Hi, new poster to this forum but long-time reader.

I own a 2000 V70 and am very happy with the car overall, except for the exhaust which is pretty restrictive and weak-sounding imo. I know there is the larger main muffler after the cat and then a smaller muffler which I guess is a resonator? Anyway, has anyone tried replacing one of these with just piping? I'm wondering how it would sound. I assume the larger muffler does more of the sound deadening, and mine has a dent in it from hitting a rock ages ago. I'm tempted to replace it with something else but I am looking for suggestions as to what makes the car sound good- not raspy and not too loud, but maybe a deep tone or perhaps something that would amplify the european sound of the engine while maybe de-corking it a little. So does anyone know how the exhaust sounds with one of the mufflers removed, or have recommendations on a good upgrade?

Engine is the 2.4L I5, non-turbo. Something that helped with horsepower output would be nice too. I already have a K&N air filter, not sure if there is anything else you can do to the intake or not.

Thanks,
Drew

 

FYI your not going to gain much power from any exhaust upgrades on a non turbo model. Maybe 5 horses or so...

If you want to open it up some replace the exhaust with a 2.25" to 2.5" crush or mandrel bent piping to a baffled muffler such as a Flowmaster. Yes baffled because a free flowing straight through design muffler wont give you much back pressure and non turbos need back pressure.

 

+1

Just get mandrel bent piping.

 

so, baffled for backpressure, switch from 2.25" to 2.5" for more flow, and flowmaster muffler sounds good on these cars?

i agree about baffled muffler on a non-turbo car, would lose all the torque w/ a straight through muffer, so that's a good point. but would going from 2.25" to 2.5" be any benefit here or should i just upgrade the muffler? also will a high-flow cat be of any benefit?

also is the 2nd smaller muffler near the tailpipe straight through? i shined a flashlight into it and it appears to be...

thanks budz...

 

A high flow cat will help any car, so yes get one. The resinator supplys enough pressure.

So you should get: a high flow cat, 2.5 piping, and Flowmaster resinator/mufflers.

 

I am not sure if you are going to use a flowmaster or not, but take a look at their website. They have some soundclips which are nice. If you were going to go the flowmaster route I would look at the quieter ones. I have two 40 series on my '67 Fairlane and it is LOUD!!! Granted my engine is almost twice the size and it has three more cylinders. I had a friend who put either a 40 series or 50 series on a Toyota truck and it sounded all right. Better then a ricer muffler because it was a little throatier. His truck was a four popper.