I had a Flowmaster 40 series put on my truck (02 XLT, 4x4, 4.0L) and had it for about 5 months. It sounded like s**t. I heard that there are too many CATS on a ranger. I experienced very minimal sound change. I am just wondering what you guys are doing to get such good sound and tone out of your Rangers with Flowmasters and even Magnaflow (cant be that much of a difference between the two). I am running straight pipe out of my CATS and into duels. It sounds great but know I have a 40 series sitting around and am wondering if I am doing something wrong.

 

Well what size pipes did you have? Was it single, or dual? And how many miles did you use it for, till you took it off?

The pipes for a single in-dual out muffler on a 4.0 should be 2.25" or 2.5"

Dual Pipes sound the best, vs. 1 si/so pipe.

And each muffler take at least 2,000-4,000 miles to "fully break in" It wont sound good new, you have to let it break in, get the muffler really hot. Like highway driving helps alot with the break-in process.

I run a Borla muffler (center/offset). It is a single in-single out muffler, with a Y-Pipe after the muffler (splits into duals) It sounds pretty good when you get on it and what not, about as loud as a flowmaster muffler too.

Flowmaster mufflers have specifically designed "baffles" that help make that "throaty tone" while Borla and Magnaflow's are straight through, giving you the best overall performance. That being said, flowmasters are pretty much for sound purposes, and Borla/Magnaflows are more of a performance muffler minus the "flowmaster" sound because they have a straight through design.

I have a sound clip in my signature if you'd like to hear my Borla. Right click it and click "save as"

Hope that helps...

 

I had at least 2,000 miles on my truck when I took it off. When I had the 40 series I had one pipe coming out of the CATS into the muffler Which then came out into the stock pipe. When I took it off I had the run straight pipe from the CATS back into 2.5 duel tips.

Are the number of CATS gonna effect the sound?

 

I've always wondered how a chambered muffler (like a flowmaster) can break in? What is there to break in? It's just welded metal. Now a glasspack I can understand...

 

all the CATS are high flow. i really doubt they are effecting much of anything unless u are boosted.

personally the best option is like mark said.

2.5" in the muffler and 2.25 dual out or 2.5 single out. tips make a difference as well, if you have a large tip like 3.5" in diameter and 22 inches long that will add to the sound.

 

I'm running the Flowmaster 40 as well. It was custom bent at a place in PA. called Redline Exhaust. Custome bent from the CAT back, 2.5 inch pipe. Single in and dual out of the Flowmaster with dual 3" stainless tips......mine sounds awesome. I'm more for the sound then performance so I went with Flowmaster but Mark is right....2.5 single in and dual out sounds the best. If you're running single in and single out, then to a "Y" connector and then to the duals, you're going to sacrifice some of the sound. I'll snap a picture of the way mine is set up when I get home.

 

The first 3-5k miles the muffler will expand and contract as it heats up and cools down, thus breaking in. In my 04 with just CAI my exaust sound increased quite a bit, I would imagin with Borla exaust it would scream. Dual exaust also helps equal out the sound and cleans it up making it sound better.

 

So the pipe that comes out of the cat (2.5) is fine, in other words I should leave it alone. Then I would have the exhaust unit put on. What do you guys mean buy "duel out", there is only one hole that comes out?.

Was there something wrong with mine if I wasnt getting any sound. Should I go get it put back on?

 

So will this make my truck sound loud and deep?

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...ne=main&id=465

 

I just strait piped my second (there are three cats but I count the first two as one since they each only filter 3 cylinders), made a HUGE difference. The whole set up sounds like a V8, a nicely moded one at that. I have the Roush dual exhaust modified with slant tipped and 30 degreed out behind the rear tires with 3 1/2 chrome tips, the thing looks and sounds awesome. I already took pics, now I need to take a sound clip. It is just plain mean, now everyon wants to race, but the gas is too expensive and getting rid of the cat has already dropped my mpg about 2mpg (and I am driving conservative!).

 

yeha gas prices suck now i lost 1-2 mpgs on my flowmatsers it sucks but im buy some gas saving products soon too boost the number back up

 

To solve the gas problem all we have to do is drill in Alaska and California. LOL. Could you imagine what gas would cost then. Cheap as hell!!!!!!

 

I have the JBA headers, Roush exhaust, Strait piped, K&N intake, and the Xcalibrator 2, and driving slow I am getting 17 mpg right now, yuck! I am going to put it back to stock one peice at a time until I get my mpg back, I was doing so good at 20-21! All we have to do is kick Exon-Mobile, Arco, and all the others asses and we should be in good shape. THere is definitely something wrong when I have only been driving for 5 years and I can remember when it was shocking that gas was getting above 1.00 a gallon, I could fill up my 83 Firebird, get a slushy, and two autotraders for less than 20 bucks!!! I am thinking about getting rid of my truck now and buying a 1972 minicooper pickup truck, yes I will look like a clown since I am 6'4", but it gets very good gas mileage and I can rig up something to put my XR600 in it (yeah right).

 

I cut the last CAT offright after the sensor, Welded on like a 12in pipe, the welded on the Flowmaster 40 series muffler, the like a 2in pipe. My truck finally sounds like a man!!! Bad ***!!

 

ohh man i wish, that would be soo sick

 

I dont think the muffler had time to break in by the sounds of it, and the rangers dotn take very kindly to no cats from what i heard around town

 

yea rangers react oddly without cats unless you know how to remedy that type of issue.

I'd consider going Gibson if you're really thinking about an exhaust. I'd personally buy a Flowmaster over anything....but thats because I'm brand loyal/stubborn lol. Gibson is a close second though. They sound really nice.

 

what dose that mean? what happends?

 

I'm pretty sure because our vehicles are modern and rely on sensors a lot removing your cats produces a lot of extra exhaust contaminants. These contaminants smack into the 02 sensors and basically your engine thinks something is wrong. The truck was designed to run efficiently so it can do things such as increase fuel or decrease fuel level to try to make less exhaust contaminants.

Aaron