So I've been running around with my leaky shot to heck stock exhaust on my 97 RS for the past two years and although it leaked like crazy and was loud as heck I gotta admit in a weird way I kinda liked it. Being cheap I just didnt want to pony up the cash for a new system. Well it was finally starting to be a pain in the butt going through drive thrus and the muffler strap finally broke so I decided it was time to replace it. The cat on the car was original with 169,000 miles so it is pretty much dead and I already have an O2 sim so I dont need to worry about a converter. I decided to just replace everything from the stock flex pipe back. I ordered up an adapter to go from the stock front pipe up to 2.25". From there I put in a new 2.25" flex section where the stock one was and ran 2.25" pipe all the way back to a Thrush turbo muffler with a short tailpipe. I gotta say, it sounds like s#%&. I was afraid it was going to be too loud and resonate but thats not the problem at all. Its actually too quiet, I think the muffler may have a bad baffle in it because it rattles and makes that buzzy vibration sound from 2,500-3,500rpm and while it has a very quiet (too quiet) deep thrum at idle it just sounds like air blowing down a hallway when its not buzzing. I knew I might not hit the sound I was going for 100% the on the first try but this is horrible and I'm pissed it sounds so crappy. I have another no name stainless straight through muffler at the shop that I'm going to try tomorrow because I cannot drive the car sounding like this. Hopefully it will sound a lot better, and look better too. The guy I had bend it up for me (I dont have a tubing bender at my shop) did a fantastic job on the fab but I told him if it needed a tailpipe to just put a straight section in going right out the back. He tucked the muffler up so high that he needed to put about a 35* bend on the tailpipe and slash cut it and it looks like crap. Heres a pic of the tailpipe.

The angle of the pic makes it look like it sticks out father then it does but it still looks crappy.



So anyway I just needed to blow off some steam since my poor car that I really used to enjoy driving on a daily basis now has me so pissed I wanted to get out and walk. I know it can be fixed but damn it sounds bad. I'm going to go drive one of my V8 cars or my RX-7 now just to get that crap exhaust sound out of my mind. Any suggestions about what brand of muffler sounds good on a 2.2? I'm thinking of using the stainless one for a short term replacement but I think I might try a straight through Magnaflow or Dynomax.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

Kinda dramatic don't you think? It's not the end of the world, but shows that it's a good idea to do research before you mess with the exhaust...Thrush is a very cheap muffler, you wanted cheap, you got it. Not running the cat makes the exhaust sound raspy usually, I would run a cat. WHAT exactly are you looking for in terms of sound, you weren't very specific... Personally I don't like a really loud exhaust, I like low and deep, dynomax super turbo or ultraflow ss have a this tone. The exhaust tip, while it's tough to tell from the pics, but it looks like you could cut it off and run it stright and put a tip on it and still be ok and not hit the bumper



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.

Yeah a little dramatic, I just didnt think it would sound this bad. I was figuring that I could put a resonator in if it had a lot of drone or rasp but this thing is almost stock quiet now. I dont really want the added expense of a cat and there are better ways to control exhaust tone. Its not really raspy but it literally sounds like it has a vibrating broken baffle in the muffler. I think Im going to try the ultraflow next, its about the same price as the Thrush (my cost anyway). Ah well, Ill update tomrrow once I get this all figured out.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

P.S. as far as tone I want something deep but that I can still hear inside the car with good tone. Something sporty but not rice sounding.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

ha well i like stock souding, sleeper sound. of course i have a turbo and that was my plan but stock and quiet sounds way better than loud and pissed off annoying. did you ask around or just jump into it?

Get a big resonator.


My wife's 2003 Ecotec 2.2 liter Sunfire:
* 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler
* 2 1/4 piping to a 2 1/2 inch resonator
* 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter
* 2 1/2 inch down-pipe
* a match ported 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header
* an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition
* 8 gauge ground wire kit
* Toyz front strut brace
* Vibrant rear strut brace
* and Russell stainless steel brake lines all around.

Vincent Morris wrote:ha well i like stock souding, sleeper sound. of course i have a turbo and that was my plan but stock and quiet sounds way better than loud and pissed off annoying. did you ask around or just jump into it?

What fun is asking around? Just jumped into it. On the plus side the mufflers only cost me $20-$25 so I can play around until I find what I like. On a side note, I heard what happened to your hood at the track rental last weekend, sorry to hear that man, that really sucks.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

post a vid

Buy the SR*S full stainless catback exhaust system off of eBay. Yes, I said it...buy it from eBay. I was able to talk the seller down to around $160 shipped for the full system, and it sounds absolutely bada$$!!!!!! Sounds like there is a v8 under the hood. No rice tone at all! I can even take a vid of it if you want to hear it prior to buying. FULLY RECOMMEND this exhaust!


Nate

thanks. and the fun of asking around is so that your not pissed with the tone and throwing money away. i told my guy i wanted it to sound stock as possible and thats what he did for me. on idle sounds stock, coasting, stock, get on it, loud then wastegate opens and even louder.

I have 2 thrush "super turbo" mufflers on my 02 and it has no rasp and is quiet. I was going for quiet on that car as I have to drive it every day now and I already hated the car. No rattle, no rasp, and no loud exhaust tickets. Its a pain in the ass to fit a second muffler in the car though.

fork out the cash and buy a Dynomax or Magnaflow...and if loud is your goal buy a straight thru muffler (no fart can) just buy a non baffled oval muffler and then buy a nice tip and voila!

