price but it did rust out in about 1.5 yrs.

[xjjunkie]

haven't heard mine yet (waiting to fire it up) but i have a borla header,no cat, 2.5 s.s. pipe from header to muffler, muffler is a s.s. flowmaster, and a 2.5 s.s. tailpipe (made by random technology) hope it's not to loud. 4.7 stroker w/many mods

scot

[mgt]

stock, i want to keep it quite.

[Markm80521]

Borla header, flowmaster 50 (a little quieter), custom 3' pipe head to tail.

[xjndmud]

dynomax!!! nice purr!

[Rockhound]

it really depends on you personally for sound, for flow, flowmaster!! i have a borla header, catco high flo cat 2.5i/o, amd a dynomax catback. the dynomax is a nice low rumble, low, at idle and not a very noticeable one at above idle. it flows well though, but i need more grrrr so i'm switching, one day, maybe.
Rockhound

[Lucas]

Dynomax ultraflow race. The race version is made of much thicker steel and its fully welded all around. Much less resonance than a flowmaster but still growly. At cruising speed it kind of dissapates. The casing is so thick that it wont get dented up by light hits. Plus, its something like 70 dollars. There is no way that I would stick in a 310 dollar muffler!!
summitracing.com

[MudDawg]

The 2.5" pipes are a great idea...I run a muffler from a late 70's 500 CI Caddy...nice and quiet..good deep sound though...if they are still in production...a genuine Walker brand muffler for a 68 corvair turbo coupe (the original "turbo" muffler) works very well...i ran a pair on a 366 CI chevy Chevelle... it ran as fast corked up at the dragstrip as it did with open headers.

[juicexj24]

The whole cat back system is 310 shipped. I didn't want to ever replace the system again. I had a Dynomax, rusted out, Flowmaster from Rusty's, rusted out. I got sick of it every 1.5 to 2 years. So for the long term, the stainless Borla system makes sense to me. 139 for Rustys, plus shipping. 110 for Dynomax plus shipping. Add it up, one time fee pays for both over time. So in two years, it'll still look new. Money well spent to me.

[Georgia Mike]

I run a glasspack on the trail rig,and a Hooker Aero Chamber on the full size street Cherokee. I love the Aero Chamber! Nice grumble,no interior resonation,not overly loud,and built to last a lifetime! A very thick gauge fully welded aluminized steel body,100% stainless inner construction,no matting to blow out,and on average $10 cheaper than that "other" brand :) I would *Highly* recomend them!

[Mich88XJ]

My cousin just got 40 series dual chamber flows on his TJ (I was waiting to hear how it sounds before I bought mine). Sounds good, nice low powerful tone, gets a little loud at really high rpms. Go with the Flowmasters, you can find them cheap on ebay. Remember, "If its too loud, youre too old!"

[haligan]

2.5 cat back with Flowmaster. sounds good, and flows very well. I love it.

[Willis]

I personally like spintechmufflers.com. Same flow as flowmaster, and no resonance. One of the 4x rags did one on it's project TJ. Loved the sound. They drove a front tire up on it with no denting. Maybe they all do that, but I've never tried. They also have a very low-profile streetrod muffler that is 2.25" thin. You can even get it with 2.5" inlet and outlet. I plan to go with this muffler.

[egon]

I have a 40 series too, great sound and very durable. Its taken a few hits on the trail and has survived 2 Rochester winters. It is on the louder side, and very bassy when video taped :)

--Matt

[MistWolf]

There is only one muffler for any rig driven over large rocks and other rough obstacles: FlowMaster. They have different ones from the minimalist 40 series to the quieter Delta flow to that new skinny style. They all sound good, flow like crazy, but best of all it doesn't crush when you use it to park your Cherokee on a boulder.

To avoid resonance problems, make sure you run your tail pipe all the way out the back and maybe give your tip a slight downturn. I have no resonance problems at all even with all the insulation stripped out of the body- at least no until the tail pipe seperated from the back of the muffler!

[AndyS]

Funny you say that; I originally had a 40 series cat-back setup from Rusty's (with a turned down tip) on my '94 and it resonated like hell right at the rpm range where the tranny tries to keep the engine (no tach, but it sounds like around 2500rpm). Minimal power gain. Lots of noise gain. Very drone-ish with the OEM manifold.

I then replaced my down pipe from the OEM manifold to the converter with a 2.5" pipe to match the cat-back setup. No real difference in sound, and possibly a light improvement in power.

I then replace my converter with a CatCo 2.75" converter from Summit. Minimal power increase noticed, but deeper, louder sound with more resonance (due to the smaller converter volume; it's only a 14" I believe).

Just recently, I finally replaced my cracked OEM manifold with a Borla header, and without question, the tone changed (MUCH nicer sounding), the resonance is nearly eliminated, there is nociably more midrange power, and my mileage has improved. These last two items might also be due to the cracked manifold, but even just for the sound improvement I'd do it again.

If you're just doing a cat back setup, I'd avoid Rusty's (very cheap, which is why I bought it, but I had to do way too many adjustments to get it dg fit. Plus, the tubing is poor quality.). If you are bent on getting a Flowmaster, go with a delta series; they still sound great outside, and they really reduce interior resonance.

