Tips on Exhaust Upgrades - 94 RT/10

[Tomcat]

I just finished changes you might be interest in with before and after dyno results.

Changes (all parts from PartsRack:
tubes and filters;
Random Technology High Flow Cats;
Ballenger muffler/exhaust and crome tip;

Before (11/25/01): RWHP 348 and RWTQ 419
After (yesterday): RWHP +29 to 377 and +11 to 430.

Side sills are much cooler!
The drop off in hp when in stock form of 13% from 400hp was what was expected! The gain was also what was expected. I hope this helps.

 

[Tomcat]

About $1,000 from PartsRack and own labor. Sounds good! Does not wake the neighbors unless I want them up!

 

[Rich Detert]

It all depends on what noise level your ears can handle.

I too thought the stock exhaust was way too quiet and had no real performance sound to it.

The first change was to replace the stock mufflers with glasspack mufflers (Thrush). This gave it a much lower throatier growling sound. Some droning at certain rpm levels mostly with the hardtop on. ******* it isn't really a problem.
On the Dyno it made 384.4 RWHP and 456.6 RW FT Lbs of Torque with this combination and smooth tubes and K&N filters.

Always wanting more horsepower, I had to give something else a try.
The next step was removing the cats and replacing the mufflers with 40 inch long case length glasspacks (Thrush).
The downfall of this combo is it the droning definitely gets on your nerves (again mostly with the hardtop on). So much so that I keep earplugs in the cars now for any long trips.
On the Dyno this time it pulled 393.5 RWHP and 465.4 RW FT Lbs of Torque.
Was it worth the 9 HP & Torque gain? Probably not, but you gotta try thing out to see.

My next step is to try to find some qiueter muffler that will fit in the sills.

I have driven someone elses 93 with the stock cats and a Borla Exhaust and I really did like the sound of it and I didn't feel that droning was a problem with it. I just hate to spend the $800 for it, but money aside it would probably be my choice.

 

[Newport Viper]

Check with Sean Roe on Gen 1 Cat back. Borla LOVE IT!

 

[Sniper]

I bought the $3100 package from Sean Roe. Awesome! Sound is like a sport bike with racing pipes on steroids. I've got some short videos in the media section. RWHP went from 360 to 405 and RWTorque went from 451 to 498. With labor, it was around $5000.
Spanks new stock Vipers.

 

[Jack B]

SAME RESULTS;

Ballengers from BTR (included 3" Dynamax mufflers)
Oval cats from Roe
3" all the way out (4" exhaust tips)

405 rwhp/475 rw ft lb

I recently drove a 99 GTS, biggest difference was the torque seemed lower on the 99.

 

[tristan rizzi]

I went a little different route -
I have the TNT headers ($2500), and TNT free flow exhaust (no cats...$1000). I can say the car is much louder, it frequently stops people walking about 1 block ahead - I guess they wonder what the hell is making all that noise. It definately sounds like a hot rod. I am not sure what the power gains are, but it fees much faster and intimidates other drivers. I installed the system myself fairly easily. A little welding is involved, but overall it is fairly simple - also the side sills are much cooler....Just my .02

Tristan

 

[Tomcat]

Jack B, any thoughts why my 94 puts out so much hp and tq after just about the same mods? Have you made any other mods?

TW

 

[Don Hiltz]

When I purchased my '94 R/T 10 (8340 miles), the previous owner represented that he had installed a Borla exhaust. The car now has 21K miles and is clearly much louder that when I purchased it. That was verified by ab.

While it may seem intuitive to most, the material in the mufflers (presumably fiberglas) must become saturated with the passage of time and the associated noise level(s) will necessarily increase.

Therefore, it's too soon to assess the decibel level of an exhaust system upon installation.........wait for a year

 

[99 R/T 10]

A question to everyone who changed out the stock mufflers with either Dynomax or Borla. I am getting ready to do the same in a month or so, but why did you chose one over the other? I will be using 3" on the muffler size. In your opinion, is one better than the other? I believe the cost is about the same($150). Just wish we had some flow numbers to verify which is better.

Mike

 

[Jack B]

Tom:

Do you have the headers and are you 3" all the way out. Other mods are smooth tubes, k&N's and the Roe computer (it was good for 5 hp)

As to which muffler, the 3" Dynomax and Roe's Oval cats have a extremely powerful growl under acceleration, yet, are not bad at all during cruise. Under acceleration, heads turn. I have been racing a long time and the sound does not get much better.

Just a thought, the 3" might not give you more power than the 2-1/2" with the stock 90 degree exhaust pipe which is a ******* 2-1/2" (actually 2-3/8").

My input is limited to the Dynomax muffler. I have a lot of nice pic's if you go further - good luck.

Jack Bene

 

[FRANK]

I am with Rich Detert...I oculd not justify spending thousands of dollars on exhaust. I would simply buy a pair of glasspacks and weld them in. Two glasspacks would cost maybe $40 for both. The car will sound better and you will pick up some performance.

Why is it around here that people feel the need to spend large sums of money to get performance gains. I am all about low buck performance gains. I remember pulling up to a car show with my Viper and some guy approaches me about how good it sounds. He tells me he owns a Viper that sounds throaty too and he just spent big money on a catback system. He asks me what catback I have and I tell him I have a glasspack system. He looks at me funny...and I then told him best of all it cost me under $40!!!

 

[99 R/T 10]

Frank,
I agree if you are looking for better sounds, the glass packs do it, but when talking about performance, I don't think that the packs are known for flow(I could be wrong though). For my 96, I am switching back to a modified side and want to use the best flowing exhaust I can without breaking the bank. I figure with the headers I have and a finished exhaust system will run me about $1400 installed(my own labor). Not cheap, but better than some.

Mike

 

[Rich Detert]

Glasspack muffler 101.

When choosing a glasspack muffler you do have to check out how the muffler is made. The reason that I went with the Thrush brand was that they use a perforated 2.5 inch tube through the core (low restriction), basicly a series of holes in the 2.5 inch core pipe.
Some glasspacks reduce the size of the core to help quiet the exhaust (massive restriction). Others use a louver styled core which also causes restriction.

The Borla exhaust (to me at least) seems like a stainless steel glasspack (I think they may use a different sound absorbing material). It's hard for me to justify the price of $800+.

The Thrush glasspack that fit with the cats are $16.50 each from Summit Racing, and just a little more from most any auto parts store.
For going catless the 40 inch case length Thrush are $36.50 from Summit Racing.

It's the same reason that Gen II owners take out the rear muffler and replace it with straight pipes (price).

 

[dansauto]

I used two 3" dynomax on each side. Tried one and it was wayyy to loud. Cut out cats and put two mufflers in parallel. It only cost $250 to have my muffler shop do it with parts. I had to install (they would not put these back on with out cats)

 

[FRANK]

I agree...I have Borla Bullets on my 73 Dart with a 440 and it is loud...almost like open headers...wakes up everyone, sets off alarms, motion lights, etc.

Needless to say, the neighbors don't like it too much...but when you mash that pedal between the sound and the power it is awesome!

 

[Kurt 97 GTS]

I purchased a used Borla catback ($500) and am very happy with the results.

Bone Stock = 352 RWHP

Smooth tubes, K&N's, and Borla catback = Max Power at rear wheels: 389.5 & Max Torque at rear wheels: 457.5

Very nice bang for the buck and sounds like a million $$$