For the longest time I have been wanting either an RSR exmag or the real mugen exhaust but have been putting it off because of the price. Normally the flowmaster would not be my first choice on a car such as the prelude (especially when the spell VTEC v-tech on their own website), but with a price tag slightly above $200 I am willing to give it a try...and here is my review.
See it on their website here:
1997 - 2001 Honda Prelude 2.2L V-Tech [17336] : Flowmaster Inc. Exhaust Shop, Love That Sound!
I purchased it off of a vendor on ebay because it was cheapest on there, and I got it faster than I could have ordered it from my local shop anyways (summit racing). It came nicely packaged and included all of the following:
A 60 series muffler with piping already welded up to the rear exhaust flange
A new gasket for the flange and a lock for the middle exhaust hanger
A stainless steel tip
Installation was simple, except for the stock nuts that had to be torched off by my local shop
. If your bolts and nuts are too rusted you may need to do the same.
On initial startup I was shocked at how DEEP this muffler is...it resonated throughout the entire garage and gave a nice deep clean tone. After letting it warm up for a few minutes I gave it a few small revs and noticed that it was even deeper coming down in rpms back down to idle. While driving it for the first time it sounded very nice from the inside, not too loud but enough to know that this isn't stock exhaust anymore. It gives a nice deep rumble on takeoff and low rpms, but as you start to step on it and get to 4-5k and VTEC, it almost gets quieter and there is no rasp whatsoever. Once the car got fully warmed up (about 10 mins of driving) I noticed that the exhaust was noticeably louder (much deeper from the inside). I don't think that exterior noise was much different but it seemed to drone on the inside unless there was NO load on the engine. As soon as I gave it the slightest bit of gas a resonating rumble would come from the trunk. I
might have an exhaust leak from the flange so I don't know if this is causing this or the muffler is just this deep.
I can't comment on the performance too much because I wasn't expecting this to really give me any gains (we all know that the H22 isn't very responsive to bolt-ons). I feel that it may have improved my low to mid range though, making it a little easier to daily drive on. But of course this could all be false impressions from the butt-dyno
.
Visually the tip looks like the RSR exmag tip, big enough to look aggressive but not so big as to look over-done, and it snugs up nicely to the bumper. The muffler is coated black so it is a pretty low profile look.
Overall I am very pleased with this exhaust. If anything it provides a cheap solution to hold me over until I can afford a true catback such as the RSR or mugen. I am mindly annoyed at the interior noise after it is warmed up, but I have never had an aftermarket exhaust before and am not a big fan of loud exhausts in general. If you like a DEEP tone to the car that doesn't rasp I would highly recommend this system.
I have compiled a collection of videos to try and give an overall impression of this muffler:
YouTube - New Flowmaster Vids
Cliff Notes:
Pros: Nice deep tone, no rasp at higher RPMs. Sleek and low profile but still aggressive look.
Cons: Once warmed up this exhaust resonates a deep tone into the cabin at low RPMs (unless that doesn't matter to you).
Linear Mode
