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If it feels fine for the original poster and that's what he wants, then by all means, go for it. It sounds to me like he just wants to open up the V8 sound a bit and not have straight pipes dumping out behind the front tires...
We are not talking about modifying one of the few remaining Tucker 48's here...
My GX470 with it's stock exhaust is both quiet, but has a harmonious exhaust note under acceleration that sounds so good I swear I need to smoke a cigarette after passing people.
All further off topic posts will be trimmed, this thread is for better sounding exhaust options, not the morality of doing exhaust mods on an LS400.
OP i suggest you look up the muffler delete. Essentially you remove the last 2 mufflers in the exhaust system and replace them with straight piping the the rear of the car (it sometimes drones/resonates under the car if you skip that). The LS400 ships with 2 cats, a center resonator, and 4 mufflers. removing 2 will leave it throaty but still reasonably quiet.
Sadly, we are never going to hear a "nice sounding" LS... It it too cost prohibitive to do it right on a $3-10k car when most owners are transitioning over from a compatibly priced compact/economy/etc type of car.
As elitist as this may sound, very few LS400 owners today have a pedigree of building well thought-out and executed cars.
Everything I have seen is either a hacked up, backyard or muffler shop special with crappy mufflers or none at all. The few JDM exhausts that are out there are also pretty spotty on sound quality as the Japanese VIP market is after a very different sound than we are.
The cheapest way to get a bit more depth and noise is the rear muffler removal. You can do this in your back yard for less than $100 for the extra piping, clamps and hangers.
The next step past that is to remove the art Center section and replace the mufflers with a quality pair of mufflers from Magnaflow. I suggest magnaflows because they are perf-core and straight through designed, use decent materials and aren't very expensive. Personally I'd probably add in a couple of big fat resonators or a second pair of mufflers to mellow any rasp and resonance while muting the volume a bit more.
About the only thing I have ever agreed with the cowboy on is that if you want your LS to sound like an old camero, go buy an old camero....
If you want to uncork your quad cam japanese V8, try and make it sound like what it is and what sort of car it is found in. You can make a luxury car sound tough and mean without dragging it down to the slack-jawed hillbilly pickup truck sound I see a lot of people bragging about.
I don't see why some are getting bent out of shape b/c the OP wants a throatier sound in a luxury sedan. With the power plant these cars have, I think a deeper sound would be fitting. I had a 99 BMW E38 and it had a much deeper tone, both, from the engine and exhaust. I say go for the muffler delete and see how you like it.
I can't believe how hell bent people are about wanting a little more sound from your exhaust!
I don't think anyone is "Bent out of shape" LOL.. I think alittle more sound if done in good taste will make the LS sound nice..
Ofcourse, cutting the muffler out will not yield great results unless you like your LS sounding like an old pickup truck..
Like I said, "To each their own" If you like to sound like a old pickup.. I say Go for it.. No one is telling you not to do it..
But, I think a nice universal muffler from Dynomax or Magnaflow might add some nice sound to the car though I do not know much know about what people put on LS's.. Though I had an LS, i kept my exhaust stock.
Do some searches on here and see what has been done if any.. Good Luck..
im going to start removing the back mufflers and see now it sounds most likely i will be adding mufflers back just with something different to allow a deeper tone and not loud like a truck!!
I don't see anyone bent out of shape (anymore) about getting more rumble out of the LS. It looksto be, and has always been more of the quality of sound for most of the older members... Much like wheels and other "mods" that typically get a more elitist attitude on this site, compared to say the the free-for-all-of-ghetto-more that proliferate some of the Facebook groups, with a refined car like the LS comes refined tastes in the exhaust note/volume.
I am by no means a staunch elitist when it comes to modifying cars, but buying/building ***** vs getting good deals are wildly different things.
All that said, I did the muffler delete and it sounds OK.
I wouldn't expect a lot of extra noise at idle, there is a gruffer tone when you get into it but it is definitely not the nicest sounding option... A lot of additional rasp and drone should be expected, not really inline with the smoothness of the UZ power delivery or indicative of what a well designed and built exhaust will sound like.
Has anybody removed just the resonator? I had great success in doing this on my AMG, granted different animals in their own right but I would think this would give you a louder and deeper sound without affecting the actual sound of the exhaust like removing the mufflers.
I cut my rear mufflers off. I took a saw zaw tool and cut the rear mufflers off leaving as much pipe as I could. It sounds like a stock mustang now. Just a nice deep tone. Not too loud.
Ive changed mine up a few times... This was the last of pouring money into it. Mostly happy with the outcome, little drone & decent amount of rumble. Sounds great downshifting & pulling out of a corner. Center section is 2.5" & 2.25" after the rear Y pipe. Tried it first with no resonator & it was pretty terrible. Added a Megan 2.5" resonator & made a significant difference toning down that unrefined raspy sound. Tucked it up high so I don't drag the **** out of it, can't say the same for the rear cans.
12-28-14, 09:18 PM
