I have been experimenting ever since I bought the car, trying to find the loudest but best sounding exhaust combo. Its been a long expensive journey, and I am not through yet. Here is the breakdown of what I have had so far:


Mufflers/Mid pipe/Headers

MAC/stock/stock=
-much deeper than stock, decent drone inside cruising at certain speeds

MAC/catted Bassani X/stock=
-pretty much the same as it was, just louder, and a little tinny at a certain RPM

MAC/catless Bassani X/stock=
-holy crap, this sounded insane!! Like a rabid werewolf, BUT under acceleration, waaay to tinny......dammit

MAC/Pypes offroad H/stock=
-didn't sound bad by any means, but nowhere near as loud, much less tinny sound

MAC/catless Bassani X/Hooker LTS=
-not near as loud as I was hoping, this combo with stock headers was much louder. A little tinny in the higher rpms

Bassani/catless Bassani X/Hooker LTS=
-sounds like a totally different car. Not as loud as I would like, NO tinny sound, pretty deep.

SLP Loudmouths/catless Bassani X/Hooker LTs=
-LOUD LOUD LOUD. Deep growl down low, major trumpets above 3000 rpms, psychotically loud at half throttle, severe drone at certain rpms/speeds.

Hooker tips/catless Bassani X/Hooker LTs=
-Deeper than the SLPs, not as loud, and smaller trumpets. Sounds tinny when the pedal is buried. SLPs will probably be going back on.

SLP Loudmouths/catless Prochamber/Hooker LTs=
-Its nice. Much deeper than the X pipe, much much quieter too. Very little cabin drone, minimal amount of trumpets that only occur over 3500 rpms.

Pypes Violators/catless Bassani X/Hooker LTs=
-Surprisingly deep when idling, pretty loud when WOT. MAN these things are awesome after they've been broken in. This is what I have been looking for! Wooo!

 

wow, thats amazing. I read some reviews and went straight for the corsa axle backs. Not loud at all, but refind with a very good sound quality. As for you, you've tried what many of us would dream to have, but I say until its perfect keep going. The corsas wont be loud enough for you but if your ears ever do start to bleed, you might give them a try. Good luck, start another thread when your think you've nailed your sound.

 

Sorry the SLP's didnt work out for ya bro, but i take it they came packaged well etc? I got the MACs in tonight, threw em on and ive got to say, with the stock headers, magnaflow catted X and the MACs im loving the sound thus far. I know i need to do some serious adjusting of the hangers and flowtubes to get them back aligned correctly, and the clamps they came with are a joke lol. On an off note, anyone looking to ever buy from mydnyghte, have no worries, he was the perfect seller.

 

So far I think I have made good use of the 1 1/2 years I have owned my car That or maybe I am more obsessive compulsive than I realized...

 

Hartman,
Man I totally forgot to get back to you! I was definitely blown away with the packaging, goodness those parts looked NICE! I don't believe I had any idea what I was getting into with the SLPs, and I think despite how the Violators sound, I am going to try an H pipe again to see what that does for the SLPs. Because I gotta say, I love how they look, I love how they can sound, they just need to come down a few decibles.

I think that if SLP had made them with a 4" orifice for the exhaust to exit, it would be deeper and produce less trumpeting. Because compared to the MACs and Bassanis pipes, where the pipe was 4", the 2" exit really loses some throatiness. Which I know is also the result of discarding the muffler itself, but I would think a larger diameter pipe would help.

 

I gues I'm not the only one who went through a variety of setups. I "completed" my sound search about four months ago. Here's what I went through:

1. Installed SLP Powerflos last summer. Sounded very good, but after a couple months I wanted it louder.

2. Swapped out the Powerflos for Loudmouths. I loved them... so far that was the best sound I had. That is, until I got rid of the stock exhaust manifolds and cats.... see #3

3. Installed LTs, hi-flow cats, X-pipe with Loudmouths - Loud as heck, and unbearable trumpeting.

4. Replaced X with H-pipe - Still loud as heck, with slightly less trumpeting, but still not acceptable.

5. Replaced LMs with Magnaflows - Greatly reduced trumpeting, but not loud enough.

6. Installed KB supercharger and re-installed LMs (hoping for a sound difference) - Back to loud as heck, and unbearable trumpeting.

