I had a flowmaster.. It was like tying an anchor on my truck. I wasn't happy. The best numbers I had were just under 200 at the wheels. This is withe hedders, Pro-M Maf, 42#/hr injectors.. a whole schlew of rubbish done.

I was at my friends shop putting on thrush glass packs. they were VERY loud.. but again, lost some torque.

A guy came in with an 04 xlt 4.0, stick. Pulled his aircleaner, Magnaflo exhaust ( the Kit I think JBA Uses ) and hit almost 205hp at the wheels with a smooth torque curve.

I have the glass packs for sale, used for less then an hour, 2 pulls on them.. They still have the red paint and that thrush road-running bird.

The difference from the Flowmaster ( this is why I call them ricemasters ) to my Magnaflo setup was VERY noticable. As for durability... This is one of their stainless mufflers after 2 years of heavy winters with a LOT of NYS salt from that time..

.. If I wiped the ' fogging ' off of it, would still shine like a mirror. Its a high quality product, worth the 300$ I paid for it at the time.

I haven't tried a Borla yet, I DO plan on it, just not with my present engine.

 

I sometimes feel like a misfortunate soul. I've spent a lot of money on the same items as a ' guinnie pig ' seeing what works. For an exhaust, I want performance over sound. The top performer is ( more then likely ) a Borla muffler ran thru a pair of 2.5 inch pipes with tuned tips of some sorts. I'd use 2.5 over 2.25inch as the Borlas have the BEST rating for efficiency in their chambers. They are ( basically ) a more refined Magnaflo type of setup.

Everyone boasts about Flowmaster 40 series.. their loud, dump backpressure ( Read : Loose torque ) .. but their loud and have a slight rumble to them.

The Gibson setup.. ShyBri has one on his 05 lvl2.. Its better then stock, but to be honest.. It sounds kinda nissan-ish. It doesn't have any throat to it.

MagnaFlo mufflers are VERY quiet. at idle with a warm engine, my electric fans and intake make more noise then the exhaust. When romped on, its pleanty loud. Most folks think I stuffed a 289 under the hood as I have a lot of RPM's in my tune.

The Flowmasters didn't work for me. Not with *my* setup. They might work for others just fine. Their cheap and commonly found.

Theres people that have tried different mufflers.. LittleZach, Leo, Myself.. all came to the same resolve.. I don't think its by chance we all have the same observation.

I'm holding off on a Borla setup for now. I have other plans in the works but I DO plan on trying their setups to see what they are like in the future. Zach and Leo's observations hold merit in my book.

D.