When I bought my EG5, it had a Megan Racing catback and no cat on it. I found it too loud for my personal taste, too loud to keep my neighbours my friends and too loud to please the police. Even with a silencer I thought it was on the border of being too loud, it ruined the sound and it's ugly. So I decided to get a more quite system. I wanted to keep the japstyle look end muffler. Some people told me about Tanabe, but the Concept G....well, I can't believe it would not be any louder than 95db at any rpm (as the website states) after I heard it on an EG. HKS HiPower was another option. The Silent version is not available for the EG so I bought the normal version. I installed it with the cat back in place for a little dampening of the sound, thinking it would cost me a few hp and a few tenths of seconds.

WRONG!

On my previous exhaust, the difference between with an without a silencer was only 0,2s. It was only one run with the HKS (I found it too scary to do more runs, too busy on the road where I wanted to test and I am a responsible driver ) and it was way warmer than when I tested the Megan Racing, but these are the results (G-Tech Pro RR):

- Megan Racing w/o silencer 0-100km/h: 7.5
- Megan Racing w silencer: 7.7
- HKS HiPower with stock cat: 9.0

That's a disgusting result and it supports what I felt when I drove the car home after the installation of the HKS. D16Z6 btw. Differences in power and torque were horrible too: 74.8kw/126nm for the Megan Racing with silencer, 65.4kw/108.3nm with cat and HKS HiPower. I understand it was warmer and only one run, but I can't imagine that a few runs and cold weather will take of more than half a second and even with half a second off it would be way slower than I expected. I also don't think that colder weather will give me back that lost power and torque

So I searched for loose mufflers to weld in place. I figured it would probably flow way better than the cat. I found a few on Ebay. First of all, I found FlowMaster mufflers. They seem quite ok, it looks like they have put a lot of thought and research in their mufflers. My first question is:

1.) Does an (good) extra muffler indeed flow better than the Civic EG cat?
2.) Does anyone have any experience with FlowMaster and if so, how much noise does the type that you heard take away?

I also found some brand X mufflers on Ebay. Of course I know that quality costs money. That being said, the cheap Ebay headers for example seem to work just fine. So does anyone have any experience with the Ebay mufflers (for example these ) and if so, what do you think of them?

 

First of all, you really need to work on your writing skills. Learn how to summarize the key points instead of writing a novel.

It would also be nice to know your entire setup, not just your exhaust.

You can't base your conclusions off your butt dyno, yet alone a single run in uncontrolled conditions.

Also, I would trust that G-Tech Pro very much, I doubt they are as accurate as they claim.

If you want a good sounding exhaust, get a magnaflow resonator and a carsound high flow catalytic to free up some of the stock catalytic restriction.

 

Ok, sorry for the long story

My setup is a D16Z6 with CAI en the rest is stock except for the exhaust.

The G-Tech has been found pretty accurate, certainly accurate enough for comparisons, in several reviews. That said, 1 run is not enough but the power figures are not influenced by the launch. I have done more runs one after another a few times and power en torque figures never varied more than 1-2%. But I'll do a session with several runs one after another on the same road next week.

The Magnaflow resonator seems to be straight through and after hearing several straight through exhaust that are suppose to be quiet, I've lost my faith in them, in the sense of them being quiet. The high flow cat was something I was also thinking about.

 

So you are looking for a way to keep the exhaust quiet, while removing the catalytic at the same time?

If so, get the longest magnaflow resonator that will fit your car, I got a 14" but you may be able to get them in 16" or 18" I believe. They will quiet your exhaust down a bit while still maintain good flow.

 

Yeah, essentially. I could also opt for a WSII or Tanabe SMH or something like that but I want to keep the japstyle endmuffler. Does the longest Magnaflow resonator quiet it down as much as the cat and does it keep the resonances out as well like the cat?

 

The difference in my car was night and day after adding the 14" resonator, but I also have a carsound high flow cat which helps quite down the exhaust a bit. The only way to find out is to install the resonator and see if your are pleased with just the resonator itself, if it is still too loud, then maybe look at getting the carsound high flow cat to help quiet her down.

 

Allright. And is it only the carsound cat that is suitable to my needs, or are there any others that would meet my needs too?

