Magnaflow versus Flowmaster ~ Showdown on the Dyno

Annolino posted a thread asking the question:

Which is the better Muffler... Magnaflow or Flowmaster?

And I thought it was a really intriguing question, and so I am going to perform an experiment that might provide an answer to his question.

I'm already a big Magnaflow fan and am running them on a 2012 Tacoma as well as a 2012 Yaris.



These are twin vehicles in that they are the cheapest truck Toyota sells and the cheapest car Toyota sells. With the money reclaimed from selling the old vehicles they replaced (a 1996 Toyota Tacoma and a 1993 Hyundai Excel), I got both the 2012's new for under $30K cash out the door.

They both sound great with Magnaflows and the engines like them. Up to recently I knew almost nothing about Flowmaster mufflers and so read about them and watched lots of youtubes.

These two mufflers express completely different design concepts.

Magnaflow uses a straight through perforated core design.



It uses surrounding sound deadening material to absorb the unwanted sound frequencies that pass through the smooth perforated core. As a constant diameter straight through muffler, it does not add any backpressure to the exhaust system. My Tacoma 2.7 is currently running one of their largest all stainless steel 22 inch long 5X11 oval, 2 1/4" center in, 2 1/4 offset out mufflers. The core smoothly angles through from one end to the other.







The Flowmaster design uses a completely different concept to eliminate unwanted sound frequencies. It utilizes Helmholz resonators to cancel out unwanted sound frequencies. A Helmholz resonator is a dead ended chamber with a specifically sized opening and interior volume which reflects sound waves back at themselves so that they cancel each other out.





I picked an all stainless steel series 50 delta flow 2/14 center in/ 2 1/4 offset out as it's one of the quietest Flowmasters.



It just arrived today so I was able to take some detail pics. Here is a view of the inlet. The interior tube is exactly the same 2 1/4" diameter as the inlet collar.



To the right and the left of the interior tube are two different sized Helmholz resonators.



I flipped the muffler over so that the flash would reach the second resonator hole. If you look at each one you can see that they are two different sizes to capture different sound frequency ranges.



This is the interior of the outlet side. There is a 2 1/4" diameter opening with a curved outwardly facing funnel lip that acts like a one way valve to prevent reversion of the exhaust gases once they have expanded beyond the opening. Inside that hole, the underside of some of the delta flow plates are visible.



Flowmaster claims that the exhaust gas velocity leaving the muffler is actually faster than the exhaust entering their muffler, due to the low pressure areas created by the plates as well as the funnel shaped opening on the exit side. The precise phased spacing of the plates cancels out other unwanted sound frequencies. In contrast to Magnaflow, Flowmaster uses no sound deadening materials.

So there are our two contenders. They're like an apple and an orange in their two completely different concepts.

The first dyno test will be the Magnaflow this Friday. So I'll post the chart on Saturday. Then it's off to the muffler guy to install the Flowmaster. Then back to the dyno shop for some runs. I'll have both charts overlayed so that any differences positive or negative will be clearly seen. The tests will have the muffler as the only change so as to be as fair and accurate as possible. I have no idea how this will go. And it will only demonstrate which is the best muffler for the Tacoma 2.7 engine. Other engines with other exhaust systems will yield different results.

The exhaust system that both mufflers will be tested on uses a LCE long tube header with a 2 1/4" custom mandrel bent exhaust pipe running out through the rear fender.

 

Ok and the results are where? Please don't start with misleading titles, plus if you're doing a "showdown" between the two don't you think you have too many different variables? A tacoma versus a yaris...they're on 2 different levels performance-wise

 

Oh jebus...

 

Corn is a poppin'. Ummmm, results would be killer with a thread titled as such.

 

http://www.mustangandfords.com/parts/m5lp-0212-ford-mustang-muffler-comparison-test/viewall.html

 

There, he updated the OP. Everybody just eat your popped corn and be patient.

 

If you bothered to read you would know that they have not been done yet.

The title says exactly what I am doing. This is a Tacoma forum, so I am doing the Magnaflow Flowmaster dyno comparison on my Tacoma.

It's Tacoma versus Tacoma.


Greg

 

Kind of akin to "LS1 Second Gen Tacoma swap!" Then the first post reads:"just bought a Tacoma, how hard is it to swap in an LS1?" A little misleading. Don't be surprised at bunched panties.

 

Thanks for posting that thoroughly informative article, Lucario.

My test is going to be different in that the 2.7 is not a high performance racing engine. It's a slow turning low rpm high torque industrial engine.

And neither the Magnaflow or the Flowmaster models chosen for testing are high performance "drag racing" mufflers. I tried to match them as closely as I could. Both are 2 1/4" core. Both are all stainless steel. Both of them are big and quiet and designed for normal everyday driving.

I'm going to get the dyno logging to begin as close to 1,000 rpm as I can, as I'm most interested in which muffler produces the most low end torque in the 1,000 rpm to 3,000 rpm range. This is because that's where I drive my work truck.


Greg

 

Realize that this experiment only pertains to a stock low performance 2TR FE engine, and can't be extrapolated to any other vehicles or even to any other muffler models. Both makers produce a blinding array of mufflers. I just picked two similarly sized large quiet stainless models because that's what I personally use.


Greg

 

Thank you greg! I have been looking for pictures of the interior of a 22in magnaflow since forever. I was told it was a dual interior piping but never belived it. I also have a few bets with my friends that run flowmasters that the magnaflow will have more power and torque. Cant wait for the results!

 

Sub'd

Interested to see tangible results compared to the vast array of other threads on here that use the butt dyno.

 

Realization of the application has nothing to do with the misleading thread title.

 

Read the OP again

 

Reread the addressed post.

 

Wut

 

Exactly.

 

Alright then. I guess OP needs to buy every single muffler that flow master and magnaflow produce, to make everyone happy. I see your point.

 

No. The only point is the thread title makes it sound as though the test results are in, when in fact they are not.