Need Help with exhaust - Hooker VS. Flowmaster

N

nash87650

Member
Joined
May 26, 2007
Hey everyone,
I am upgrading my exhaust and wanted your opinion.

Right now I am thinking of getting 2 flowmaster mufflers that split out from the cat. However I keep seeing Hooker cat back exhaust systems as well and am wondering which is better as far as Performance and sound.

I like the louder muscle car noise as i drive and at idle, however I do not like the noise I hear from other 6 cylinders with upgraded exhaust that sound a little like imports.

I was wondering what you guys have and how you like them.

Also was wondering if i should change anything else as far as exhaust.
Heard of stainless steel downpipes... wondering if there is something you recommend and whether or not any future upgrades will effect the current setup I am thinking of getting.

Thinking about 2.5" pipes. Whats your opinion.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
Tons of discussions about exhaust around here, check out the "Search" button up top to dig up information.

FlowMasters are chambered mufflers and are not the best for turbocharged applications as they create backpressure and reduce exhaust flow. If you are not racing your car then it probably doesn't matter much. The car will not run like garbage just because you bolted up some FlowMasters, but they aren't ideal. If you are chasing after every HP you can get, don't use them.

Hooker has different muffler types, some are restrictive some aren't. Hooker AeroChambers are somewhat chambered like FlowMasters but you can see straight through them, good for flow.

The downpipe is worth replacing if you want extra performance. You can bolt on a nice big shiny exhaust system but the exhaust gas still has to flow through the downpipe first. If you leave the downpipe then you won't see much improvement. Have to eliminate restriction throughout the entire system.

Not much you can do about the tone of a V6 engine, it's never going to sound like a V8. It is going to drone at certain RPMs and not sound that great, and under hard acceleration they do "buzz".
 
hooker is the way to go for fit and quality for the dollar. i ussed to have a flow crapster on the gn a few yrs ago and it sucked ass and still souned like crap.
 
The hooker kit works great.

It's not the $1000 exhaust system but, it fits very well and sounds good too. I sanded mine and painted it with hight temp (1500deg) silver paint prior to installation. Looks good except for the tips. They keep getting this burnt rubber all over them:p
 
We used to have the Hooker 2-1/2" steel system and it worked just fine. It did have a drone and certain speeds depending on what gear I was in and if the converter was locked or not.

When the Hooker muffs starter to rot out, I upgraded to the ATR 3" SS duals. A deeper tone and not as much drone. Sounds awesome at idle and quite mean under acceleration. I can't wait to get a downpipe! I believe someone is making 3" duals now in steel. Cottons perhaps?

Something else that helped the drone after we upgraded - I got a proper computer chip from TT and the overall operation of the motor was so drastically improved over what we had that the drone is now almost non existant.

I agree with everyone else.
Flowmasters are not suited for our Turbo Buicks.
They do sound fabulous on my Jeep!! (40series)
 
I have Flowmaster 40 series on my car, this is what they sound like at idle:YouTube - 87 Buick Regal turbocharged V6 idling part I

They were on the car when I got it. They sound good at idle but when you get into the mid to upper rpms you can hear the sound the sound of the 6 cylinder buzzing. Must be why they call it a "buzzin' half dozen".

And no you cannot make a V6 sound like a V8, just not going to happen.

And yes Flowmasters are one of the worst flowing mufflers on the market. IMO they're really only good for low performance cars that will not see much past 2000 rpms and you want to make them 'sound' good.

I personally like Dynomax Ultraflows. It's like a straight pipe wrapped around a ton of fiberglass. I had a set of these on my Chevelle and they sounded and performed better than the Flowmasters I had on there.
 
i still fail to see from my experiences how horrible flowmaster mufflers are. maybe they just dont make them like they used 10+ years ago or ive blown the baffles out of mine to make them better flowing, i dont know! one thing i do know is that delta flows sound horrible and would be restrictive in my opinion!

if u dont care about noise and r young like me, take a look at bullet mufflers! my brother has them on a 408" procharged silverado and it sounds bad!
 
On a Gn yrs ago I had I bought it with Flowmasters. I took it to the track and could not get it over 21 lbs. Well after only changing muff's to straight pipes I gained like 3 lbs of boost .. They sounded ok but are not good for boost.
 
i gained boost and got faster spool up when i put the Flowmaster crossflow kit on my Regal. and that was going from straight pipes that ended right where the inlet for the stock muffler was supposed to be (it was blown apart when i got the car, so i just cut the muffler out and left it like that for a few months until i could afford the Flowmaster kit).
my only complaint is that it's now too damn quiet.
 
i wanted to get magnaflows but they said i have to drive 3,500 miles to have them make the kit?????? so i will go with the hooker kit. and gbody down pipe.
 
mybuick said:
i wanted to get magnaflows but they said i have to drive 3,500 miles to have them make the kit?????? so i will go with the hooker kit. and gbody down pipe.
Click to expand...

You dont have to drive anywhere. Jack Cotton's Performance has a custom MAgnaflow kit.
 
Hi Guys, Is anyone running the polished 3" cat back from gn1 performance? I was looking at it. It is a little steep, but looks nice. Any comments on performance? Thanks in advance
 
Hey Guys,
Thanks for all your help, I guess I have to do a little more research... Was ready to go with Flowmaster but am now leaning towards hooker exhaust...

zeus87gn's where did you get your atr ss mufflers? Liked your comment on your old hooker headers vs your new atr's
 
nash87650 said:
Hey Guys,
Thanks for all your help, I guess I have to do a little more research... Was ready to go with Flowmaster but am now leaning towards hooker exhaust...

zeus87gn's where did you get your atr ss mufflers? Liked your comment on your old hooker headers vs your new atr's
Click to expand...

I too would like to know more about the ATR SS's
-Andrew
 
I just installed the pypes cat back system from summit on my car. $329. and everything was stainless except the mufflers. Not a direct bolt in though had to drill new holes in the frame to hang the tailpipes, not too big a deal. The tailpipes exit a little closer to the rear wheels and are a little shorter than stock, more stealthy if you like that sort of thing but I'm looking for some nice tips now. It does tuck up under the car nice and sounds fantastic!!
 
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