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Custom Exhaust
These pictures were taken on April 2, 2003
My birthday lands on the last day of March and I wasn't too sure what I wanted. My parents are those type of people that if you do not ask for anything, then you will not get anything. They wait until they know what you want, even if it is a month after your birthday. This is a good thing. I was really leaning towards a custom exhaust system when it was about 3 days until my birthday. I decided to head over to a local muffler shop and get a quote to see how much it would cost. The price range was more than I expected but I still wanted a new exhaust system. After talking to my mom (dad was out of town) we formed an agreement. They would pay for 25% of the exhaust system for my birthday. That was fine with me. I had just enough money to pay for the rest. So the next day I headed over to Magic Mufflers and talked to the owner of the place. He is a great guy and worked out a good deal with me.
I told him what I wanted and he did the rest. I told him that I wanted the exhaust system to start right before the catalytic converter. He took my car and raised it up and proceeded to saw the old exhaust off and weld the new one on.
When the car was raised I went to take some before-pictures so I would know what my old exhaust looked like compared to the new exhaust. As you notice the stock piping is only 2" in diameter and there is a resonator between the large catalytic converter and mufflers. I had that removed in the new set up.
There were about 3 guys working on the exhaust system during the whole time. One guy welded while the others bent the pipes, held the items in place, and gave the main guy whatever he needed. After the old exhaust was completely cut off they proceeded to weld the catalytic converter in.
After the cat was welded in then they decided which route they would take towards the back. They could not find a better route then what was before so they left the route the same. After about 3 hours of work everything was in except for the mufflers. The owner was going to let me try out different mufflers and let me test the sound to see what I would like. He would do this by having people hold the mufflers I chose on and they would start the car. I would listen and then they would proceed to the next set of mufflers. I was going to choose between the Dynomax Ultra Flo Welded or the Dynomax Superturbos. When he put the first set on he had them try out the Dynomax Bullet mufflers when I was waiting inside. He recommended the Bullets to me but I declined because they looked like the mufflers that were installed on the civics to make them sound like "fart-rockets." I didn't want my car to sound like that so I didn't even have them on the list to test sound. I was inside reading when I heard a car start "VROOOoooom." I thought who ever had that car sure did have a good exhaust system in it. Come to find out the only car that was on was mine. I quickly went outside to hear. They were holding the Bullets on and they were revving it. It sounded so beautiful yet so powerful. I liked it, but it was a little loud. I told them to try the Superturbos now. They held those on and started it up. Sounded very similar to stock, but with just a little deeper louder sound than stock. I didn't care to much for it, so I told them to go with the Bullets. The owner just smiled and said "I told you, you would like them." They then proceeded to finish the system. I had installed 2.5" piping from catalytic converter to y-split and then after that 2.25" piping to the mufflers. Pictured below is the Dynomax Super Converter along with a Bullet muffler and the y-split that they welded together.
All that was left were the tips. I had a certain tip structure that I had in mind. I wanted a design that would go from a single inlet to dual exit pipes. I wasn't too sure what style so the owner took me to where he stored his tips and started to show me some that he thought would look good with my car. I stopped at the Dynomax Round Slash Cut Dual Outlet tips. There was only one problem, they were about 8 inches too long. I wanted the tips almost flush with the back, I didn't want them to stick out very far. The owner said that it would be no problem and sure enough he cut them to the right length. Did a very good job too.
After that was done I took some final pictures of the exhaust system before they lowered it.
This was one of the best add-ons I have ever added to this car, and also one of my favorite birthday presents. The muffler shop that performed the install was Magic Mufflers, Brakes, and More. Their service and friendliness was incomparable to any other muffler shop I have been to. I would rate their work and service a 10 out of 10. The owners name is Fred T.
As for the sound of the mufflers? I can tell you how they sound or you can listen to the difference yourself in the downloads section. I would highly recommend the Bullets to anybody that has a 3100 SFI engine. They are not really loud, but I would compare the intensity of the sound with a Trans Am that has aftermarket exhaust.
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Thanks To:
Magic Mufflers, Brakes, and More