brand new flowmaster not very loud

[95 Sport]

i just hours ago bought a 40 series flowmaster (non Delta) and i am very dissapointed, it is not very loud at all. does it need to break in or something and will it get louder over time?

 

[Kfred]

break it in

it will get louder as you drive it. it does need to break in. i put one on my 05 f150 and it was a little quiet but once broke in it sounded better. it wont get much louder but it will be a noticable difference after some time.

 

[95 Sport]

so what are we talking like 100 miles 200? 1000? or just an hour of driving or so?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Sam would know how long it takes to break in. Maybe he will see this thread, and chime in.

 

[Brandon96]

I think it took mine (40 series Delta Flow) about 2,000 miles to break in.

The last 500 or so may or may not have been spent at around 5k rpm..:shifty_ey

it just kept sounding better and better..

EDIT - You MAY want to run a bigger pipe, I did notice a difference from the stock 2in I had to a 2.5 with 3in. tip

 

[X~FACTOR]

Mine didn't need breaking in. I bought it new from Summit Racing and it was loud on the first start up. Dayum!

Trade me yours for my 40 delta-flow. Its LOUD!

 

[rhauf]

remove the muffler and run it straight pipe. it will be louder


and the idea that a resonator style muffler like a flowmaster needs to "break in" sound a bit silly to me.. i think it's imaginary

btw, a mufflers job is to make things quieter.. i'd be willing to bet that if everyone wanted quiet mufflers, they'd also think they got quieter as they "broke in"... the power of suggestion

 

[95 Sport]

no im pretty sure it actually does break in because it already has gotten slightly louder from the shop. i drove about 70 miles to home and noticed it louder. idk maybe it is in my head but atleast 90% of the people that ive heard from that have flowmasters say that theirs have gotten louder over the miles. but anyway thanks for the answers and suggestions

 

[rhauf]

I'm still skeptical. i can see how an absorptive type muffler (magnaflow, glasspack, etc) could get louder over time (the glass, which absorbs the sound gets beat up, clogged, and come apart/falls out) but a flowmaster is just metal baffles and stuff, those parts don't move so it seems unlikely.

what size pipe are you running? what engine?

 

[95 Sport]

im running the stock pipe at 2" but the muffler is 2.5" and i got the 4.0 V6. all the people who say it needs breaking in say its not the baffles that move or anything but the way the exhaust resinates the chambers. what kind of exhuast or muffler are you running?

 

[bcburlette]

Mine seemed to get louder over a few thousand miles, and it also helped IMMENSELY to swiss cheese the air box, and remove the "silencer" thing from it

 

[95 Sport]

so did drilling the airbox help performance wise or sound wise? and what silencer thingy in the airbox are you talking about?

 

[rhauf]

im running the stock pipe at 2" but the muffler is 2.5" and i got the 4.0 V6. all the people who say it needs breaking in say its not the baffles that move or anything but the way the exhaust resinates the chambers. what kind of exhuast or muffler are you running?

on which vehicle?
on my daily driver '93 explorer, it's just stock exhaust. nice and quiet.

on my recently acquired '91 (4.0 ohv) it's manifolds straight into a flowmaster 40 with a 5" turndown right after it. (very loud... ill be adding a cat and a tailpipe soon) here's what it sounds like (the sound gets a bit distorted when its close to the cam so ignore that)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD_JBygDP4A


on my '82 bronco (408 windsor) i'm running a pair of thrush mufflers in dual 2.5" pipes (with tailpipes and shorty headers). here's what it sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X-QDelPBzo

on that same bronco i first ran a pair of summit brand, resonator style mufflers. they fell apart (seams came apart) in less than a month. but here's what it sounded like with them before they fell apart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOv_56dxmJE


on my '74 scout i'm running a pair of flowmasters (also long tube headers, 2.5" pipe with tailpipes)
here's what it sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYbnBrL67q0
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvkEdfqk-bI

on my '68 international i'm running a pair of magnaflows in 2.25" pipe with manifolds.

on my '68 mustang i'm running glasspacks. before the glasspacks i had a pair of cheap "stock replacement" resonator style mufflers on it. here's a clip from when it had the "stock replacement" mufflers. (unfortunately i don't have a clip with the glasspacks, but it's really, really loud, too loud in fact)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBt6jANEZQ

the mustang used to have magnaflows on it years ago. (the ones that ended up on my other truck) yes, i like to change things up a lot.. or i'm never satisfied.. or something. anyway, here's what it sounded like with them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhKsKdbMOWg


oh, and i've got a '96 ranger with a 4.0 ohv it's got stock exhaust to past the cats, then it's cut off and a tailpipe (cats, but no muffler) here's what it sounds like (its in this video somewhere, along with the scout and bronco)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmGzXo0XjuI

