[white lincoln]

Now that I got the correct cat forward exhaust assembly for the car, I have some options on the cat back exhaust. I have the option to replace the cat back exhaust and mufflers. The rear tube of the assembly below is just a reducer and has no muffler capabilities. As I learned with the two resonators on the current cat forward, the car is much louder. Since this is wife's car, it needs to have similar to the stock sound.

This is what I was thinking of getting:

And the stock mufflers for the car.

Was the old OEM center chamber a muffler, straight tube, resonator or what? Anyone know?

Any input would be appreciated concerning replacing the rear assembly for something near stock in db's and little vibration.

 

[Grog6]

IIRC, it was a third cat.

Seems like the red car needed it rebarred to clean it up.
Or maybe that was chunks from the front ones, IDK.

The Magnaflow mufflers are nice and relatively quiet; be sure to get the right ones.
Seems like our mufflers are 14"; they are NOT 20".

The mandrel bent duals are nice, but the 2.5" ones are much louder than the 2.25" ones.

Here's some tips:

95 4.6L Looking for muffler options

Wondering what options are out there to make a 4.6L sound like a V8? My preference would be to go with something from Maganflow since I have had great results in the past (fit and sound). My intent would be to simply cut off the stock mufflers and bolt-on a replacement. Not looking for any...

www.tccoa.com

 

[white lincoln]

I did like the Dynomax kit for the 4.6l. It would cost as much as the pipe kit I was looking at and the mufflers together.

As for that OEM being a center cat, it sure does not look like a cat but a big muffler. The reason I ask is cause the kit I just got has a hollow center, which I am concerned is going to be like an X pipe in that it won't remove any resonating noises like a muffler will do.

Thanks Grog for the feed back, it got me to look at the Dynomax OEM kit for the 4.6l again an compare some prices.

 

[Zep5.0]

I believe that was a resonator if I'm not mistaken. FWIW, I really liked the sounds of my Flowmaster 50 series mufflers. Not very loud, just a nice deep rumble and no resonance. I don't think that kit is available anymore and they are longer mufflers. Magnaflow makes a good product too.

 

[CDsDontBurn]

IIRC, only the '97 had a center / 3rd CAT. All previous year models that was a resonator.

 

[white lincoln]

Conclusion:
I had to make a few changes to the cat forward exhaust I got from RockAuto. Once again the passenger side down pipe was bent too much to the lift so I ground down the socket by about 10% on the side that was hitting the manifold and not letting the exhaust mount correctly.

The passenger side cat was also hitting the tranny so I had to bang a dent in the heat shield to so it would not hit and would mount better. Because I have a factory 4.6l cat back dual exhaust, it is about 2" shorter than the 3.8l single factory exhaust . By using band clamps and RTV, I was able to extend the exhaust back enough to not have to use a second socket to the exhaust from the resonator.

Long story short, the car has power again. All the drama just to get it to run better.

So, if you car runs great when its cold and craps out and loses power when its warm, think back if somehow you got some oil or anti-freeze in the cats when working on the engine. It will ruin the cats and your cars performance.

 

[T6Rocket]

IIRC, only the '97 had a center / 3rd CAT. All previous year models that was a resonator.

Hmmmm, my 97 has a straight pipe in that spot from the PO. I thought they just did away with the resonator for 97. I can't imagine the PO deleting a 3rd cat. Absolutely no difference in sound from my old 95, which had the resonator.

Are you sure the 3rd cat isn't a CA thing?

Al

 

[white lincoln]

From what I have learned from all of this, in 97 they used a 3rd cat instead of a resonator..

 

[XR7-4.6]

ALL 94-97 4.6s in all 50 states used a third cat. The resonator was a separate entity, directly behind the third cat in 94-95s, which was eliminated by a piece of pipe in 96-97s.

 

[T6Rocket]

Yes, mine does have the 3rd cat, just not the resonator.

Al

 

[white lincoln]

ALL 94-97 4.6s in all 50 states used a third cat. The resonator was a separate entity, directly behind the third cat in 94-95s, which was eliminated by a piece of pipe in 96-97s.

I did not mention 3.8l. You are correct the 4.6l has the 3rd cat for those four years.

 

[white lincoln]

I believe that was a resonator if I'm not mistaken. FWIW, I really liked the sounds of my Flowmaster 50 series mufflers. Not very loud, just a nice deep rumble and no resonance. I don't think that kit is available anymore and they are longer mufflers. Magnaflow makes a good product too.

Hi Zep,
Yeah, the kit is still available in some weird places like Desert Rat of all places.

What model of FlowMaster did you get in the series 50?

 

[Zep5.0]

I believe it was the Force2 kit. They were 50 series original flows, just a couple years before the Delta flows came out. Nice deep tone taking off and little noticeable around over sick at cruising speeds. The bad part for performance was the pipes actually came in the side of the muffler at the back. Still seemed to be a gain over stock.

 

[white lincoln]

Thanks Zep, I appreciate it.

 

[ronwell]

A bit old thread, but I'm curious about the loudness of Flowmaster Force II exhaust? Is there a drone?

 

[biker]

I just finished my system .its a 2 1/2'' stainless x pipe welded to stock cats using the dual exhaust kit on ebay with borla mufflers

 

[white lincoln]

Very nice! What did the system cost you, if you don't mind me asking.

I just finished my system .its a 2 1/2'' stainless x pipe welded to stock cats using the dual exhaust kit on ebay with borla mufflers

 

[T6Rocket]

Have a pic of the mufflers? 2 1/2 all the way is pretty big. Did it kill low-end response, or do you have PI cams, headwork, power adder, etc?

Al