I have decided on a Flowmaster 70 series for my 07 Expy. Now, do I get the muffler online-$80 or so and take it to a shop to install and have them simply cut out the original and replace it with the 70 leaving the stock pipes or what is the best approach on this?

 

That would work.

 

Any idea what a fair price is for that kind of work?

 

My local shop does top-notch custom work with high-quality thick-wall pipe and they use hangers out the wazoo....you could probably stand on the tips. They will cut in an aftermarket muffler for $175 (includes the muffler price). They will replace everything cat-back with your choice of SI/SO muffler and high-quality stainless tip for $250. They will install a custom cat-back with dual tailpipes and tips for $325-$350.

Worth every penny to me because by custom-bending the pipes they can angle the tips out however you want, and the quality of the pipe and hangers is better than any pre-made cat-back for the same money. Not to mention, they will usually work with you down the road if you want to make changes.

I went through hell with a previous Ram. I had a large Magnaflow cut in place and it came out waaaaay too quiet. It was barely louder than stock. They felt bad because he talked me into the muffler and it ended up quieter than he thought it would. He cut out the stock tailpipe and resonator and only charged me for the stainless tip on the new tailpipe. Problem was, it had an unfrickenbelievable drone after that....I never would have believed a 22" muffler could drone like that. After a month I decided I just couldn't live with it anymore so I went back. He dug through some take-off stuff and found a resonator from an '06 Ram. (The '04 and '05 hemi Rams had one resonator in the tailpipe. The '06-newer ones have a second smaller resonator before the muffler) He cut in the smaller resonator and it was absolutely perfect, just as I wanted it from the beginning. He only charged me $50 for labor.

I doubt you'd get customer service like that from mail-ordering a cat back that you ended up unhappy with.

 

Great story. I will search around for a good shop.

 

I have a friend who bought a Magnalow muffler only, no pipes, for his '06 STX. He took it to a local Meineke shop and they intalled it using his stock pipes for $80. He says it took about 45 minutes. It sounds pretty damn good for a 4.2L 6.

Just FYI.

 

Yea my buddy got his exhaust done and he just wanted to switch out his glass pack for a different muffler and cost him $60 at a local muffler place.

 

What shop in MA did you go to? I'm in the market for exhaust for my 04 Screw so maybe I'll check out your place.

 

To cut old muffler out, weld muffler and short piece of pipe, I was charged $20.

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