 

[rhauf]

Mine seemed to get louder over a few thousand miles, and it also helped IMMENSELY to swiss cheese the air box, and remove the "silencer" thing from it

you mean drilling the airbox made it louder? or do you mean it gained power? i'd be hesitant to drill the air box, and that would defeat the cold air induction which it has normally (from that tube out the bottom of the box). now, a larger tube (or second tube) probably wouldn't be a bad idea

 

[95 Sport]

what do you think if i cut my tailpipe all the way to the flowmaster? could it make it louder? would the carbon monoxide that close to the cab kill me haha? also i dont know about other states but in california its ilegal to not have a tailpipe

 

[rhauf]

i'm in california too. my understanding of the law is that you can do whatever you want, as long as it's stock to the point of just past the cats, and it has SOME kind of muffler (even a hollow muffler, or glasspack, or whatever is fine)
other places ive read don't even say the muffler is required as long as it isn't over the max sound level in DB's. so it's kind of an unknown thing.

tail pipes are not required as far as i know. however, i like tailpipes because without them you always end up with a bunch of exhaust coming into the cab and that sucks. (and, tailpipes on an SUV should come out the side behind the rear tire, coming out in the back also often leads to exhaust in the cab)

if you want it louder/deeper, a larger diameter pipe AFTER the muffler will do that. so just have them bend up some 2.5" or whatever tailpipe for after the muffler, (run it out the back in the stock location though) and it'll get louder.

and yes, it would get louder if the muffler wasn't connected to any pipe after it. but again, i dont recommend under-cab exhaust exit.

 

[bcburlette]

In texas you must have the tailpipe leading all the way out behind the passenger compartment, which kinda sucks

As for drilling my airbox, it actually helped a LOT with both performance and sound. the sound is more defined now(i have a 50 series and it was somewhat muffled/mushy) and i have better throttle response.

The silencer is just a tube(like 6" long) coming out of the bottom half of the airbox and going towards the front of the vehicle, it just pops right out, I popped that out and drilled some holes in the airbox.


EDIT- this is a bit overkill, but its the idea, and the silencer is the tubular part sticking out the front: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16092

 

[Maniak]

Double check with some of the CA people to see if you can actually get away with the swiss cheese mod.

Also, I would at least run a short tailpipe to get it out from under the vehicle But from all the rules I"ve seen it has to at least be past the passenger compartment which on an X would be behind the rear tire I guess.

Do you have a vid/sound clip of how not loud it is?

Our '92 with the 4.0 ohv and a flowmaster 40 sounds pretty good with 2.5" pipe from the collector to the cat and 2.25 from the cat through the flowmaster and then out past the tire.

Just in case you haven't seen/heard the vid yet...


~Mark

 

[Explorer Junky]

i'm in california too. my understanding of the law is that you can do whatever you want, as long as it's stock to the point of just past the cats, and it has SOME kind of muffler (even a hollow muffler, or glasspack, or whatever is fine)
other places ive read don't even say the muffler is required as long as it isn't over the max sound level in DB's. so it's kind of an unknown thing.

tail pipes are not required as far as i know. however, i like tailpipes because without them you always end up with a bunch of exhaust coming into the cab and that sucks. (and, tailpipes on an SUV should come out the side behind the rear tire, coming out in the back also often leads to exhaust in the cab)

if you want it louder/deeper, a larger diameter pipe AFTER the muffler will do that. so just have them bend up some 2.5" or whatever tailpipe for after the muffler, (run it out the back in the stock location though) and it'll get louder.

and yes, it would get louder if the muffler wasn't connected to any pipe after it. but again, i dont recommend under-cab exhaust exit.

I disagree! The smaller the pipe the louder it gets! the larger the pipe the more mellow it gets! Think of it this way.. Small pipe = A loud BARK!! Large pipe = A deep GROWL!! If you are a very redneck loud type guy, get 1.5- 2.0" pipe from cats back! If you are a more mellow like the growl type guy, go with 2.5" pipe with 4"-5"x 12"-15" pencil tips! Nice growl!

 

[rhauf]

i agree with you that small pipes (like 1.5") or, especially small tips, sound snappy (and terrible) and can sometimes be quite noisy. but they never, ever "roar"

but as you increase diameter of pipe, the "snap" may not get louder, but the rumble definitely gets louder. i've experimented with changing pipe sizes on the same car before (with the same mufflers) went from 2" to 2.5" and it got considerably louder (more rumble)

I think the reason stock systems are usually around 2" pipe is because that is the smallest which will breathe sufficiently, and it aids the mufflers the most in making it quieter.

think of a "rice burner" with a big tip, big tip = loud and drone, right? infact, you can get those cheesy clamp-on coffee can tips at pep boys which are for that exact purpose