Custom exhaust

[DREAM2]

I was talking to a mechanic friend of mine over the weekend about some mods I want to do to the car. First off, we will be installing the 1.5/2.0 Goldline springs. When we are doing the car, we will look at the exhaust.
After I explained a few possiblities, we decided on doing a exhaust similar in look to what the old AAR Cuda's had - and exhaust with a cone shaped tip that comes out before the rear wheels.
We were thinking of a free-flow muffler with one input and two outputs mounted a little after the catalytic conveter with the outputs going to each side of the car.
This would be a nice exhaust with only one bend, so it flow better than one that goes out the back of the car. It would also eliminate any over axle clangs anyone hears from a lowered car with aftermarket exhaust.
We would leave room between the converter and muffler for the addition of a resonator if one is needed.
I do have a few questions:
What mufflers would fit in this location ( in the middle of the car, about right under the front seats or so)?
This exhast I know will be louder than a full exhuast, so what muffler would anyone recomend? He mentioned Flowmaster, but I've read bad things about these.
I don't want to have it extremely loud in the car, so would there be a better place for the muffler given the aprox. location that it has to be in?
Has anyone done this to their PT?
I was thinking of sticking with the original 2 1/4 size in stainless, of course. Will there be clearance problems (with the ground)?
He said we can experiment with different mufflers for sound, but I'd like to get it right the first time. Any ideas on this subject would be appreciated. Oh yeah, it's an '03 Turbo car. Thanks.

[MichaelDay]

Lowered PT's with side pipes do have a ground clearance problem. Even with 2 1/4 inch pipes, you are going to have very little clearance between the bottom of the pipe and the ground.

The turbo is quieter than the NA PT so you should be able to find a muffler that works. Actually, the FlowMasters that I have heard on NA PT's sound good and the owners like them. There are several models with different sounds and it really is a matter of personal choice. What sounds good to one person will likely sound terrible to someone else.

I love the looks of side pipes, I just don't think I would try putting them on a lowered PT.

[Cal Cruzer]

I don't think you are going to get a real muffler under there. You can probably get a resonator in the intermediate pipe rigt after the downpipe. That "one bend" is going to be a sharp one. Your best bet would be to try to incorporate some kind of a gentle "Y" in the pipe to split it. Avoid 90 degree bends if you are really looking for some kind of performance gain...and avoid tall speed bumps ifyou lower your car. You will be scraping the side exit pipes off.

[SteelBlueGT]

I would try Magnaflows for serious power, light weight, and nice sound. Sound is a very personal area and some do just love their flows!!

[DREAM2]

Thanks guys,
I guess I'll have to check how low the car actually sits after it is lowered to make a determination. I didn't think that there would be that much of a bend, definitely not a 90 degree angle, but I have not been under the car yet to see.
I don't mind a loud exhaust, my Wrangler have a 4 cyl. with header, free flow cat, and Gibson cat-back exhaust on it and it was loud. I just thought one resonator would be too loud, otherwise the SRT-4 wouldn't have three of them.[:I]
I was more concerend about what would fit in that are for a muffler. I know a resonator would fit. I know a glass pack type would fit, apparently even two glass packs will fit in that area as on the new exhaust by Cobalt that is for sale (Moss catalog). I just wanted to know if there was another alternative to them. I'm just not sure I want to go with glass packs.
The scraping issue would really suck. They sure would look cool before they got tore off though![]

[JohnM]

A company named Spintech makes mufflers that are only 2.25 or 2.5 inches thick. They are otherwise shaped like a normal muffler. They also make oval shaped tubing. They mainly supply the street rod industry, and make these designs for applications like you'd have - with limited ground clearance.

Flowmaster also has a new muffler that is smaller, and is billed as having a retro sound. If you haven't visited Flowmasters web site, you should do it just for fun. They have great sound samples to listen to. It's great entertainment for a car nut!

[DREAM2]

My friend did mention that Flowmaster had mufflers for "slammers" and that they might work. I didn't know about the oval tubing. Thanks. I'll have to ask him about that too.