Changing mufflers on my 01 eldo.

[rockfangd]

Hi all. I may be going a little far out here but I figured I would see what you guys think.

My eldo feels like it is missing something. The throaty v8 exhaust is not the same.

I have never thought about changing anything exhaust on a cadillac before because I have always been pleased.

I love a car that gives more the harder you give it.

When I take off in my 97, (stock everything) it sounds wonderful, just begging for more. It reminds me of a sleeper.

My 01 just does not have that rush. I hope I am not the only one that fells this way lol.

Anyway I am looking at

Flowmaster 942051.

I want something that gives me the throaty roar but not being nuisance loud.

Not concerned about more performance. want to weld on and reuse my tips.

I have a flowmaster on my truck and love it. It sounds louder all the time though.

Give me your opinions guys. I am all ears (or in this case ears)

Please note. I am not one to modify anything on caddys but this one was beaten before I bought it so it wont hurt it anymore.

My 97 Seville is bone stock everything, even down to the hand phone in the console, and I have no intent in changing or modifying anything on it.

[Cadillac Jim]

Make sure that your CAT is OK. If it's just lightly clogged, the car will be quieter and it will take the edge off your performance but you won't see a problem with throttle response or gas mileage with just mild clogging. With free-flow mufflers, you can hear the cat go to restriction mode only at the very top end of the RPM range. If the stock CAT (or equivalent, which in aftermarket parts, will be labeled "high flow") is not at all clogged, you will not hear the exhaust note with a hiss component until right at the top of the RPM range, e.g. around 6,000 RPM. If you hear it at a lower RPM, it's partly clogged.

Direct-fit CATs are very expensive, and aftermarket parts tend to be below OEM parts for 90's Northstars. I used the "high flow" Magnaflow 94009 which requires some welding to use the original CAT's flanges and HO2 sensor bosses. Be sure you get the 49-state OBD-certified label on the box. You could hear the hiss only a little at 6,000 RPM. The fact that you could hear it at all means that it is not too big for the car.

I did a web search on the Flowmaster 942051 and find it's a 2" offset in, 2" center out. The exhaust system on my old car, a 1997 ETC, uses 2.25" pipes at the mufflers. Be sure that the pipe size is right for your car.

Most people like the "turbo" mufflers, which are free-flow with an S-pipe through the muffler. The Borla Super Turbo 2.25"/2.25" offset/center, part number 40658, was out-of-stock at Borla and nationwide when a high school girl wiped out my exhaust system (and her Honda) and I got a call from Summit that they had a pair of Borla 40357 mufflers in stock "that were equivalent" to the 40658. When they came in, I found that you could see two inches of daylight through them, an the offset/center configuration was all that kept me from seeing 2.5" of daylight. But that's all I had and all I could get, so I put them on, and found the exhaust note quite nice. I had them until I sold the car and my wife never complained about the exhaust note. I did find that above 5,000 RPM it would get the notice of nearby cars, though.

The only thing I could find on the Flowmaster 942051 is "moderate sound." That may or may not be the super-turbo configuration, e.g. straight-through with an S-pipe in the muffler, or it may be one of their Flowmaster-unique configurations. I have no idea whether this is good or bad for sound or flow, and I would refer you to sound measurement and dyno comparison tests and user ratings, but we all know that people who have Flowmasters usually do like them very much.

Whoooa. I find that the Summit listing shows that the Flowmaster 942051 is a steel muffler, aluminized. The OEM exhaust is stainless steel. Flowmaster makes a line of stainless steel mufflers too. If you drive the car more that two years, you will be happier with stainless steel OEM quality mufflers.

[rockfangd]

I see. Aluminized means it will be rotten in a few years. No surprise there.

The tone of the exhaust definately changed after multiple wot procedures. I noticed that for sure, It got better. much better.

The size of the pipe I believe varies between the touring model and the base model. What did you have ?

[Cadillac Jim]

Mine was the ETC, but it was a 1997 and yours is a 2001. I'm not sure that the 90's Northstars had different exhaust systems between the VIN Y and VIN 9 drivetrains. The only difference I ever found in the FSM was the intake cams and the final drive ratio. And, the PCM programming, of course.

[KHE]

If it were my car, I wouldn't bother replacing the mufflers unless the originals were rotted/leaking.

[Cadillac Jim]

Good point. The fact that the exhaust note changed after some WOT sessions tells me that the cat was probably a bit clogged. Likely, the car could use a 500-mile trip to clean out everything.

[rockfangd]

I agree about not replacing them but I am thinking about it.

I would like to take it on a decent trip. Likely this summer.