im in a rush to get my car *sigh* i know you shouldnt rush. but oh well
i'm having a custom exhuast made for the car, and i was just wondering what kind of muffler i should put on. i dont want anything ricey with a 4' tip. i want something nice, that gives its a nice sound. money is farily tight. im willing to spend about 150 per.
im having the dual exhuast of course, and its an 86 na. any help would be greatly appericated. thanks a lot

 

$150 per muffler will buy you a set of mufflers that will handle the rotary's exhaust for exactly five minutes before exploding. Do a search for mufflers on the forum for a list of decent aftermarket ones that will cost less than stock, free up more hp, handle the rotary's exhaust and produce an acceptable sound.

 

I hear Magnaflow mufflers are pretty wicked. I've never used them so I dont know.

 

Racing beat

 

Ditto. If you want a muffler with a sturdy construction that will last you forever-and-a-half, and produce a good sound you definitely want racingbeat.

Now when you say "custom exhaust" I hope you don't mean straight pipe from engine to muffler.... because no matter what muffler you use, that will be LOUD!

Racingbeat sells presilencers to help with the noise, but I warn you, RB is not cheap. Nope, not cheap at all.

Jon

 

i jhave a obx, 3'' inlet 4.5'' tip, sounds awesome, ss packed, but apparently it's ricey.

and the best part after ups had there way with me it only cost 130

 

BORLA XR-1 Sportsman 3" inlet/outlet

 

Bob... care to elabourate on your experience with the Borla xr1? I've been thinking of using one in place of the cat as a presilencer.

 

this is not entirely true. if you get some decent fiberglass packed mufflers, they should last for a while. my mufflers were about $150 a piece and they did not change in sound whatsoever over the 2 months i used them, and i think they should last for quite a bit longer. they did not explode 5 minutes after install, and are not going to "explode" in the foreseeable future either...

 

what kind were these? i would love to have some racing beat, but moneys pretty tight right now.

 

http://www.meganracing.com/products/...ge.asp?catid=3

1 year warranty on all their universal mufflers i think, and most are about $100US

i don't see the specific one that i bought there though. click on the link in my sig, i have some pictures of them on my car...

 

I bought a $125 Glass Pack muffler. It lasted 3 summer days before the insulation was completely destroyed. I'll never use one again. I go for Free Flow. Similar to a Super Turbo only a better, stronger version. I also highly recommend a presilencer. Or Two.

 

You got lucky. Five minutes may be an exaggeration but not by much. See Alak's post above. As the saying goes, the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price.

 

I put on a pair of factory replacements shortly after I got the car 7 years ago. They were about $150 each and, unfortunately, they've held up well . I say unfortunately only because when they go, I'll replace them with RB mufflers, or something similar, as I have a Racing Beat downpipe and pre-silencer, so the mufflers are the biggest restriction. Would have done that in the first place, but I knew little about alternatives at the time. Nice and quiet tho' (boring is more like it - the wife's Saturn has a more aggressive exhaust note with the pre-silencer on it removed).

 

Just a thought:

Both my cars and Alak's previous car are 1st gens, which have a single muffler rather than a dual set-up like on the 2nd gens. This of course would funnel the full force of the exhaust through one outlet, and if said outlet consists of a cheap muffler that muffler has a life expectancy equivalent to that of a housefly.

With the dual set-up on 2nd gens each muffler would only have to handle 1/2 the exhaust flow. This could explain why a cheap muffler could last several months rather than several minutes in these cars.

Still, the pricier mufflers last several YEARS, and ten or more years is the rule rather than the exception. The pricier mufflers cost two to three times as much as the cheap ones. But if the cheap ones last (at best) 1/4 the time that the good ones do they are no bargain and are actually more expensive in the long run. However, it appears that even this projected lifespan for the cheap mufflers is shall we say, optimistic.

Have any 2nd gen owners been able to get four years out of a cheap muffler on their 7? If so, that would put at least that particular muffler in the same bang-for-buck ballpark as the more expensive ones.

