I have stock pipes with a 20" long 11x6" oval muffler on my Tj Vr-x. Because it is such a big muffler it is very quiet and i was originally going to take the setup of a regular 2.5" redback exhaust to replace the resonator and hopefully make it louder but ive been thinking i may get a unique sound from 3" piping? Has anybody had experience with the difference in sound from 2.5" to 3" piping?

P.S. I know you are all going to say there is no use of 3" pipes for performance (i know this) so don't even try tell me it.

IMO don't go to a 3" piping unless you're intending on doing big performance mods like FI. 2.5"-2.75" is probably the most ideal for an N/A magna, mind you the standard piping isn't that much smaller than 2.5" anyways. just replace the center muffler to a resonator and that should make it a little louder, and since the VR-X mufflers are already a high flow muffler you wouldn't need to change it- or has the rear muffler been replaced already?

EDIT: i should probably read the WHOLE post before replying.. lol done this one too many times... i guess you can disregard anything i've said

I have stock pipes with a 20" long 11x6" oval muffler on my Tj Vr-x. Because it is such a big muffler it is very quiet and i was originally going to take the setup of a regular 2.5" redback exhaust to replace the resonator and hopefully make it louder but ive been thinking i may get a unique sound from 3" piping? Has anybody had experience with the difference in sound from 2.5" to 3" piping?

P.S. I know you are all going to say there is no use of 3" pipes for performance (i know this) so don't even try tell me it.

3" will sound to farty. The smaller the exhaust the more crisp sounding (to an extent). If i were i would get a Magnaflow muffler, thats what i have and couldn't be happier

Just get extractors, 2.5 mandrel catback and a smaller rear muffler with the centre muffler replaced with a resonator.

Get ih8hsv to show you how loud his car is, trust me you don't need louder than that.

And if you do it's kind've wankery lol

Just get extractors, 2.5 mandrel catback and a smaller rear muffler with the centre muffler replaced with a resonator.

Get ih8hsv to show you how loud his car is, trust me you don't need louder than that.

And if you do it's kind've wankery lol

Hmm i wish i could 'just' get all that but the redback muffler i have on the car, i can't afford to replace and i like the sound it produces although very quiet. I will either just replace the resonator with a hotdog or replace all the pipes, as for size i guess i will just have to see what my exhaust man says, but im still unsure that with my current muffler 2.5 will be as loud as i want.

wait, so you cant afford to replace one muffler, but you have enough money to get your whole exhaust system custom made in 3" piping?

Not suitable for 3.5l atmo engine at all, do not do it, will sound like shit

ok so my post has some relevancy. what is your current system? is it just a replace rear muffler? if so, just replace the middle muffler with a resonator and there will be a difference. my system is all standard until where the middle muffler was, it's now been replaced with a (from memory) 2.5"x12" resonator and then the rear muffler is an XForce high-flow muffler. just replacing both mufflers made the car a lot louder than it was, and i once had the setup as a 2.5" straight through from the cat- which i would not suggest for an auto! it was way too loud and droney for me anyways

;1333745']wait, so you cant afford to replace one muffler, but you have enough money to get your whole exhaust system custom made in 3" piping?

I only just got the muffler when i got my pink slip so there is no use in buying a new one. I would just rather adjust the rest of my exhaust, i like my muffler.

mate the best thing u can do to make it loud, and still have a deep note (what i did) got a full custom cat back done none of this generic red back system shit lol, centre muffler removed replaced with a small hotdog just after the cat, all new 2.5 inch piping and a MUCH smaller rear muffler, felt a small power gain, but the noise is insane for just a cat back, stoked with it cost me 420.

EDIT: and becuase i dont have vrx, only a sports theres no cutout in the rear bumper! the guy cut the bumper to house a nice stainless steel round tip, but obviously u wont have that issue.

i wouldnt remove the middle muff because it will sound like a big dirty fart. just put a straight through "s" bend in the rear and it will sound just like a ralliart, only a bit louder

Cheapest option if you already have a full size straight through rear muffler and you want a louder exhaust note is simply to chop out the resonator & replace it with pipe (no hot dog).

Some risk of drone with an auto though.

That's what I did with my old TE V6 manual.

Replaced the stock rear muffler with a Lukey LR2779, but that was too quiet. Chopped out the resonator, sounded much meaner and with minimal drone. Left all the pipework stock, other than fitting extractors.

If that doesn't work for you, coz it's either too loud or too droney, just put the stock resonator or a hot dog back in.

