Dodge Magnum RT Hemi: Exhaust question

My only disappointment with my Magnum RT is that the exhaust sounds so
wimpy! Like a dainty girl's fart!

What will happen to performance if I change my exhaust from that massive mid
muffler and the twin rear muffler to a single pair of flowmasters
or.........?
What would you recommend?

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

 

I would first recommend checking your state smog laws. If there are no
statements about altering the exhaust system then it should be okay. As far as
what to do, I'll leave that recommendation to someone else.

 

You might also wish to check the federal smog laws: it's illegal to
make that modification (as I learned when I wanted to switch my '78
Newport to duals). The shop I was talking to had disovered, to
$12,000 of their chagrin, that the EPA does spot-check shops for
making illegal modifications, even in states like mine that have no
laws against it.

 

A lot of people around here (Kokomo, IN) take the mufflers off their Ram
pickups with the new hemi and they seem to run ok. As long as the fuel
system will keep the fuel/air mixure within the proper range,
performance will not change significantly. There seem to be few legal
implications for doing exhaust system mods in Indiana, as long as the
catalytic converter stays in place.

 

Wait until the rumored Srt8 version comes out. It's supposed to have a more
aggresive exhaust system. Order it and put it on yours...

 

Geeze, I knew I hated Kokomo for more reasons then just all the freakin'
stop lights!


me-not-you

 

I've wondered about that myself. I HATE Flowbastards on most any car,
but using a pair of Dynomax mufflers might produce a nice sound. The
danger is that it might also sound HORRIBLE when operating in 4-cylinder
mode cruising down the highway- like a high-school kid's riced-out Honda
4-cylinder with a "fart pipe" exhaust

 

In every state that I'm aware of, you are free to modify the exhaust
system from the catlyst backward, provided that you keep the ORIGINAL
catalyst in the ORIGINAL location, with no changes whatsoever from the
catalyst forward to the engine, and that the exhaust final discharge is
in or very near the original location. That would, of course, include
keeping any O2 sensor downstream from the catalyst in its original
location, but they're usually located right at the catalyst outlet.

And with the stir the Magnum is making, I'll bet you anything that there
will be some CARB-approved (legal) cat-forward modifications (headers,
bigger downpipes, computers, camshaft, intake manifold, cylinder heads
etc.) from Mopar Performance or other vendors in a few years, just as
there are for the Ram pickups and for GM F-bodies, Ford Mustangs, etc.

 

But the only reason (IIRC) that was a violation is because the car was
originally equipped with a SINGLE catalyst, and converting it to duals
necessarily alters the original catalyst location and the plumbing
forward from the catalyst. The very nice thing about the Magnum (and the
Ram trucks with the Hemi, and the Durango) is that they already have
dual catalysts and the exhaust either remains dual or combines to a
single muffler AFTER the catalysts. Leave those catalysts alone, and I'm
pretty sure you can hang a complete new muffler system behind them.

 

It would be in four cylinder mode only under very low load conditions
and at lowish rpm, so it might sound more like an old Farmall tractor.

 

That's why I suggested checking smog/pollution laws. I live in the greater Los
Angeles area where we are used to not being able to do much in the way of
tampering with exhaust/emission systems. Of course there aren't many things I
have wanted to do with the vehicles I own so I have never really checked in to
it, but each month when the JCWhitney catalog arrives and I browse through it
with the remote possibility they have something I really want, I do manage to
notice the "not legal for sale in California" on certain items. :-(

 

What i said above is (or at least was until recently) true of the
People's Republic of Kalifornia also.

In fact, you can put headers, new aluminum cylinder heads, a new intake
manifold, a different cam, different ratio rocker arms, a performance
muffler, performance computer, and bigger tailpipe on a 5.9L powered
Dodge Ram pickup and still be legal even in LA. You just have to use the
parts that have CARB approval numbers- available from Mopar Performance
and others. I don't think MP has much (if anything) available for the
Hemi yet (which is one of the reasons why modified 5.9 trucks are still
MUCH faster than Hemi trucks), but even if MP doesn't come out with
CARB-numbered and approved parts for the Hemi, SOMEONE will.

 

Which is much better than a Honda with a coffee-can exhaust... but could
still be annoying when you're cruising down the highway.

Ideally, I'd like to HEAR the exhaust rumble when the engine is working
hard, and then maybe hear just a remote, muted, soft burble cruising
down the highway under light load. I hate hearing a constant drone from
the exhaust on the highway.

 

.........but it won't make much sense on a '04 Pacifica, '96 T&C LXi, '93 GC
Laredo (6), or a '91 Accord LX Coupe!!!

 

When warmed up, does the hemi in the Magnum and 300 idle on 4 cylinders
or 8? If it idles on 4, the one octace uptake in exhaust note when
accelerating from a stop should be interesting with a loud exhaust.

 

Agreed, but do you have any IDEA what kind of performance stuff you can
actually get for that Accord? Or the Grand Cherokee, for that matter.

 

Sounds like a job for noise-cancelling technology.

--Geoff

 

Oh yes - I do know of all the performance stuff available for both. However,
the Accord is being driven by my 19 year old son and the Grand Cherokee by my
17 year old daughter. The middle of next month we move them up to San Luis
Obispo for college so I don't even want to think of performance stuff!!! ;-) My
son has enetertained the thought of submitting an entry to "Pimp My Auto" (or
whatever the name of that show is) and my daughter has asked a few questions
about off-roading - - and they both wonder why my hair is turning gray!!!!!!!

 

Performance stuff for an Accord? What's the point?


Matt

 

Wasting a lot of money, as far as I can tell But it IS available....