Andy

[FJH97XJ]

Had used Flowmaster & now I use DynoMax. Like the DynoMax alot & it's a straight thru type unlike the Flowmaster.

[btl_fed_xj]

I run a 40 series Flowmaster that has a dual exhaust set up with a split at the muffler. Sounds beautiful, couldn't ask for a better rumble but it is pretty quiet when I am on the highway. Cost me $225 including all the custom bending muffler and all. Good luck to ya!

Jamie

[Ted Z]

i run a 2 chamber Flowmaster..... Sweet... Your right a little loud at higher rpms....But its good to know it's workin hard :D

Loud Jeeps Save Lives

[Faux4X4]

I will put in another vote for Spintech, I have one and it sounds sweet. Just make sure you really like the sound of your jeep cus thats all you are going to hear.

[yellowxj]

Like my spintech too. Have it turned out the side with no cat. Sounds like a xross between a glass pack and flowmaster to me. Flows great. Doesnt resonate much inside. It doesnt sound like everyone elses glasspack/flowmaster/borla/dynomax.

[Weasel]

Dynomax ultraflow. I have had people tell me it sounds better then their Flowmasters. I've never really compared the two though. It's a tough muffler...my cat has been dented up pretty good but the muffler is still looking brand new.

[XJFREK]

I put the flowmaster 3 chamber on about a year before Rusty came out with his cat-back kit. I wanted to go 2.5 in all the way back but the local shop said the stock pipe was stainless and would last forever. So when Rusty's kit came out I just ordered the pipe and had that put on. That's been about 2 years ago. 3 for the muffler. So far, everything is holding up through the Indiana winters, although the chrome tip that came with the pipe looks like hell. I enjoy the rumble, I don't find it any more annoying than the tire or wind noise produced by my jeep. And it's a very distinctive tone. I would not want to go any louder though.

[Judd W. VA]

Can't believe someone alive is aware of those Corvair Turbocharger mufflers!! Those were the first performance mufflers i used back in the 70's on my GTO!! You are correct, they were really good mufflers with 2.5" in and out and were pretty small and the sound was really good on a V8. Lasted a while too-

On my '98 got the Rusty's catback with the Flowmaster 50 Series and is plenty loud enough. The 40 is way too loud for this straight-6 engine. Sounds too much like a UPS truck. I sure hope my cat-back doesn't rust out prematurely. Generally Flowmaster mufflers last a long time and this cat-back pipe is the aluminized type.

[erikrs301]

Thrush Glass pack, can't go wrong for $17 :D

[Bones]

I have been through the Dynomax and Flow master set ups. The Dynomax had a great sound and all but didn't last worth a sh*t. The Flowmaster again had a good tone at the rear of the Jeep but I got tired of the resonance in the cab at cruising speed. So when the Flowmaster rusted out in about a year I went to a Full Boar "Quiet Boar" muffler. Still flows well and is as strong as the Flowmaster was but MUCH quieter in the cab. It lasted about 2 years. Next up is a cat and muffler replacement next month. I will be going back with the Full Boar. It's by far the best I've run to date.

I like the concept of the Borla cat back. I run a Borla header but for me the muffler and pipe are a bit expensive for something I'm going to pound on rocks.

http://images.fotki.com/v1/photos/4/42106/139130/HC_CC_B1-vi.jpg


Yep, It was too loud and I'm to D*mn old ...

Bones

[XJeacdabnow]

FLOWMASTER!!! Sweet sound and head turning loudness!!!! ALways a plus in a big truck!!

[BillR]

Thanks for all the help folks! I decided to go with Magnaflow, and had it installed today. It sounds nice without being too loud.:cool:

[Big Bear]

I love my Spin Tech. I sounds great and the new desighn is the thinnest most indestructable muffler on the market.

[CaptTrev]

1 vote for Borla cat back (stainless steel all the way)
and im running a carsound cat sonv. (also stainless steel)

LOVE the sound
low. deep. grumbly, but not crazy loud if u drive normally.
both items from truckperformance.com

[BLUTO]

I'm also looking for a new XJ exhaust........
I'm running a Flowmaster 50 series on my 93 GMC 4x4 w/350 and no cat. It is 2 yrs old and doesn't appear to be rusting out any time soon. The resonance isn't a problem either, taking the cat off really made it sound tough! I did have a 40 series on a 99 Dodge 4x4 and it had terrible trsonance on the freeway.
As far as rusting goes....If your rig is a daily driver, you should have no trouble with a Flowmaster rusting through prematurely. It is when they sit for a few weeks at a time, that corrosion begins to become a problem. I don't drive my GMC everyday now and I've noticed a change of hue in the color of my muffler. I still give it another year at least.
Any muffler that uses fiberglass packing is going to burn/blow out and deteriate on you too. :mad:
Flowmaster now makes a 409 SS version of their 50 series, the MSRP is only about $15 more than the aluminized one (approx $130).
I talked to Rusty the other day, and he was unaware :rolleyes: of the SS unit (it is right on Flowmaster's home page). Find a dealer thru Flowmaster and have a SS catback bent up for you. I may go that route if the guage isn't too thin.
Also, one of the reasons that Flowmasters are so tough on the trail is because the baffles are welded to both sides of the muffler...creating a "corrugated" like strenght. ;)

BLUTO :)