Not happy with my custom exhaust on my 6.0L (help)

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 22, 2018

Hey guys, this is a officially my first post on this forum as a member!

I've recently got my exhaust done for my 2007 GMC Sierra 2500HD Classic that I recently bought about 3 months ago now. I decided I wanted it pretty loud with a deep rumble with a good amount of drone but not obnoxious and screamy. I did a lot of research on a true dual setup and read that it would be louder than your standard single in dual out muffler. So I decided to have 2 Flowmaster Original 40 series mufflers installed with dual 2.5 inch pipes in and out coming out of the sides 45 degrees with 4x18" chrome slash cut tips.

It's not giving me the volume and tone I was expecting, hearing how the 6.0 is a very noisy and loud engine to quiet down. It's barely louder than stock single exhaust on idle. I was thinking of taking it to another exhaust shop and having them run 3" pipes instead of 2.5" pipes since stock pipes are already dual 3", swapping out the original 40's and replacing them with super 44's. I hear that the 44's are more deeper and aggressive than all the 40 series that Flowmaster has to offer. I'm not really a big fan of the single chamber mufflers and straight through mufflers as they just sound too tinny and way to aggressive for my taste. I'm also aware that adding headers would really help, but I've seen videos of these things with stock manifolds and cats and they are VERY loud with the 2-chambered Flowmasters. Here's a list of things that I'm not happy about and a list of things I think I'm thinking of doing. It be really cool if you guys can share your knowledge and experiences with me to give me advice on what I should do.

Not Happy:

- Start up isn't very impressive (I feel like its sounds more like Flowmaster moderate sounding mufflers like the 50 series)

- I get none of this "dreaded and obnoxious interior drone" the 6.0 is infamously known for, especially with the 40 series installed. Cruising in the city, it's not much louder than the stock muffler even when accelerating. It does drone just a little bit when going up hills or inclines though. (I'd love to have a decent amount of drone)

- Not impressed by the exterior sound. I had my friend drive it as I stood outside and it was not loud at all, though it did have a nice sound to it. It had more of a moderate volume, sounding more like today's newer trucks with the stock duals that come with them. (I'd love to get a really loud deep rumble with a good amount of aggressiveness.)

- The guy who did my exhaust seemed to have added 2.25" 40's instead of 2.5" but he stretched the inlet and outlet out to 2.5 inches, but still looks like there's a 2.25" choke point restricting the flow, but I don't know if that has an affect.

- He welded my tips on weird, welding 10" of the pipe itself inside the tips

What I'm thinking of doing:

- Swapping out the 2.5 inch pipes with 3" pipes (I heard pipe diameter and muffler choice really have an affect on volume and tone)

-Swapping the original 40's for 2 Flowmaster Super 44's

- Adding an H-pipe

- Put the mufflers as close to the cab as possible to increase cab resonance.

Will the Flowmaster Super 44's and dual 3" pipes have an effect on volume then what I have already?

What do you guys think? Let me know!

Thanks!

MNChevy6.0 · October 23, 2018

Hey member! I just joined the forum as well after using google searches and every time being directed here for a truck question. I had a flowmaster 40 original series on my 5.3 and I was not impressed either. I just ordered a Flowmaster Super 44 for my 1500HD. I watched dozens of videos on YouTube looking for the right sound. I was down to a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler and the Super 44. I have the dual in/single out factory exhaust right now and I want to keep the stock exhaust exit so I had to find a dual in/single out for both. I had a hard time finding the Dynomax in that configuration, but I did find a super 44 in that configuration. The super 44 or 40 delta flow will give a deeper bass tone over the original 40s. Check out YouTube.

volfan84 · October 23, 2018

I ran a straight pipe on my truck and it still wasn't loud enough for me. I think the bigger pipe may make it louder but lose some of the deepness of the tone. I ended up doing headers with off road y pipe and it sounded awesome. did shorty headers before that and it didn't increase any volume...waste of money. if you don't want to do headers, you can still have the cats taken out and that will definitely make it louder but unless you tune it, you may have a check engine light come on. look up black widow mufflers. not the exhaust that comes on black widow trucks, but actual black widow exhaust. they sound good even with the rest of the exhaust still on. I didn't found out about them until after I did mine but that's about to be what I run on this escalade.

