2004 F-150 4.6Liter V8. My truck looks awesome, BUT it is as quiet as a ninja. I would love to get a good deep sound, but I'm on a tight budget right now. I love the Flowmaster 50 soundclips ive seen on youtube.

If I were to take it up to Midas, Is it possible to get a great sound by installing ONLY a new muffler???

Its a SI/SO btw. Any info, clips, advice is greatly appreciated, I don't know anything about the mechanical aspect of autos, so I don't wanna do anything that will sacrifice power, efficiency, etc - just to get a cool sound

This is the kind of sound I would love to have!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7zkm7w9QR0

 

yes. The Flowmaster 50 series is the Magnaflow 18" body equivalent. I would actually go Magnaflow because Flowmaster is restrictive, better economy & a deep deep sound with the Magnaflow.

People do muffler swaps all the time. Search on Youtube for videos of exhausts on our trucks.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Darren. Damnit your truck looks and sounds awesome! Looks like I gotta consider mangnaflows too now!

Thats the kind of sound I like, deep and powerful. Not just super loud and crackly.

 

Thank you! Pretty soon i'm getting some cat work done to volume it up much more. These 1" bodies are pretty loud but not loud enough for me yet, still used to my old Flowmasters on my old truck.

I barely hear inside my truck, only going 50mph+ i can hear it hum, but its still quite loud outside. When I put my windows down the volumes there, just need there to be a tad more.

If you like the sound level of mine maybe the 14" body would even be good for you. Its a tad quieter than my truck, and a tad louuder than the 18"

Heres a video of a truck with a Magnaflow cat-back with an 18" muffler to compare to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v3Nj9B6De8

 

Thanks for all the help and info Darren!!! You know what your talkin about, can u clarify this for me.

Restrictive in terms of what? Also, is that in comparison to stock muffler or other aftermarket brands?? Sorry for the dumb questions, but I truly appreciate all the info you give me!

When it comes to learnin this stuff, I guess its better late then never.

 

No problem. The internals of Flowmaster mufflers contain chambers, and baffle plates. This creates the Flowmaster sound. Having those chambers isn't great for performance, just makes a good noise. A direct flowing muffler provides a deeper exhaust note, and flowing with no restriction at all, gains you minimal torque and economy numbers, where as the chambers and baffles in Flowmasters is restrictive minimally.

Here is a cut-away of the Flowmaster 50 series Delta.



Now here is the internals of a Magnaflow muffler, a cut-away, and one I took personally of mine.






So for better torque and mileage gains, your best off with the Magnaflow, and since it sounds damn near exact to the Flowmaster 50 series, I would suggest the Magnaflow would make you much happier.

 

The flowmaster is more resrictive due to it's open chamber design, there are "directional" devices, but basically the exhaust just "bounces" all around in side the chambers, and eventually will "find" the exit. A magnaflow is a straight through design muffler, which is much more efficient and less restrictive.

 

i have a 4.6L v8, but i have a SI/DO Original 40 flowmatser

heres my clip if you want any other information just pm me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGJgFQdoHeU

 

Ive have seen the light Now I see exactly what you guys mean by restrictive. There really is a huge difference in the way those mufflers are designed. Thanks alot for takin the time to post pics and explain it for a newbie you guys! This forum is incredible...

Neirti, yours sounds badass man.

 

thanks man, costed me $330 at midas, came with custom 2.5" piping, with 4" chrome tips. my advice would be whatever you decided to do, go to midas, was the cheapest i found, unless theres a place cheaper.

 

hey man. i got a 98 4.6L with a magnaflow 14" si/so muffler. here's a vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqulZZ3K-aI

it sounds pretty good. the 14" is louder than the 18" (which is equal to the flow's 50, right?). it was about like $130 installed(at a midas). if ur looking for something that sounds good, wont hurt performance and is cheap, this is what i would recommend. but i think u'll be happy with whatever u get.

 

The first exhaust change I made on my truck was just to replace the factory monster with a 14" Maggie, cost me $120 including gratuity, had it done at my local Authorized Magnaflow dealer. After that I went with high flows, x-pipe, and dual 14" Maggies with 18" 3.5" tips, bought all the parts myself from performancepeddlar.com (got the tips on ebay) (FREE shipping), traded the old cats for labor (they're worth around $200) and threw in $160 on the end including a gratuity. Sound clip in my sig.

 

OH, and if it's not QUITE loud enough for you just doing the 14" Magnaflow swap, give her some time, mine got louder for nearly 6,000 miles!

 

Man I wish I could get a deal like that! Damn lucky right there man. My shops wont touch my cats unless i have 4 going back in, or only replace the rears. Within a few hours I may be chopping my rears out finally, friend has the sawzall, gotta see if he has time and if I gotta buy a blade.

 

Well I found out later, that he didn't remove my precats. He gutted them for me instead. I was upset at first, but as much as I LOVE the new sound, I'm not going to complain. Looks like I'm getting about 1 mpg more now too, might be the exhaust, might be coincidence.