So I decided to bite the bullet and go with a full custom exhaust instead of continuing to hack away at the stock pipe. I should have done this long ago. The setup consist of all 2.25" pipe, Magnaflow X-pipe, (2) 4" Magnapack mufflers in place of the stock resonators, (2) Magnaflow 14829 polished SS mufflers with tips out back.

While the sound of my previous exhaust was fun to hear, I got tired of the drone at low rpm. This setup is completely straight through but has NO drone whatsoever. It may be too quiet for some but it has a nice tone when you hit the pedal.

I'll post a sound clip this evening.

Here are the links for my previous exhaust mods:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...ips-today.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...nk-inside.html

 

Subscribing for sound clip.

 

Here is the sound clip. I'll try to do an in car clip tomorrow.

http://vimeo.com/38628907

 

Is that press-bent or mandrel bent? Would you mind sharing the price so members have a ballpark figure of what this should cost.

 

All pipe is press bent. There was no one close to me that could mandrel bend plus I didn't want to pay that kind of money.

The magnapacks cost me about $150 shipped from summit racing
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MPE-14445/

I got a deal on the 14829 mufflers from autoplicity.com for $230 total

Maganaflow X-Pipe from summit racing $85.46

Muffler shop charged me $300 for pipe an labor.

 

I love the sound. I need to do this soon, my Magnaflow x-pipe has been sitting in my trunk for the past 2 years. Right now I have Borla with all the resonators removed, and like you I'm getting tired of the drone even if it's a little. I'll definitely put the two stock resonators on when I do this. Thanks for the sound clip.

 

Wow that looks pretty good! Magnaflows always sound good on a V8! Have fun with it!

 

Taillights look great.

 

I love it too. The car is much more enjoyable at cruising speeds.

I was very pleased with how tips looked out back. 228000 miles running like a champ!

Your tails look great too! I almost bought those Depo lights but always talked myself out of it since I didn't know how bright they would be. Looks like they work just fine.

 

So you paid $800 give or take?

 

looks very nice.

question....how come you dont go with 2.5" piping for the complete system. would that not provide a better flow for the v8? or was it easier since it is 2.25"?

 

Not bad looks real good

 

This has been discussed by JBrady and other knowledgable members numerous times. To sum it up, going with a 2.5" setup he would lose some low end torque/driveability and it would barely offer any noticeable hp up top.

I wish I knew the setup that yielded a nice growl/tone with minimal cost and without any annoying highway/part throttle drone. Ideally I would keep the stock cat to y-pipe area and change only the resonators/mufflers to get the sound right. I hate having to experiment with exhaust setups. I've done way too many times on other cars and used up thousands of $$$.
Anyone have/know the perfect budget setup to achieve what maintrain did for less?

I wonder what keeping the first resonator after the y-pipe, then removing the twin resonators and leaving the stock mufflers sounds like?
What about leaving the 3 resonators and adding just the magnaflow mufflers?
How about removing the first resonator changing it to a straight trough 2.5", then leaving the stock resonators and then eithe deleting the factory mufflers or changing them to a borla/magnaflow?
Or do we need to do partially, what maintrain did and use the magnapack resonator/cans and also use the magna mufflers as well to get the ideal combo? I still don't think I would want to go with a full X pipe setup, mainly for cost and fuel mileage reasons.

 

I'm a bit confused as to the bolt on ability for the setup in this thread. I'm trying to price this out but I can't seem to find a site that says "Will fit 2000 Lexus GS 400", they all seem to reference the 300. So if everything is the same on both cars, the next question is, what do I need the shop to provide for installation and what can I buy ahead of time? Here's what I've gathered from the thread:

2.25" Piping - Shop provides?
2 - 4" Magnapack Mufflers - I buy?
2 - 14829 SS polished mufflers with tips - I buy
Magnaflow X-pipe - I buy?

Beyond that - what is the difference between Magnapack Mufflers and SS polished mufflers?

Sorry for the 'newbie' questions but I want to make sure I get this right. Also, the 'drone' most people are concerned about - does that mean when I'm just cruising I'd like to have the same sound I do with the stock setup?

Thanks all!

 

Why the X-pipe vs keeping the pipes separate?