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 23, 2018

3 hours ago, MNChevy6.0 said:

Hey member! I just joined the forum as well after using google searches and every time being directed here for a truck question. I had a flowmaster 40 original series on my 5.3 and I was not impressed either. I just ordered a Flowmaster Super 44 for my 1500HD. I watched dozens of videos on YouTube looking for the right sound. I was down to a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler and the Super 44. I have the dual in/single out factory exhaust right now and I want to keep the stock exhaust exit so I had to find a dual in/single out for both. I had a hard time finding the Dynomax in that configuration, but I did find a super 44 in that configuration. The super 44 or 40 delta flow will give a deeper bass tone over the original 40s. Check out YouTube.

I've had a hard time finding videos of the original 40's and 44's in comparison. I did stumble upon a series of videos by DarrenWS6 on his 2500hd with his 3" true dualed 44's, which I originally wanted to base my setup on. His was loud as hell, and as loud as I'd like it, but my dual 40's sound nothing alike which is very frustrating.

I guess my concern is the 44's not making much of a difference even though Darren's was very loud

Here's one of his videos:

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 23, 2018

1 hour ago, volfan84 said:

I ran a straight pipe on my truck and it still wasn't loud enough for me. I think the bigger pipe may make it louder but lose some of the deepness of the tone. I ended up doing headers with off road y pipe and it sounded awesome. did shorty headers before that and it didn't increase any volume...waste of money. if you don't want to do headers, you can still have the cats taken out and that will definitely make it louder but unless you tune it, you may have a check engine light come on. look up black widow mufflers. not the exhaust that comes on black widow trucks, but actual black widow exhaust. they sound good even with the rest of the exhaust still on. I didn't found out about them until after I did mine but that's about to be what I run on this escalade.

I've always heard larger diameter pipes account for a deeper and louder tone. I'm also in California so I wouldn't be able to cut the cats out. I'm thinking of running Magnaflow high flow cats though and try to cheat California smog system. I still don't know if the high flow cats would make too big of a difference enough for it to be worth the money, as I'm pretty sure the 2500hd already has some really good flowing cats.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Joey Likes GM Trucks

MNChevy6.0 · October 23, 2018

9 minutes ago, Joey Likes GM Trucks said:

I've had a hard time finding videos of the original 40's and 44's in comparison. I did stumble upon a series of videos by DarrenWS6 on his 2500hd with his 3" true dualed 44's, which I originally wanted to base my setup on. His was loud as hell, and as loud as I'd like it, but my dual 40's sound nothing alike which is very frustrating.

I guess my concern is the 44's not making much of a difference even though Darren's was very loud

Here's one of his videos:

I have watched almost all of his videos. His may sound different because he has true duals. Each manifold has its own catalytic converter and exhaust pipe back to the factory muffler. Most people like the look of duals so they have to have a separate muffler for each exhaust pipe. I am not sure how much that affects the tone or the sound, but it is something to consider. I am going with a 44 that has the dual inlet and single outlet so I can maintain my factory looking tail pipe. Another thing to consider (if you haven't already) is to watch these videos on a home entertainment system or with quality headphones. Computer and phone speakers don't emulate the deep bass tones very well. There is a video on YouTube showing how each different flowmaster sounds on a V8. Look up Flowmaster sound comparison.

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 23, 2018

30 minutes ago, MNChevy6.0 said:

I have watched almost all of his videos. His may sound different because he has true duals. Each manifold has its own catalytic converter and exhaust pipe back to the factory muffler. Most people like the look of duals so they have to have a separate muffler for each exhaust pipe. I am not sure how much that affects the tone or the sound, but it is something to consider. I am going with a 44 that has the dual inlet and single outlet so I can maintain my factory looking tail pipe. Another thing to consider (if you haven't already) is to watch these videos on a home entertainment system or with quality headphones. Computer and phone speakers don't emulate the deep bass tones very well. There is a video on YouTube showing how each different flowmaster sounds on a V8. Look up Flowmaster sound comparison.

