I know that almost everyone here likes Magnaflow, but I can't say that I do. I had a Magnaflow complete SIDO cat-back on my previous 2v 5.4 and loved the fit/finish but sound was lacking IMO.

So, I thought I'd give Magnaflow another shot on the current 2v 5.4. Since I wanted a louder exhaust note, I opted for a smaller (14") muffler dumped under the bed. I figured that a shorter muffler would be louder, plus it would resonate off the ground and be closer to my head, thus making the exhaust note louder yet.

My theory is obviously flawed somehow, because after having this done, I am left wondering why this is so much quieter than my previous SIDO, which was already too quiet?

Could it be that I just need to have the exhaust routed out through a tailpipe? Or is this muffler simply not going to produce the sound I want?

I now intend on selling my barely used Magnaflow muffler, and go for something LOUD. I will most likely have tailpipes out the back, but am considering have them exit "Lightning style." I had this on a truck in 95 (yes, before the Lighning had this style exhaust. I must have started the trend.lol) and was very pleased with it. My biggest decision is what muffler to use. I am concerned that your average 40 series Flow won't give the sound I'm looking for. Maybe a basic glasspack? Imco? I give up. I want it loud, and with a nice sound. Dodge trucks seem to have the best sounding exhaust. I'd love for this truck to sound like my 4.6 Mustang, though.

Any/all suggestions are welcome. Where should I have the tailpipes? What muffler? Another option yet is true duals with a crossover pipe? Heck, maybe even a set of headers. The manifols look easily accessible on this truck. I would prefer to stick with factory manifolds and Y-pipe, at least for now...


Any ideas?

 

I have had both Flows and Magnaflows on my old truck 99 5.4 F150 reg cab short bed step side(looked like an L). This is what I did the first time around. I got JBA shorties, Magnaflow HF cats and a 2.5" si/so 40 series Flowmaster. Heres where things get tricky, I wanted something that would be rediculously loud to, plus I wanted a true dual exhaust in this case I used the muffler as the X or H pipe, so what I did was make my 2.5' si/so Flow into a 2.5"di/3"do. I had it exit out like an L but with no tips, so it was kinda hidden under the body. That ended up being sooo fricken loud and droned beyond belief, thats when I swapped out the Flow for a 14568 Magnaflow w/ built in X-pipe. Yes it is one of the BIGGEST mufflers Magnaflow makes, but dont let size decieve you. It had a nice tone at idle and when you hit the go pedal it sounded like a monster. Plus there was no drone, the more you use it the louder it gets to.
Deffinately go with a true dual set-up w/2.5" tubing, either LT headers or Shorties, if you plan on boost later on go with LTs. You will see the best results with that.
Good Luck, I hope this hepled
Later
M V

 

There are several variations of the 40 series. There are 1, 2, and 3 chamber versions, each with its own respective level of sound. You are not alone in your dislike of magnaflow products, as there are many of us out there that don't like the sound, the price, and never see the percieved performance gain. Check all the different versions of the 40 series at www.flowmastermufflers.com where you can see the interior and exterior noise compared to stock. I use street/strip 40 series on my 5.4 2V in a dual setup with high flow cats and 3 inch pipe, and it gives the sound I want with little drone, and you can't even hear that little bit when the radio is turned halfway up.

 

I have the cat back Flowmaster system (2 chamber 40 series)from Summit. Sounds great, excellent price $199, and I installed it in the driveway with hand tools in less than an hour. I highly recomend this system :o

 

The only Flowmaster cat-back system I could find for my truck through summit was this one here for $319:
http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...h.asp&N=400238

I have gotten the impression that it isn't easy to make the 2v 5.4 sound good like a typical V-8. I hope this doesn't turn out to be the case, and the next go-around will be more successful.

I think I have decided to go with just a cat-back system (most likely from a good exhaust shop) for now. I just need to decide what muffler to use. I have heard that the single-chamber Flows don't sound good, and am concerned that the arevage 40-series that sound good on everything else won't be loud enough in this case.

Imco seems to have some loud stuff that sounds pretty good. I've never heard on, but have read about them. They have lots of different styles of muffflers, too. Which one is it that most people use?

Also, if anyone in the Fort Worth area with nice exhaust doesn't mind meeting up with me somewhere to show it off, that could help me decide.

Again, any input is greatly appreciated.

 

Hey there Brian 5.4 I have a truck like ur old one. Same year,model,engine,paint job, even those 00-up Lariat rims. I had a FM40(original 40)dumped in it. Loved the tone but it wasnt loud enough. I ordered an IMCO which I will install as soon as it gets here. meanwhile I chopped the FM off.left just 3 inch pipe, Louder(still not enough) but ugly tone. Cant wait 2 hear the IMCO. Ill post my opinion as soon as I hear it. Hope this helps

 

i have an 03 f-150 ext. cab xlt with the 5.4. for exhaust i went with a Jegs cat back split rear. it came with 3" muffler tips. i replaced those with 3" tips from o'riellys. sounds real good. now i was planning on buying a universal off road h pipe, a 3" tubing dual exhaust kit w/out mufflers with 3"in 3 1/2" out tips. the kit should exit in front of the rear wheels. i think it might exit right behind the cab personally. my question is, will i somehow have enough back pressure with no cats or mufflers? any thoughts would be helpful before i make my purchase. thnx

 

I did a custom true dual setup on my 01 5.4 with removed front cats, magnaflow x pipe , 2 bassani universal mufflers, and harley davidson talepipes and i love the sound check it out
http://exhaustsoundclips.com/phpbb2/...=2&file_id=494
just click i agree at the bottom to hear the file
Good luck with whatever you choose but in my opinnion nothing beats bassani

 

simply cut the muffler out....absolute best sound you can get on these modular motors...trust me!