 

Dynomax makes a steel packed muffler for our cars. I have had them on my car for years and I love the sound. They are not flashy - 2.5 in and out I believe, but they are a quality piece that seems to last well. Look into 'em.

 

That is all lies! I had a glasspack on my car for a month and it never changed its sound. It was used as a presilencer too! But now I have magnaflow. I love the deep tone it produces on a rotary. Much better sounding than the sound clips of RB that I have heard. It is a little louder, but the tone is much better IMO. They are more expensive, but the muffler will last as long as you get the all stainless ones.

 

I have a Flowmaster 50 series which is not an expensive peice (granted it's not ebay cheap), it's lasted 2+ years and 60K kms. I had a Edelbrock muffler in place of the cat for a while and it worked fine as well. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time seeing how a stainless muffler with metal packing is going to die more readily on a rotary. I really think that there's a lot of hype and not a lot of substance around the arguements that rotaries can only run Mazda or Racing Beat exhausts. Granted we don't hear as much of that stuff anymore.

 

I've got a Dynomax Super Turbo on there right now. Its pretty nice and has a good sound.

 

I have a rb full setup on my SE and had a magnaflow on my 83 gs. The magnaflow had a deeper tone, loved it!!! Sounded throaty but not loud.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time seeing how a stainless muffler with metal packing is going to die more readily on a rotary. I really think that there's a lot of hype and not a lot of substance around the arguements that rotaries can only run Mazda or Racing Beat exhausts. Granted we don't hear as much of that stuff anymore.[/QUOTE]

You're not wrong at all, and I should have been more specific when referring to "cheap." By "cheap" I was referring to glass-packs and lower-priced garden variety mufflers available from Canadian tire or Walmart--- mufflers that work fine on low-performance boingers like Honda Civics, Hyundais, etc., but self-destruct within the first year (or even the first day for some) when installed on an RX7 with a single-muffler system.

Anything built with at least some substance will last, especially if said substance is stainless. And decent mufflers are not the exclusive domain of Mazda and Racing Beat anymore. Some of the best aftermarket mufflers besides those have already been mentioned, and if you can find one of those for a decent price by all means buy it.

As for the hype, we didn't used to have the options that are available now so at one time it was justified. But there are still some unsuitable mufflers out there, and there are still folks new to these cars who try to use them only to find out what most of us veteran rotary types have known for a long time.

 

alak, do you by chance have a sound clip of your can with the dynomax?
84 stock, same question.

the tone im looking for is very spefic. i want something that has a deep throthy sound to it. nothing that sounds like the ones on a civic.

 

Durability isn't the only issue, there's also the issue of sound.

Put an el-cheapo CT cherry bomb or something on an Rx7 and see how it sounds...

I, personally, don't want cops looking for me when they hear me coming. The thing that Racingbeat has over the others is the lowered sound. Now I'm sure if you used an RB Presilencer with a high quality aftermarket SS muffler you'd be pretty good. Heck, some people prefer to be loud anyway.

As for me, I'm gonna stick with RB, because if I buy RB headers and Presilencer, why not get the muffler too and buy the kit?

Jon

Edit: Also, I'm sure aftermarket mufflers are easier to find for the Second Gen, because it isn't easy to find a quality SS straight-through muffler for the First Gen. Especially trying to find one that doesn't sound like a fartpipe or tincan...

 

You'll want the magnaflow then, I heard Alaks dynomax and it didn't compare (sorry buddy). The magnaflow has metal packing. I had the one with dual tips put on, they cut off the tips and welded chrome one one, looked and sounded awesome and was very reasonable. Sorry, no soundclips though. This is the muffler, click on the car pics to hear it. Mine sounded like the mustang. http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...ne=main&id=472

 

Mine sounded almost the same as these clips, keep in mind I had a stockport and header. http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...e=Sport&id=248