I'm running true duals with 2 flowmaster original 40 series mufflers and it is not loud at all but moderate. It only gets loud when I put my foot down on it around 4500-6000 rpm's. I just want something that will give me more volume during cruising and at idle like his setup.

volfan84 · October 23, 2018

36 minutes ago, Joey Likes GM Trucks said:

I've always heard larger diameter pipes account for a deeper and louder tone. I'm also in California so I wouldn't be able to cut the cats out. I'm thinking of running Magnaflow high flow cats though and try to cheat California smog system. I still don't know if the high flow cats would make too big of a difference enough for it to be worth the money, as I'm pretty sure the 2500hd already has some really good flowing cats.

i don't think this is true bc my 5.3 with headers, no cats, and straight pipe was deeper than my 6.2 sierra denali with the same exact setup other than the exhaust pipe for the 6.2 is 3.5". the 6.2 was definitely louder but wasn't as deep so I ended up putting a corsa diesel muffler on it. on my f150, I ran into the same problem with making it true dual exhaust and it was way too quiet with 50 series flowmasters on it. I ended up replacing those with super 10 mufflers and it sounded awesome on that truck. as soon as black widow has their race venom exhaust back in stock, i'll buy it and let you know how it sounds on the 6.2

https://www.blackwidowexhaust.com/mufflers#!/Race-Venom-3-5-center-center-SKU-BW0011-C/p/63578051/category=17838009

MNChevy6.0 · October 23, 2018

1 hour ago, Joey Likes GM Trucks said:

I'm running true duals with 2 flowmaster original 40 series mufflers and it is not loud at all but moderate. It only gets loud when I put my foot down on it around 4500-6000 rpm's. I just want something that will give me more volume during cruising and at idle like his setup.

Louder idle and cruise will probably be the 44s or super 10 for your best bet

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 23, 2018

1 minute ago, MNChevy6.0 said:

Louder idle and cruise will probably be the 44s or super 10 for your best bet

Yeah that's what I'm thinking.

Will Flowmaster Super 44's really be that much of a difference from the Original 40's though that's my real question

I know the Super 10's would be a night and day difference then the 40's but I want to try to avoid the single chambers and glasspacks as much as possible because I will lose more power since I'm running a stock motor.

I'm really trying to get more in cab drone because it's like music to my ears also haha

I'll try to record some videos and post them up here and see what you guys think since I can't really describe sound through text and words.

volfan84 · October 24, 2018

super 10s will definitely get you that drone you want. lol as far as hp goes, I doubt super 10s will decrease it any. if anything, I bet you would gain a few because they are race mufflers and flow more freely.

MNChevy6.0 · October 27, 2018

On 10/23/2018 at 3:00 PM, Joey Likes GM Trucks said:

Yeah that's what I'm thinking.

Will Flowmaster Super 44's really be that much of a difference from the Original 40's though that's my real question

I know the Super 10's would be a night and day difference then the 40's but I want to try to avoid the single chambers and glasspacks as much as possible because I will lose more power since I'm running a stock motor.

I'm really trying to get more in cab drone because it's like music to my ears also haha

I'll try to record some videos and post them up here and see what you guys think since I can't really describe sound through text and words.

I had my Super 44 welded on this morning. Perfect to me. Not too loud, but not stock. Has a nice deep rumble. You can hear a slight drone in the cab but nothing major. Especially at highway speeds it's mellow. Loud when you get on it. Mind you I kept the factory tail pipe. I love it.

Joey Likes GM Trucks · October 28, 2018

23 hours ago, MNChevy6.0 said:

I had my Super 44 welded on this morning. Perfect to me. Not too loud, but not stock. Has a nice deep rumble. You can hear a slight drone in the cab but nothing major. Especially at highway speeds it's mellow. Loud when you get on it. Mind you I kept the factory tail pipe. I love it.

Nice! You mind posting a video clip of it on YouTube or something for me to check out?

Nargg · October 29, 2018

Loud exaust is usually illegal, and for a good reason... I had the GM OEM exaust update in one of my past trucks and loved it. The sound was super impressive without being obnoxious. Don't have it in my current truck, and miss it. Just not enough to loosen the pocket $1200 again.