7. Put Magnaflows back on, and traded LMs for Bassani's.

8. Replaced Magnaflows with Bassani's - Louder than Magnaflows, with just a little trumpeting. Bearable.

9. Replaced H-pipe with X-pipe - A little louder, more aggressive and trumpeting is undetectable.

At this point, I don't intend to do anything else with the exhaust, except install my exhaust cutouts this week. When I had the open headers (see video link in sig) it just sounded so frikkin sick... the cutouts will let me get that sound when I'm at the track (or when I want to get someone's attention on the street... hehe).

 

Don, your combo #4, was it the trumpeting that was making it unacceptable? Thats one of the combos I was considering, without the cats though.

One other thing I thought about trying, certainly cheaper too, was to swap out the Loudmouth tips with a larger diameter tip. I found these: http://www.holley.com/22032HKR.asp

And also the same thing with a built in resonator:
http://www.holley.com/22010HKR.asp

Both of which are available in a 3" inlet, 4" outlet, about 10" long. They don't have the look of the SLP, but that **** voice inside my head is whispering "What if...."

 

Yes... the trumpeting was horrible IMO. I was embarrased to drive it that way.

 

yeah the trumpets do suck... but some cats... .not tiny ones like dons, but slightly larger ones like the magnaflow 94106s I got do kill the trumpets (good) and smell (very sad for me), and make it much more controlable at low to mid rpms, but still insane at WOT.

 

Corsa w/ JBA LT's and high flow cats! Loud...not obnoxious....no drone...no trumpeting.....pure muscle!

 

i am glad this topic was started as i am also on the same quest...for as loud and mean as possible

 

YES! I'm running factory manifolds with an offroad H and the Corsa system, and I could not be happier! Loud but not completely obnoxious, no drone, no trumpeting, and great performance. I'm researching the SLP LT's and matching X pipe and I think my sound will only get better.

Bennyandthejets, if you want to make your car louder without adding unnecessary resonance, go to a offroad or atleast hi-flow midpipe and enjoy.

 

Could someone please explain wtf they are talking about when they say 'trumpets'.... all i can picture is those trumpeteers that had the flags hanginng down fromthem whenever a king would arrive.

 

I am running the SLP Lt's and x pipe and love it. However I'm running the stock mufflers. I'm wanting to do the Cervini's side exhaust but I'm unsure about the Magnapacks. My car is loud, but not too loud. On my girlfriends '02 she has BBK LT's and x pipe and Borla exhaust and her's is louder than mine at all points. I haven't really found too many others running SLP LT's so I'm not sure what muffler's to run. My friend had the LT's on his car before he sold them to me and he had the loudmouths and it was ungodly loud. SLP LT's+X Pipe+Loudmouths= REALLY F*ING LOUD. And not a good loud IMO.

 

I too, have been through quite a few exhaust setups...and I finally came across the perfect setup for me.
Flowmasters
Pypes O/R H
Pypes Hi-Flow Cats welded in

This combo did away with the trumpets at 2700RPMs...it's got a low rumble at idle, and nice growl at cruise...and SCREAMS at WOT. Also, the raw exhaust smell is almost gone.

I actually think the SLP LM's might sound decent with this setup....probably a little too loud still, but not nearly as bad as it was when the H was full-on Off Road.

 

Just think what those trumpeteers instruments sound like when you blow way too much air through all at once and youll have the sound that we're talking about. Its a nasty..horrible sounding resonance.

 

WERKED, the absolute meanest sound I have found so far was with the catless Bassani X, and MAC axlebacks. That sound was wickedly mean. A good mean. But it got soo tinny, because the MACs are chambered, up in the higher rpms, it totally canceled out the meanness. So long as I stayed in the low rpms, it was like riding a pack of ravenous wolves

I got an email today stating that the Violators I ordered will not be in stock until the 2nd week in July. So since I have some time, I think I am going to try those Hooker tips with the resonators built in.

On another note, I figured out what I could compare the sound to: a low flying airplane. At certain rpms though...

 

I have often referred to it as a cropduster...

 

all i can say is i was on the same quest. my quest ended with the FRPP Stingers(borla) and a off road H. that is the sound i was looknig for. deep deep rumble and growl on idle and half throttle. little trumpeting at 2500 but not as bad as slp and off road h. WOT is insane. check out my vids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L45kpbgOeMg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pZ2qUgWgqA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO5Twk-C_3E

 

94, that does sound good! I've heard a couple other vids of people running the Stingers, and every one sounds reaaal nice. I might should keep those in mind..