Axleback Exhaust

[AMCRambler]

Thinking of picking up an axle back exhaust for the GTO.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, on the GTO the main exhaust comes back and where the two pipes go over the axle, there's a flange coupling to a short piece of pipe that enters the muffler. So essentially they make a bolt on set of mufflers that have the flange, muffler and exhaust tip and hanger all welded up ready to go. No muss no fuss.

It'll do two things, 1. make the car louder (more V8 rumble) 2. slightly better flow, might pick up a couple hp. Three if you count pissing off the neighbors, hehe.

Looks like there's a couple kits out there. Flowmaster has one, Spintech one, and Kooks two sets. The Flowmaster or the Spintech are more up my alley as I'm not looking for a muffler delete or straight through. Just a little extra noise. Not looking to wake the dead or get cops all over me for loud exhaust so I'm staying away from cat backs.

Comments/suggestions?

Update: 8/16/2010

So I bought the Flowmasters anyway. Even after everybody said don't do it. They sound great though. Makes the car sound a little meaner than it did. Definitely louder but not deafening. They were the cheapest option for bolt on mufflers and so far I'm not dissappointed.

I put a couple clips on Youtube if you want to hear them. First one is of me starting up the car for the first time after putting them on, hehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2gg6d6S2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07IKQ8LyniA

 

[BlackTigers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HaKGg8Txo0

thats the exhaust you need for that baby.

 

[Homer Simpson]

i didnt use an axle back kit but had a muffler shop weld in some flowmaster super 40's on the 06 i used to have. exhaust was otherwise stock and it sounded real nice. that gets my vote. i have the kooks axle backs on my G8 currently but also have their full headers, cats and xpipe and its loud. sounds nice but i do miss the flowmaster chambered muffler sound.

 

[AMCRambler]

I gotta get on youtube and listen to some exhausts. Want to see what the flowmaster axle backs sound like on a stock exhaust. A pair of those would run me about $390 from Marlyandspeed.com. I'll have to shop around and see if I can get them cheaper.

 

[thescreensavers]

Isnt there some GTO forum with sound clips and all?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

FWIW there is no microphone / speaker combo in existence that comes close to mimicking how a 1098 sounds with termis.


In other words, youtube is a horrible place to get a 'feel' for how an exhaust sounds, particularly on a lumpy motor like the GTO

 

[JulesMaximus]

FWIW there is no microphone / speaker combo in existence that comes close to mimicking how a 1098 sounds with termis.

In other words, youtube is a horrible place to get a 'feel' for how an exhaust sounds, particularly on a lumpy motor like the GTO

Agreed.

I had Flowmasters 2 chamber mufflers on my Mustang GT years ago and it sounded fantastic.

 

[c3p0]

If you like that GTO as much as I think you do, then you might consider looking at Borla Exhaust systems. They cost a little more, but I think they are worth the price. I guessed at the year and model of your GTO. So the link may not be accurate.

http://www.borla.com/products/cat-back_exhaust.aspx?id=56628|20|7|7977|2|7|3

c3p0

 

[RockinZ28]

A common thing I have heard from most lsx guys is that many Flowmaster mufflers are very restrictive, almost as much as oem mufflers, and will hurt your hp compared to other brands. If you are close to stock it won't make any real difference in power, but if you have other power adders it will hurt your hp with the flowmasters.

I'm having a dual in/out magnaflow muffler installed next week, dual 2.5" pipe all the way to the back, along with custom x-pipe, mandrel bends over the axles, and tips out the back. Hear the Magnaflows give it a good rumble at idle/low rpms and it screams at high rpms, and offer good flow, and are much cheaper than some of the other brands. This whole setup + install cost is going to be under $500 too.

My car basically has straight long tube headers with an x-pipe dumped before the axles right now, just way too loud for California.

http://www.streetfire.net/video/ws6-loud-exhaust_2006526.htm

 

[AdamK47]

I'm running an axelfront exhaust on mine.

 

[angry hampster]

Just buy a couple Magnaflow straight-thru mufflers from Summit Racing and have a muffler shop weld them on.

 

[exdeath]

Spintech is ungodly sounding on GTOs, but I think you'll need a cam for the rump a lump lump sound you are probably looking for.

 

[Apex]

A common thing I have heard from most lsx guys is that many Flowmaster mufflers are very restrictive, almost as much as oem mufflers, and will hurt your hp compared to other brands. If you are close to stock it won't make any real difference in power, but if you have other power adders it will hurt your hp with the flowmasters.

Yep.

If you get a Flowmaster, be sure to do a before/after dyno.

 

[kevbot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HaKGg8Txo0

thats the exhaust you need for that baby.

That reminds me of Randy Quaids lawnmower in the movie Moving with Ricard Pryor!

