Whats the ideal exhaust setup for my circumstance?

[UserSN001]

I've got the 99 6-cyl cougar, and at the moment i have, for exhaust, nothing but the stock pipes with the stock cat converter, to a single high flow muffler (big ol' tin can). The exhaust has definately got its ass handed to it in the past year, so its definately beaten up and leaky. But regardless, IT IS TOO LOUD for me. I used to love the noise, but now that I have a system in (w/ unfortunately no dynamat), it's killing me. Plus it makes me just want to redline, which is not healthy for my never ending battle with moving violations :P

So I was hoping to find out what the best setup would be to keep it silenced, along with meeting up with the one specification I must oblige. The spec being, that it has to have two big (2.5"-3") shiney stainless steel pipes going back a bit (camaro/mustang) style.

I was thinking maybe two small mufflers back to back in that valley thing under the middle of the car.. or maybe a giant one towards the back.. I don't know. I know I definately want to maintain as much horsepower as possible, but it is still more important to keep it quiet.. I can live with a loss I can count on one hand..

I definately plan on redoing the exhaust in the near future, so I would prefer to go through with a suggestion from newCOUGAR.org than anywhere else.

If you guys could help me out, I'd appreciate it a lot. Thank you.

[JScullin]

Unless you're running a turbo or something 3" would be too big and sound crappy. I'd stick to the 2.25"/2.5".

You can get a shop to custom bend you a Borla setup and put some resonators on it to get you a nice throaty note. Exhausts like Magnaflows or Dynamax are loud attention getters. But with resonators they can be cut down.

[KnappstamaN]

imagine me.. i have no precats, no main cat, and just one glasspack type muffler, split to dual tips.. ugh its loud

[StealthyWeasel]

yeah, mond12345 is running that too. I've had that on my car, and its horrible. Everything you have plus a main cat makes it nice.

[papatedroach]

so you have a stock exhaust except the rear muffler was hacked off for a canaster? or did you hack off both mufflers? ( rear and main) If you just removed the rear Like i did on my old exhaust, nothin but stock will be quieter. If you hacked off both then just add a muffler back to where the main one was.

All aftermarket exhaust are pretty loud, if you want quiet then youll have to have one made. An easy quiet exhaust that will still flow well would be to have like a trush turbo muffler or 2 and a resonated tip. I had that on my tbird and it was nice and quiet untill you opened it up.

[world-insight]

a good flowmaster setup with 2.5in is kinda loud but not the annoying loud. It is the loud that makes people think you have bigger that a 2.5.

It scares them GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR

[mond12345]

I love my exhaust set-up, but of course thats my opinion. On the other hand though, all of my friends that are into cars and such love the sound of my exhaust.Hell one even changed his muffler to mine to get the same sound!(Didn't match it but its close) I get comments on it all the time about it sounding like a V8. I have MSDS Headers, Y-pipe, Test-pipe, into a Trubendz Magnaflow cat-back split rear. Its not to loud for me but at times yes it can get to me when i just want a little quite but just get off the gas a little. Also my 3L has a little something to do with the tune making deeper tone than the 2.5L was. Good luck with your set-up.

[SpookSVT]

For something that will make power and remain quiet, 2.25" and a Borla muffler. The bigger the piping, the louder it will be so I would stay away from 2.5-3.0" piping. Not to mention the decrease in scavenging the larger exhausts will have, hurting performance. 2.5" is the largest I'd go with any of the higher powered N/A motors on here.

[fordrule]

my exhaust set up is very similiar except i am running:
weapon r headers -> magnaflow hi-flo cat -> magnaflow center muffler -> y-d out to magnaflow dtm tips, i am running 2.5" piping...i love the sound of it, but also my car wont sound like a regular cougar because of the 3L

*note* this was before the roush reloation and the hi-flo cat install



roush relocation...



yeah she has a nice rumble...not to loud.... MAGNAFLOW FTW

[UserSN001]

Oh don't get me wrong, i LOVE a deep loud exhaust as much as the next guy, but I think that'd work for me better if it was a second car of mine, and I had a nice quiet-er day to day car. But the cougar is my day to day car and it really is a damper on conversation and audio quality when I have a car load of people, plus I can't be the stealthy cat i need to be at the appropriate times (haha cat.. cougar.. sooo clever), like in neighborhoods during the AM.

But to actual exhaust setups, I really like your setup fordrule, definately diggin the magnaflow center muffler, still seems like itd be pretty loud, do you guys think two would kill my performance too much? ...And I'll prolly stick to 2.25"s like a couple of you guys suggested.

The thing is, I don't like to be roaring at 3-grand, makes me feel like a ricer sometimes. Maybe a nice open up at 4ish would be good. Plus I love the sound of the intake making the 'fvwooop' sound when the throttle opens up, I can't even hear that beautiful sound unless I'm opening the throttle from the engine bay.

Yah I definately want close to the stock exhaust sound when I'm driving casually under 3500rpm, but then hear some balls when I'm redlining from stop. Maybe I'm asking for too much, is there middle ground? WHY GOD WHY DO YOU PLAGUE ME WITH THIS DILEMMA!?

...oh yah, and as a near-er future job, for the gouge in my ghetto tin can.. should i just patch it with a small piece of sheet metal or something? Is that the proper way to handle a situation like that? haha I have the most beat up exhaust.. its so embarassing, i have like a piece of tin foil folded up real thick, held over the gouge with nice melted electrical tape, those metal ring things with the screws (name slips my mind, and too lazy to google it up), and zip ties up the heezy. But I guess you have to work with what ya got for the tme being huh?


the feedback is REALLY useful, thanks a bunch guys.