Took some pictures of a stock muffler cut open. I can't be the only on curious as to what was inside that thing. Well in anycase, heres whats inside that loud thing...

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--1986 SE V6, Wild Custom Notchback --For Sale
--1984 SE Modified Notchback

that will be a good referance pic for a long time to come!!
now prople will realize how restrictave they are, and when a cat becomes gutted where it will end up stuck at
if i could give ya another + i would

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Rich AIM: ONE FAST 2M8:98 Black GTP 2 Dr
3.25 pulley,magnuson snout, 72mm TB, RAT PCM,
TOG Headers, Borla cat back, 3” to mufflers, No cat, 160 stat, Big brakes, Eibach's, KYB’s PRJ 10mm Wires, autolite 104’s, and more
white-- 86se V6 daily driver--Slammed FOR SALE $1,500!
Gold--- 86se 355 SBC almost finished
92 325I slammed with basic mods

Hmmm... makes me wonder exactly what can get clogged up in there.

JazzMan

the yellow circle is where the inlet is or "was" just for better referance

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Rich AIM: ONE FAST 2M8:98 Black GTP 2 Dr
3.25 pulley,magnuson snout, 72mm TB, RAT PCM,
TOG Headers, Borla cat back, 3” to mufflers, No cat, 160 stat, Big brakes, Eibach's, KYB’s PRJ 10mm Wires, autolite 104’s, and more
white-- 86se V6 daily driver--Slammed FOR SALE $1,500!
Gold--- 86se 355 SBC almost finished
92 325I slammed with basic mods

Rich is right... The pictures from the camera are huge. The picture scaled down to 600 was over 100k still, so I had to crop it to fit. Even still the picture was about 99k. The cam is a 5.0MP Olympus.

I've always wanted to know what the guts of a stock muffler looked like. Thanks for showing us.

Ok now youv've got me thinking about this thing and how it works. Is the inlet pipe closed on the end that inside the muffler, so that the exhaust gas must go through the perforations to escape? This is a dual outlet muffler right? Can't quite make out one of the outlets if it is.

Wow, that looks a lot like the inside of a Warlock muffler.

So either FlowTech is making some crappy mufflers, or the Fiero came with really good ones !

quote Originally posted by Jncomutt: I can't be the only on curious as to what was inside that thing.

Way cool!! Thanks for the effort!

The biggest problem I see is that Pontiac decided to pack it with leaves instead of glass fibers. Didn't they realize that the leaves wouldn't last very long? Just look at that thing... There's only one left!!

BTW - You weren't the only one curious... Just the only one curious enough to take a saw to it.

-Bruce at FTF Engineering

How restrictive is the stock muffler?

Hmm... I took mine apart with a sawzall and a hammer... But it wasn't pretty... lol No pics of what was left. I did find a WHOLE lot of Cat inside though. Wow - Sure explained the rattle.

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Bob Williams
Multi-colored '86 Mutt, a work in progress! (3800SC installation almost done... I drove it!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!! This sucker is FUUUUUUUUUUUN!!! :) )

After seeing the layout and remembering the pieces that were missing from my stock cat, I think I'll invest in a new muffler when funds allow. Great pic.

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87 GT - Poly dogbone, RD comp short shifter,
Ultimate Getrag Shift Kit, HF Cat
88 Accord - Stock w/ dents and character

Man you have got the sweetest notchback and now showed me just how bad the stock muffler really is. I have a stock one installed right now and will swap back to my aftermarket one here very soon. That thing just looks bad.

Thanks for the pic, that is very nice to see.

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85GT 4spd MSD Everything, Big Cam and Nitrous. www.captfiero.com

quote How restrictive is the stock muffler?

It's not.

quote Originally posted by Skybax: It's not.

Why do you say that?

quote Originally posted by Skybax: It's not.

There is no way that isn't restrictive....a glasspack isn't real restrictive...but that is horrible.

I can tell you front frequent eqperience, the muffler is not very restrictive. You will notice no diffrence from downpipe only to full system minus cat..... well maybe just a hair in the very top end. I had mine off several times, and paid very close attention to the diffrences. It really wasnt that noticeable, if I wasnt just imagining it.

so who's muffler fit the stock v-6 setup the best . i need to get one soon but don't want to spend a ton

quote Originally posted by iced_theater: There is no way that isn't restrictive....a glasspack isn't real restrictive...but that is horrible.

That's an easy assumption to make. I was hoping someone had their measurements.

when my muffler fell off the only thing i noticed was it got real loud real fast. and the car got slower. i couldn't spin my tires on wet pavement. i'd say IF it's overly restrictive, it needs to be fairly restrictive to make decent torque. i'd spend more money and time working on the intake than i would the exhaust.

quote Originally posted by Jncomutt:

Great pic!!

So these LITTLE holes get some carbon build up and all of a sudden you have even SMALLER holes.

Not much wonder they are restrictive.

Thanks for posting this.

Arn

quote Originally posted by Arns85GT: So these LITTLE holes get some carbon build up and all of a sudden you have even SMALLER holes. Not much wonder they are restrictive.

One thing that's a bit difficult to make out unless you're looking for it is that the two "walls" that seperate the muffler into three chambers have a bunch of holes in them, too. They're about the size of a dime, and you can see a couple in this pic if you look for them.

Yep, I've done a muffler autopsy, too.

I don't think this muffler is terribly restrictive for the power output of the stock V6.

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Doug Chase
Chase Race
Custom roll cage and exhaust fabrication

whos gonna finally dyno the two setups to see if it really is restrictive... the buttdyno is useless to measure horsepower... we need to get a person with access to a dyno to see if it really makes a differnce...

btw thats awesome... ive always wonderd what crazy stuff gm did to the muffler... i figured that was just as screwed up as teh rest of the car... you get a plus for the autopsy...

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'86 Fiero GT

My Fiero XoticRydz Mid-Rear Madness

Be Excellent To Each Other" - Bill S. Preston Esquire Ted Theadore Logan

A pressure gauge tells you a lot.