 

[Pariah]

A common thing I have heard from most lsx guys is that many Flowmaster mufflers are very restrictive, almost as much as oem mufflers, and will hurt your hp compared to other brands. If you are close to stock it won't make any real difference in power, but if you have other power adders it will hurt your hp with the flowmasters.

The engine has nothing to do with the restrictiveness of the exhaust. The GTO OEM catbacks are very good by OEM standards. The 04 in particular has almost straight-through mufflers. You could literally spend all day reading posts about no gains from replacing the stock catbacks on GTO's. The only reason to replace them is if you want a different exhaust note. Namely louder.

I know the OP said axlebacks, but obviously if the catbacks are not restrictive, any subset of it isn't going to be either.

Not looking to wake the dead or get cops all over me for loud exhaust so I'm staying away from cat backs.

Not really sure why you are asking this here. There are multiple very good GTO boards on the web which will give you more reading material on this than you could ever want from people who actually own GTO's with the configurations you are asking about. If you don't want to wake up the dead, Spintech should be taken off your list. Magnaflow and Bassani are generally viewed as comparable to OEM in volume until you step on the gas. Flowmasters are a bit louder than stock, but viewed as more restrictive, and Corsa is much louder. The Kooks sets are either a muffler delete or might as well be one, so don't know why are you asking about those.

 

[AMCRambler]

The engine has nothing to do with the restrictiveness of the exhaust. The GTO OEM catbacks are very good by OEM standards. The 04 in particular has almost straight-through mufflers. You could literally spend all day reading posts about no gains from replacing the stock catbacks on GTO's. The only reason to replace them is if you want a different exhaust note. Namely louder.

I know the OP said axlebacks, but obviously if the catbacks are not restrictive, any subset of it isn't going to be either.



Not really sure why you are asking this here. There are multiple very good GTO boards on the web which will give you more reading material on this than you could ever want from people who actually own GTO's with the configurations you are asking about. If you don't want to wake up the dead, Spintech should be taken off your list. Magnaflow and Bassani are generally viewed as comparable to OEM in volume until you step on the gas. Flowmasters are a bit louder than stock, but viewed as more restrictive, and Corsa is much louder. The Kooks sets are either a muffler delete or might as well be one, so don't know why are you asking about those.

Oh I'm checking the ls2gto boards, don't worry your pretty little head. I wanted to see what people here thought. It IS the garage forum you know.

You make it sound like no one here would have a clue what I'm talking about and then you go ahead and prove you know exactly what I'm asking and provide some excellent comments.

I've never swapped out an exhaust for aftermarket before. I'm familiar with the major brands but pros and cons of each are pretty subjective. Sounds like I might want to consider looking at cat backs from Magnaflow and Bassani. Neither offers an axle back. I was just trying to keep it simple and get a little more rumble on the cheap.

On another note, looking though some of the kits they've got out there, I saw an electric cut out setup that looks pretty damn cool. Basically a switch in run into the cabin is hooked up to a solenoid that will open a valve venting the exhaust directly out the cutout. So you can drive to the track, flip the switches, and you've by passed your mufflers without having to crawl under the car and remove a cap or anything. Pretty cool idea.

 

[AMCRambler]

I'm running an axelfront exhaust on mine.

You've got side exits on your GTO? What mfg?

 

[franksta]

I've commonly heard the Flowmasters referred to as "DroneMasters" and I've never cared for the sound of them. I have Borla on my F-150 and Magnaflow on my Grand Marquis. I think they both sound great with the Borla being louder/more aggressive sounding. Those brands are necessarily going to be a little bit more expensive because they're made of stainless steel.

 

[AdamK47]

You've got side exits on your GTO? What mfg?

Yes. Spintech.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I'm not a fan of flowmaster personally, they seem to try to make all cars sound the same. Look into a Magnaflow or Dynomax. I have the latter on my Dakota and my brother in law has the former on his Tahoe, both sound much better than stock and are made similarly.

 

[tiresmokindad]

Agreed.

I had Flowmaster mufflers on my Mustang GT years ago and it sounded fantastic.

I had also those kind of mufflers. But some of them are not sounded good. However most of the mufflers are nice.

 

[AMCRambler]

Bump: So I bought the Flowmasters. See OP for details

 

[IcePickFreak]

Sounds good, and I know a youtube vid doesn't do it any justice. Flowmasters seem to be pretty subjective, I personally like their sound. I had em on probably about 5 different cars, anything from 68 chevelle, 72 nova, up to the 97 & 99 TA's. I went with magnaflow's though on the G8 because they just wouldn't fit the car's look IMO. On a GTO, definitely would of gone with them. They sound even better with a big cam.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sounds good.

Who's the girl operating the video camera?

 

[Pariah]

"I don't hear a difference....but, ok."


Best part of the video.