What is the best option for an aftermarket quiet exhaust? I'm thinking about Thorley headers, so I'm curious if one muffler works/sounds better with headers or without too.

Truck is a 2000 v10. Right now I just put a magnaflow cat and it already had a flowmaster muffler, don't know which model, but it's pretty small if that makes a difference. It sounds ok at idle, a bit loud though, gets really loud around 1500 rpm cruising around the neighborhood and is silent around 2000-2500 cruising, which I like. Problem is it gets really loud between 2800-3500 pulling a slight grade and it's annoying!! It actually gets quieter above 3800 rpm, but I guess my main goal is just to quiet it down overall and especially when pulling a grade with a trailer. I have no idea what they sound like stock, truck had the flowmaster when I bought it. I don't really like the sound of it overall as it is.

I'm considering going with Thorley headers too. I have a noise around the 2500-3200 range that I'd like to get rid of, I don't know if it's flutter or what, but it sounds like crap!!! I want the headers more for reliabilty than anything, but wondering if they would get rid of the noise as well. Truck already had manifold studs done on one side, am I better off just doing the other side or doing the headers? Or leave it alone? I'd rather do the work now when I can prepare for it instead of whenever it might decide to fail.

So what muffler is the quietest and does it make a difference if I do headers or not? Keep in mind I have the magnaflow cat already if that changes anything.

 

If you want quiet then do not go with headers, even the best on the market are going to be louder than manifolds. I have banks headers, pipes, stock cat, and magnaflow muffler on my 2000 V10 and it rumbles at idle, it's down right freaking loud from 1500 to 1800 RPM, quiet at highway speed. I tow a lot but on flat ground so I can't tell you about a steep grade, but towing heavy I don't notice a difference in sound. It's still loud on the skinny pedal, but all my towing is local never over 50 mph, so most of it is in my "loud" range. Soon as I hit OD it's quiet though.

 

I have had the Doug Thorley headers on mine for years now. Have been running the Flowmaster Force II cat backs for most of the time with the headers. Louder than stock but sounds decent. I would recommend the stainless Force II system do to several reasons. Autoanything has the best price I have found on it.

That said these Thorley headers require maintenance if you want to keep them in shape. They are steel so they will rust which means you will want to keep after the rust with header paint. Also the bolts need retightened every now and then to prevent leaks.

You do get more noise with the headers vs the stock manifolds because the stockers are a lot thicker. The exhaust and road noise drowns it out while driving.

The stock manifolds on the 2V trucks are a crappy design and what causes the "flutter" you are hearing. Add a ypipe like the SPD with the stock manifolds and the flutter/exhaust note sounds worse.

If you decide to keep the stock manifolds the Force II exhaust I mentioned will still sound good and be fairly quiet. It comes with the 70 big block 2 muffler which is the 2nd quietest muffler Flowmaster offers. The 50 big block muffler is the quietest.

 

I'm glad someone posted about wanting quiet exhaust. Now I know what to not do. I went with the straight pipe approach. Still not loud enough.

 

It seems the Flowmaster Force II has been mentioned numerous times as having a good sound and not too loud. Found a good deal on one today and placed the order. Guess I'll leave the stock manifolds on and deal with stud breakage if it happens at a later date.

Question though, the Thorley headers get rid of the stock y pipe, right? Does that get rid of the flutter? Is mine even flutter? I always read about it being below 2200rpm, mine doesn't start until after 2500 and continues to about 3500, then goes away. Is this still the flutter problem?

 

The Thorleys replace the stock y-pipe as well as the manifolds. Same with the Heddman and Banks. Yes they get rid of the flutter. Short tube headers are supposed to get rid of the flutter also. They do this by using longer primary tubes which blends/smoothes the exhaust gases of each cylinder together.

Flutter is over 2200rpm but under 3000 rpm in my experience however it may vary slightly depending on configuration. What I figure is the cause of the flutter is the stock exhaust manifolds. Because of the V10s firing order exhaust gases collide at a certain rpm and produce the flutter. There may be turbulance in the manifold contributing as well. If you have the old style y-pipe you are probably hearing flutter. If you have the newer style the sound may be something else. Fords bandaid actually worked well at killing the flutter.

Sometime on the 2000 MY trucks Ford came out with a new y-pipe to get rid of the flutter due to complaints. This new y-pipe is sometimes refered to as the "T style". The older y-pipe which did produce some flutter is known as the "rams horn" type. The new y-pipe actually gets rid of the flutter but also adds restriction to the system in the process. This restriction point is why an aftermarket y-pipe portion from SPD performance or Stans has been popular. The downside is adding this to a V10 with stock manifolds will bring back the flutter.

The 5.4l 2V SDs of the same year have similar exhaust manifold design and use the same y-pipes. However due to the firing order of the 5.4l it does not exhibit the same flutter issues.

 

Here is my set-up and I really like it.

Banks s.s. headers and y-pipe, Catco cat and Walker Quietflow Muffler. The Banks give me the more power (and fixed the broken ex. manifold studs) and the Catco and Quietflow allow good flow while keeping it reasonable in sound.

I believe the Waker Quietflow is the closets to stock (only a little louder, barely). Mine was also stainless steel from Rock auto The family doesn't notice the change in exhaust noise from stock.

 

I have an 09 f350 V10. Was wondering if getting just a muffler would give me a little more power or do I have to upgrade more of the exhaust to get it? Is it even worth the power upgrade I would get or is it just to make it sound a little nicer?? thanks

 

My set up is eBay headers, ram horn y pipe, oem cat, and 4" mbrp catback. Sound has a nice rumble at idle and has a nice throaty sound when revving. On the freeway you can really hear it I think I can hear my procomp tires more then the exhaust sound.

 

Shoot , my 99 f250 SD came with , when I bought it at 191k miles , aftermarket x pipe (down pipe) , no cat but 24" glass pack and walker quiet flow muffler , all 3" . its a mother when towing up grades like we have here in the Mtns of Bend Oregon. Thinking Ill install another walker quiet flow in place of the glass pack to quiet it down on accel and grades.

 

how about one if these.........DynoMax® VT® - Mufflers

 

I wouldn't want a muffler with a valve in it as well as a spring. Just seems like a disaster of breakage waiting to happen.

 

They work well. A lot of muscle car guys Camaro/Mustang use these to quiet down there exhaust. With a cam you can here a tink from the lope.

So this muffler is made from a stainless steel for a long life. It is backed by our limited lifetime warranty too. The spring ( what people should be concerned about) is coated in a material called Inconel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconel This stuff is tough. We also tested the prototypes years ago in Michigan where we are based, so the rust belt.
Does it work? Yes
Can it fail? Yes we have had people return them.
Let's say you don't like it after 45 days... return it in the first 90 days for a full refund.

Thanks

 

I guess I will be the first to try one on a v10.......

 

I've got a Dynomax on mine and it's fairly quite unless your really on it. no drone at all, sounds like an Indy car or something at higher Rpm's.