muffler

[bubbalewski]

hey yall... quick easy stupid question..... i was looking to get a new performance muffler for my 98 Ex Sport, and I looked underneith the car just out of curiosity and it saw that there was the cat con. and something else and 2 pipes went into something and then one pipe came out of that and went into a long cylinder looking container and then one pipe came out of that.. is the last thing i 'described' the muffler? or is it the 2nd described? and if it is the last thing i described, if i order offline and take it to a muffler shop and they weld it, do they use the stock end tip pipe or would i be better off with buying a tip too and them welding that on also? thanks yall for answering such a easy question

 

[ExplorerDMB]

They will probably have tips to use if your getting a full cat back...but if your just throwing a muffler on they'll cut the stock pipe and weld in the new muffler. Also, the last "canister" is the muffler. It's always cats then muffler

-Drew

 

[TheJMan]

The long cylinder that you described is probably the resonator. On my Mountaineer, it starts with exhaust manifolds (headers), forward cats, rear cats, dual-in muffler, single exit, followed closely by a resonator, and then the tailpipe section. Only now my Flowmaster has no resonator.

I'm betting that you are talking about the resonator. If you are getting a new muffler I'd recommend removing it if you want more sound. Keep it on if you are looking to keep it quiet.

 

[BeauJ]

I'm gonna say the resonator too. It's pretty useless

 

[bubbalewski]

ok if the dual in and single out is the muffler and the next is the resonator, is their a specific muffler made for dual in single out, cause i have looked and all i can seem to find is single in dual out.... and when they install the new muffler will i have to buy extra piping for them to weld since they will take off the resonator?

 

[TheJMan]

If you go to a muffler shop they will more than likely weld in a Y-pipe and use a single-in, single-out muffler. The Flowmaster that I have on my Mountaineer is a dual-in, single-out. It isn't easy to find on their website, you have to look by model and year. That's how I found mine.

The other possibility is to have a muffler shop weld in a dual in, dual out muffler. Then you would have duals, which IMO sound great.

 

[gijoecam]

Your 98 Sport has got a b@st@rd muffler. Nobody will make a direct bolt-in replacement muffler or cat-back system. You will need to find a shop that does good work and have them do a custom install. The dual-inlet muffler on your truck uses one flanged inlet and one clamped inlet. 99.99% of the replacement mufflers you will find use two clamped inlets.

Now, it just so happens that Flowmaster makes a 50-series performance/SUV muffler that is, dimensionally, very close to your stock muffler. It's a dual-in, single-out muffler, and the spacing on the inlet only requires the muffler shop to slightly tweak the pipes between the secondary cats and the muffler inlet. The shop that did mine also expanded the one inlet on the muffler so it fit the clamped connection, installed a flange and flared the other side, then made an adapter to go from the 3" outlet back down to the OEM tailpipe. There was nothing wrong with the tailpipe or resonator, so I left them as they were. Without the resonator (or A resonator of some sort) the system tends to drone at cruising speeds. With the stock resonator and tailpipe, I get a very slight drone between 80 and 82 when cruising, but no drone anyplace else. It's nice and throaty when accelerating, but there's no buzziness to it.... it sounds great IMHO.

Oh, and for the one I used, the muffler cost 99 from the local performance shop, and the installation cost $50 and took 1/2 hr at the local performance exhaust shop.

-Joe

 

[Green98XLT]

Joe- care to share the part number for that flowmaster? It sounds good on the SOHC, no buzzy rice sounds?

 

[gijoecam]

I don't have the number offhand.... found it on the Flowmaster web site.

-Joe

edit: Found it!

http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/50_suv.html

# 254553, lower left hand corner. Dual 2 1/4" inlets, single 3" outlet.

 

[Green98XLT]

Just being lazy... I'll take a look. Thanks man.