Which one gives a growl sound thats not loud? 2003 4.6 eng, want something that sounds nice but not excessively loud. Got kids in my sub sleeping while I pull through with bass boat in tow in the early AM hours.

 

A cat back system is nothing more than replacing your stock piping and muffler from the Y back. Instead of buying a whole system thats in 9 pieces and needs welding anyway for $400-$600, I would go and have your muffler changed out to a magnaflow, maybe a 14-18" body, 6" round center to center 2.25" and then have the shop mandrel bend you a new pipe from the muffler out the back whichever way you want with a fresh stainless tip on it. Should be a nice low tone family friendly growl but enough to say it has a V8 behind it.

Right now I have just my stock muffler changed out with a 4" bodied 14" magnapack. It sets off the neighbors alarm when I start it. Yet you cant hear it on the highway at all. Sounds great at certain speeds but not much noise at all during cruising. So, a 6" body may be a little less dramatic at start up for you. check out the exhaust section

 

Magnaflow makes great cat back setups and is all stainless steel - something you won't find at a shop. You will most likely not find a shop that'll mandrel bend the pipes either, so just choose what you want. A stainless Magnaflow cat back will run you, as stated above, $400-600. A shop can do it for probably half that installed. You won't have the mandrel bends or stainless piping, but it should still be adequate and will last you awhile. If you live in an area where rust is an issue, I'd say spend the extra $$ on the cat back.

 

I agree. 14" oval single inlet/dual outlet Magnaflow should fit exactly what you're looking for. I have the 18" on my truck and it's too quiet, so the 14" should work nice if you're leaving everything forward of the muffler stock; should be just what you're looking for.

I also agree about the mandrel bent pipes; looks great, but on a truck making less than 500HP, it does nothing for you but cost money. And like 1clean42 said, good luck even finding a shop that'll do it. Mandrel machines are expensive and a great exhaust guys work will reflect that cost. One place I found around me that does it was 3-4X the cost of where I ended up going. Smooth radius bends are just the ticket. The price difference between true mandrel bent exhaust work and excellent smooth radius work is substantial for no performance gain.

 

Agreed. I didn't realize how scarce the shops were that can mandrel bend being we have a huge shop here in the Portland area. A few actually. The gains vs cost difference are not worth it for a simple muffler and tail pipe swap.

 

The cat back that showed gains across the power-band is the 3" single from Magnaflow. Best for stock. But that's really old news.

 

So bb, that's how you would build it, - doing it yourself for sound and performance both. For the "cat back" you start w/3" right behind the Y after the merge. That's key, and a good muffler + tp setup of course.

This is partly how I able to pick up 6 seconds 0-80. Other part is the way the headers and cats are set up.

Before-

https://picasaweb.google.com/jbrew39...61949443175026

After-

https://picasaweb.google.com/jbrew39...88043316047874

Time it for yourself

 

Smooth radius bends can still be good looking. A great exhaust guy can make it look top notch without mandrel.

 

From the other side...

 

Thanks much for the intell! I will just change the muffler and leave it single.

 

Then a Borla is what you want IMO. Probably perfect for what you explained in your first post.

 

Changing out just the muffler is certainly the least expensive way to do it. All you may need besides the muffler is an extension pipe because most aftermarket mufflers are shorter than the stock golf bag.