I agree with much of what each of you have said. I think i will ask my exhaust guy what he thinks about replacing the resonator with a hotdog or just straight through pipe. This is my cheapest option so if i don't like it i can easily change it.

whatever you do, do not remove the centre muffler i did and regretted doing it drone box central

A good exhaust shop wont fit an 3" exhaust to a magna unless it is seriously Modded.. ie Forced Induction.

whatever you do, do not remove the centre muffler i did and regretted doing it drone box central

you said this to me, i didn't listen- and i regretted it.

the exhaust shop that fitted the resonator (Liverpool Exhaust) charged me about $100 for the resonator, supplied and fitted. so there's a ballpark figure on how much it might cost to replace the middle muffler

whatever you do, do not remove the centre muffler i did and regretted doing it drone box central

I dont regret it lol. I dont understand why drone annoys people so much anyway? care to share, i guess it personal taste right?

EDIT: I dont even notice my drone tbh cos i always listen to music, but i guess if ur person who sits in the car with no music it could get annoy as ****.

Personally mate i'd just leave everything but change to a smaller rear muffler and you'll get it sounding a decent amount louder but still nice and deep and not raspy at all, as the others have said do not remove the centre muffler... If I remember tomorrow i'll post a vid of my VR-X but the SA guys can vouch that it sounds nice and all it is as a smaller rear muffler... There will be no noticable power gain from getting new pipes unless you have other mods and a tune to supplement it.

I dont regret it lol. I dont understand why drone annoys people so much anyway? care to share, i guess it personal taste right?

EDIT: I dont even notice my drone tbh cos i always listen to music, but i guess if ur person who sits in the car with no music it could get annoy as ****.

My auto drones like a mofo, it's got 2.5 mandrel with hotdog reso and a small rear muffler. I keep hearing it wouldn't drone in Manual, but straight pipes is getting ridiculous imo.

I guess it is down to personal tastes, but removing the middle muffler altogether sounds REALLY bad. My car is fairly loud (i wouldn't want it any louder) and I still have the standard resonator. If you want louder, a muffler change is pretty much all you can do at this stage. You can swap the resonator out for a hotdog, but I don't think it will help with volume much, might make it sound abit deeper though.

OH and I suspect putting 3" piping on a stock magna would actually decrease power output.

My auto drones like a mofo, it's got 2.5 mandrel with hotdog reso and a small rear muffler. I keep hearing it wouldn't drone in Manual, but straight pipes is getting ridiculous imo.

sounds like the same/similar setup to mine, hmm this is interesting, i wanna clear this up, drone is when ur car is like sitting at 2.4 rpms doing like 100 and its kinda loud inside the cabin? and u can hear the exhaust growling away?

cheers

I guess it is down to personal tastes, but removing the middle muffler altogether sounds REALLY bad. My car is fairly loud (i wouldn't want it any louder) and I still have the standard resonator. If you want louder, a muffler change is pretty much all you can do at this stage. You can swap the resonator out for a hotdog, but I don't think it will help with volume much, might make it sound abit deeper though.

OH and I suspect putting 3" piping on a stock magna would actually decrease power output.

yea this is true, if u removed the reso completely and replaced it with a stright pipe it would be very tinny and this is what others are saying, i replaced mine with a hot dog and its louder, but not tinny and still deep

... You can swap the resonator out for a hotdog, but I don't think it will help with volume much, might make it sound abit deeper though...
replacing the middle muffler with a hotdog will make it louder. when i was fitting my rear muffler i still had my center muffler on the car, it was louder than standard (since it now has a high flow rear muffler) but still pretty quiet- might be a little louder than a Sports/VR-X exhaust system since my rear muffler is shorter than a Sports/VR-X's. i then got the center muffler removed and replaced it with a 2.5" pipe- which was the worst idea i had that day (or week, since it took me a week to eventually fit the resonator), for me it was unbearable. after that i got a hotdog resonator fitted, and it's still reasonably loud- definitely louder than a Sports/VR-X system, my brother's exhaust system is basically a Sports and my car is louder than his.

sounds like the same/similar setup to mine, hmm this is interesting, i wanna clear this up, drone is when ur car is like sitting at 2.4 rpms doing like 100 and its kinda loud inside the cabin? and u can hear the exhaust growling away?

cheers

It's around the 2k to 2.3 mark when you're on the highway doing 110 and everything is drowned out by a low constant drone.

It's around the 2k to 2.3 mark when you're on the highway doing 110 and everything is drowned out by a low constant drone.

yea i thought this was the case

So have we come to the conclusion 3" pipes are useless yet on an automatic stock magna?

I dont regret it lol. I dont understand why drone annoys people so much anyway? care to share, i guess it personal taste right?

EDIT: I dont even notice my drone tbh cos i always listen to music, but i guess if ur person who sits in the car with no music it could get annoy as ****.
It was fine with the stock vrx muffler but once I changed to a x force cannon itbecame unbearable but then that's my fault anyway