GT muffler upgrade

[wagonmaster]

With a dual purpose quest in mind, I took the GT to a local Custom Exhaust dealer for a 2 1/4" turbo type muffler. I got good news and I got good news...
Good news is it runs stronger throughout the RPM range. The other good news is, you can't see it hanging down like the stock unit! I hated that. Looks clean, sounds a little sporty and runs great! What a deal! Check it out....
Joe

[Mel K]

Where did you have it done and for how much? I'm not that far from you. It looks good from the photo.

[wagonmaster]

Thanks Mel,
Custom Exhaust on Military Trail in WPBch did the work. They aren't cheap, but they do nice work. They have done a bunch of cars for me and my sons, and friends. The custom job on my small block S-10 was incredible!
The cost was about $150, again a little high in my judgement. They did spend a lot of time getting it "just right" before welding it all together, and you certainly get what you pay for in exhaust work, I believe. They turned the muffler on its side so as not to let it be viewable fom the rear, and custom bent the pipe that connected the pipe to the muffler, and added the nice tip,which is stainless. Ran the price up some there. It's one of the "brand" names, but I'm embarressed to tell you I can't remember the name. It's the one that Mario Andretti pushes on TV at times, not Flowmaster or Dynomax but one you know of, for sure.
Hope this helps.
Joe

[PT Eric]

You mean Magnaflow I think. Your exhaust looks nice!! Congrats!

[wagonmaster]

That's IT!! Thanks Eric! Magnaflow..............doesn't seem too hard to remember to me. Must've had one of those "Senior Moments"! LOL!
Joe

[PT Eric]

Hey Joe, those moments happen to me and I'm not senior yet, lol!

[PTGT Redman]

Is there a Borla or BTG in the works. I saw PT Tunings worked BTG and it sounds ok, but is it restrictive to the turbo? I'd feel wierd about not getting a purpose built exhaust for the turbo

[FLASHBK2]

Well supposedly the stock muffler was purpose built for the turbo..that being said explain why my single baffleless bassani from my '01 increased pickup/sound ,etc. ! If everyone keeps waiting for turbo specific parts what will happen if the companies decide the market is too small ? I'm not saying go out and buy na stuff for turbo but if you already have aftermarket stuff why not try and re-use what you can?

[wagonmaster]

I, too, was on the look out for the "turbo only" stuff, and still proceed that way when necessary. The muffler deal is about loosing the restrictive stock exhaust, and most any aftermarket performance muffler is an improvement over the stock unit, so I realized that "turbo specific" in this case wasn't necessary.
The turbo market being small isn't going to be an issue, at least not for long. With the SRT4 product out there and the tens of thousands of GT's, there will be places for us to buy and check out various products!
The muffler shop where I had mine put on wanted to sell me a cat-back system (still 2 1/4") just because he didn't have a bolt on unit! I asked him what his tubing bender was for, and he went to town on ours and did a great job. Sometimes you have to ASK! LOL!
Joe

[achr]

Originally posted by FLASHBK2
Well supposedly the stock muffler was purpose built for the turbo..that being said explain why my single baffleless bassani from my '01 increased pickup/sound ,etc. !

How do you KNOW it increased pickup? Because it made more noise or did you take it to the track before and after the mods to compare.

I'm afraid I just don't buy into this "The Seat Of My Pants" tells me. . . .
I want DATA. After a week of driving my DC-II it was starting to FEEL pretty sluggish to me but it totally blew away Chrysler's projected performance numbers. Just a physchological phenomenum of getting used to what you have. Any time we make a change, and spend money, the mind says it must be better. I know adding an unsilenced air cleaner to my normally aspirated PT gave me much more pleasure because of the sound but I'm doubtful it added much if anything in the way of performance.

Last Friday night, myself and one other DC-II were at the same track. Mine was stock with about 1,000 fewer kilometers on the clock. The other had dual Bassani exhausts. Mine went significantly quicker (a couple tenths) and faster (about 1.4 mph which is a lot when you're already into the 90's) and I don't believe it was all in the driver. I only made two passes while the other one went at least 4 times. Bottom line, the stock exhaust system is correct for this car as the engineers have maintained all along. They state that a dual exhaust system on ANY in line engine (4 or 6 cylinder) is a complete waste as far as performance is concerned. Yeah, I know, the Neon SRT-4 has duals but that is more of a statement for the Rice Rocket crowd than for increased performance. It also has no mufflers so it is pretty racous. I'm considering a DUMMY pipe for the right side of my DC-II as I like the look of duals but I don't wish to interfere with the stock setup. Any performance mods will be thru MOPAR performance parts as I don't have the time nor inclination to fiddle around trying to get it to run right. Chrysler probably has more engineering dollars and test facilities to work with than all the aftermarket parts manufacturers put together.