I'm going to try a Dynomax Ultra Flo next. The construction of the Thrush turbo and the Dynomax Super Turbo are pretty much identical since Tenneco makes them both.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

Get the Ultraflow SS like mine, stright through design so it's a bit louder then the baffled one, but still very powerful but low and deep tone..I got the welded one which is cheaper then the stainless.



Don't buy from MANTAPART!!
There is no easy ways to get HP, no magic box or gizmo... And if you get more hp, there's no way to make your car still behave and sound like a stock one. More hp usually makes your car louder, more vibrations and harder to drive...but still people hope or think maby there's some magic way to have it all, comfort, stock sound and drive.

I had the pacesetter header, with 2.5" exhaust all the way back through a thrush resonater in the middle (where the cat used to be) through to a thrush turbo muffler. That was on my 98z24. I loved the way that thing sounds. Good deep throaty when I got on it, but at idle it was pretty solid. Not too loud, but you could tell I had a full exhaust system on it. I HAD to put a heated o2 sensor on it though, which fixed the take off/idle issue.


-_98 Cavy Z24_-

I'm pretty sure the 2.2OHV, expecially without the cat, is always going to make that buzzing sound. Might wanna put a resonator in the exhaust system to take care of that.





www.gmscf.com

Ok so I went with one of the spare stainless straight through mufflers that I had laying around the shop (no idea what brand) and yeah, that is MUCH better. I can hear it now, it has a nice deep tone at idle and yes it has a little buzz approaching redline but I can correct that with a resonator. Plus it looks about 1000% better. So here it is.





The muffler is straight, it just looks cockeyed in the pics due to the angle and yes the car is filthy and needs a bath bad.

Here is the rest of the system but with the first muffler, ignore the front crank seal leak.






And finally a video, sorry the quality stinks.

http://irocu20.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/cavexh.avi

I didnt get a video of the first exhaust but it was really horrible.



97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

definitely needs a resonator. Sounds like any straight thru muffler sounds like....a can full of bee's. Very fart can like and definitely not what I think is a good sounding system but everyone is different. To each their own. A cat and a resonator will definitely steer it in the correct direction of sound.

I had a Reactive on my 2000. Best sound I have ever had except for my Camaro.

It was deep and throaty but you could hear it in the house so all the neighbors knew when I went to work being a deep low sound but not loud until I gassed it.


2004 ecotec 5 speed. Injen intake,better plugs and wires. Just lowered it and added a wing.

The sound on the video clip sucks, its really pretty deep sounding until you get way up in the rev range.


97 Cavalier 2.2 5-speed, 88 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7 auto, 91 Firebird Formula 5.7 auto, 88 Conquest TSi 2.6T 5 speed, 93 Silverado ECSB 5.7 auto, 83 Mazda RX-7

Nate VV wrote:Buy the SR*S full stainless catback exhaust system off of eBay. Yes, I said it...buy it from eBay. I was able to talk the seller down to around $160 shipped for the full system, and it sounds absolutely bada$$!!!!!! Sounds like there is a v8 under the hood. No rice tone at all! I can even take a vid of it if you want to hear it prior to buying. FULLY RECOMMEND this exhaust!


Nate

do you have a sound clip of this?? i thought about this exhaust but could never find a clip of a cavy with it.


horsepower is the force that determines at what speed you hit the wall, torque is the force that determines how far you take the wall with you after you hit it.

Thrush was the standard, until Walker got more serious about the game. Now Thrush is second-best compared to the Dynomax Super-Turbo.

I ran a gutted cat on my '94 LN2 (Just to get it home!) with the stock system until I had to do emissions. Wasn't that loud & wasn't tinny either.

Just had the cat-back replaced on the same truck, and grabbed a 2-1/4" Dynomax Super-Turbo & a 22" 2-1/4" Cherrybomb to put between the cat and the Dynomax. Shop naturally tucked it up high for ground-clearance (Hey, it's a truck... Plenty of room.) and hacked the weld on the cat inlet (Said they had-to replace it.). Other than that leaky weld, it sounds fine. Not as quiet as I expected (My all-stock '99 LN2'd Sonoma is quieter) but still good.

The cat acts like an expansion chamber. Meaning: When the exhaust reaches it, it thinks it hit the end of the system. After that, everything is just used to control noise & direct it to the tail and away from the car. The bricks or substrate (Depending on the design) inside the cat act like baffles, reducing noise. Since you gutted it, I suggest just using the longest glass-pack you can fit between the flex-tube & the first bend at the rear-axle to quell the noise & help that deep, throaty note come-through unhindered.

The glass-pack will have pretty-much the same expansion-chamber effect, but then the gases will see the outlet as a sudden reduction in contrast to the long, slowly tapering expansion before it. The gases may not flow as "openly" as a well-designed "open-chambered" baffled muffler (Flowmaster), but at-least they'll do it while being less annoying to the next guy whom hears it.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

sounds like my car when I had an LN2 and straight pipe exhaust in it.. like sh!t.

put the biggest resonator you can find in the gigantic vacant spot under your car now. that'll help eliminate the busybee sound.

the only other way to fix that disgusting tone is to swap it out for a 2.4 or an ecotec.

EWWW!! sort of sounds like me suffering from beer @!#$s



Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!