 

I ran the truck with no muffler for one day before I had to put a muffler on. It wasn't necessarily too loud, it just sounded nasty.

I had dual cutouts on my 01 GT and thought they sounded great. It got to be too loud sometimes, but I could cap them up in only a few minutes.

I am going to swing by the local good muffler shop today and see what they suggest. I have listened to soundclips on Imco's website and like the way the 4.6 sounds-similar to a 4.6 Mustang with that hollow, raspy, deep sound. I don't think I like the way the 5.4 clips sound, though.

5.4ever, what Imco muffler did you order? I am looking at the 'extreme.' Are you going to run this through tailpipes or just dumped? I'll be very interested in your results.
BTW do you have a picture of your truck? My current truck is quite a bit nicer than my last one and in better shape, but it doesn't look near as nice IMO. I prefer the look of a supercab, but the supercrew is much more practical. The deep wedgewood over gold is still my favorite color combo, too. That truck was a looker, for sure! Those were the factory wheels on that truck, though.

 

Ok, I swung by the exhaust shop today. I've seen exhaust done at standard mufler shops before but have never seen anything but sloppy welds and hacked-together systems. This muffler shop has a reputation of being superior to the normal muffler shop, and upon talking to the owner, I feel confident in this. They have lots of experience with national show-cars and several photo albums of underbody pictures that look great.

The owner says he recommends a true dual setup, as a SIDO system won't provide the sound I'm looking for. They'll cut the Y-pipe off and run two straight pipes from there to the muffler(s) I choose. He recommends one Flowmaster 50-series DIDO(this one: http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/pr...oducts_id=3302 ) to eliminate the need of a crossover pipe. He siad he would also run any two mufflers I want for the same price, but it would be an additional $40 for a crossover. From there I'll have tailpipes out the back with my choice of chrome tips. All of this will be done in 2-1/4 non mandrel-bent piping.
I listened to a sound clip of this setup and it sounded GOOD.

What doesn't make sense to me, though...
The muffler I have now is 14" long, and very quiet. The muffler he recomends is much larger! I am concerned that if I go with his recomendation, that I still won't be happy. I told him the sound I wanted, and even listened to it,but I am still worried.

I do have a few concerns.

For the price he wants($395) I could get a Magnaflow SIDO bolt-on system. This won't give me the sound I want, but it would sevaral advantages over the muffler shop special I'm considering.

all stainless pipe
mandrel bent
2.5"
stainless tips

 

Hey there Brian 5.4 I just received my IMCO(1 chamber extreme) single 3inch in/dual 2.5 out. Ill be installing it on friday!!!!Cant wait. will post results soon. I guess Ill dump it 4 now see how it sounds

 

HMM, why would he use 2.1/4" tubing and not 2.5"? If you want a true dual set up you can allways get a Magnaflow di/do muffler, they come with X pipes built into them (except for the 4x9x11" models) that way you can save the extra cash on the crossover pipe.
Thats great that he is recommending things but it seems like you are a little hesitant to go through with it. Remember, this is your exhaust(not his), he will be working for you, so when you go in there you tell him what you want.

I have been debating on what to do to, I ended up ordering a Magnaflow si/do. Magnaflows really sound great on the 2v 5.4s, I am trying to remmember what the name of this sound clip link is, they have a ton of sound clips. I will try to find it.
Good Luck
Later
M V

 

Mine isn't equalized, and lots of people said it would sound like dualing 4 bangers, and it didn't. Then again, I have 3 inch pipe. I wouldn't go with less than 2.5" if you're going to go the true dual route. It will give it a deeper sound in itself by adding 1/4 inch in pipe size. I don't have the connections on my computer to transfer sound, but if you want to hear it you can email me at stang99x@yahoo.com and I'll give you my phone number and you can listen to it like that.

 

Thanks for all the input, guys. I really do appreciate it.

To clear up a few things....

I have Magnaflow exhaust right now and I don't like it, thats why I'm looking into exhaust again. Magnaflow seems to be a love it or hate it deal. I tried it, and can't say that I much care for it. Lots of guys do, though.

The owner of the muffler shop said that they do these trucks on a regular basis( I looked through several large photo albums of F150s) and recommended what he thought sounded best. I listened to a clip of the setup he recommended and it was exactly what I'm looking for. They have a great setup for this, BTW. You listen to the clips over a surround-sound stero in the showroom. The only reason I am hesitant to go with the muffer (DIDO) he recommends is that it is so big. It is hard for me to imagine that the proposed muffler(about the size of the OE muffler) is going to be as loud as I want, when my current 14" Magnaflow is not.

Again, this is just what he recommended, but said he would do anything I wanted. I would think that a set of SISO 40 series would sound better, but he should know better than I do.

He also recommended that I go with 2-1/4" pipe with a true dual setup. He said 2.5" would be too much flow, but again, he would do it if I wanted, just more $$.


Basically, my options are wide open. They stock all major mufflers and will use any muffler(s) I want for the same price. I am just looking for recommendations now. The considerations currently at the top of my list are:

True duals with one 50-series 3-chamber DIDO Flwmaster #524554( http://www.flowmastermufflers.com/pr...oducts_id=3302 )

True duals with two SISO standard 40-series Flows. Either balanced (H-pipe) or not. Also considering IMCO mufflers here.


Any more suggestions? All input is welcome!





Before I commit and have it done I'll talk to him again just to make sure we're on the same page.