 

PM "SMSP" he's got some really high flowing cats also

 

k, tnx. And what diameter is your resonator?

 

Edelbrock header, 2.5" collector mod, 2.5" carsound cat, 2.5" kteller weld up exhaust kit, 2.5" magnaflow resonator and muffler. Car sounds nice and quiet, no raspiness, no fart coffee can sound. I get lots of compliments on the tone, sound and throatiness. I even had a cop give me props on the exhaust and how it doesn't sound like all the other ricers around here as he was giving me a ticket for my tint

 

I mean outer diameter of your resonator Cause bigger should be quieter. And what car have you got? I'm afraid bigger than 4" outer diameter will give me problems with my ground clearance. It's 5,5cm lowered.

 

I used the 5" dia. by 14" length shown here #12866,

http://www.magnaflow.com/02pro...round

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by all-mtr-teg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">PM "SMSP" he's got some really high flowing cats also </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, Dave is a great guy to deal with. If you are concerned with sound/noise level the larger the resonator, the deeper the sound, and lower the noise level. On my old setup (LSVTEC) I had 2.5 inch piping with a 22 inch magnaflow resonator purchased from Dave/SMSP with a vibrant 2.5 inch muffler. Nice deep tone and quieter, except at WOT.

 

Why do people always confuse a resonator and a muffler?

 

Cause if you look in the car-sound website they are listed under mufflers, I don't know why they don't have their own section.

 

To my knowledge MagnaFlow does not make a "resonator".

To me a resonator is a single wraped fiberglass louvered tube 18-24" in length. Its main function is to control Db resonance before it reaches a chambered, packed, or any muffler design. It's a glass pack of sorts.
A mufflers main function is sound absorbtion or deflection depending on the design.

Maybe I'm wrong?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FST GSR 1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To my knowledge MagnaFlow does not make a "resonator".

To me a resonator is a single wraped fiberglass louvered tube 18-24" in length. Its main function is to control Db resonance before it reaches a chambered, packed, or any muffler design. It's a glass pack of sorts.
A mufflers main function is sound absorbtion or deflection depending on the design.

Maybe I'm wrong?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You're not wrong, but basically a resonator muffles sound too. So TECHNICALLY it's a muffler.

/shrug

 

Magnaflow makes resonators, mufflers, bolt-on exhaust systems, etc. If you run with no resonator and not cat, you get that typical, fart can/bumble bee sound that most people associate Hondas with..

 

Try a Vibrant. I have straight through on mine. Got a muffler from TranspeedMotorsports .... 2.5 and a 18 inch resonator. Sounds great. My car is gutted to hell and I drive it every day. For be the bottom line is.."Am I happy with it"..I mean we all want more power but.. everyone has a line.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00MRSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you run with no resonator and not cat, you get that typical, fart can/bumble bee sound that most people associate Hondas with.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00MRSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you run with no resonator and not cat, you get that typical, fart can/bumble bee sound that most people associate Hondas with.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Only when it's cold. When it's warmed up it sounds nice and deep and throaty. And it spits and cracks and scares old people.

 

I have ALWAYS had to get a resonator. I cannot stand that fart sound...mine does not have ANY of that tinny noise. If you are under there why not just put one in?.. hell at least a cherry bomb. I mean if you are gonna drive it.. shouldn't you be happy in it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00MRSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Magnaflow makes resonators, mufflers, bolt-on exhaust systems, etc. If you run with no resonator and not cat, you get that typical, fart can/bumble bee sound that most people associate Hondas with.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You've never been to the track have you?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by all-mtr-teg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You've never been to the track have you?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Plenty, its 30 minutes from my house. I have no resonator/cat and run 1 15" x 5" SS muffler with a dump cone under the car. Is it loud, yes. Do I get the finger from people trying to talk on the phone and drive, sure? Does it sound like a big ricer exhaust with purple hornies and cherry bombs and a big ricer can...no. Actually sounds "healthy", "raw", and "mean" are the comments I have gotten from the fox body and ls1 world.

 

Allright, I have done a few runs tonight with the temperature down and lower humidity. The result is on average 1kw and 1nm extra compared to the runs without cat and with silencer. Still a pretty bad result. Well, at least I have learned how much power a cat can cost. Time so sell my Megan Racing and order a resonator.