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Hello all, I wanted to put up a review for the Magnaflow (part no. 16823) exhaust for the Evo X. I know there are a few out there, but they all seem to be missing either videos, pics, or full details... So I am going to attempt to make my own version, with as much info as possible for those looking into this exhaust system. I did a fair bit of shopping around prior to picking up the Magnaflow.
My criteria
I wanted an exhaust that met the following criteria:
-Affordable -Easy to get my hands on (I work in the automotive industry) -Had to be 3" (Sorry Borla) -Wanted dual exit, although I did look at singles too but see below: -Wanted a factory/OEM look -Needed to not have much, if any drone -Quiet at idle and cruising (I grew out of 6:30AM cold starts irritating everybody from my straight pipe DSM days)
The car
Here is what I have: 2008 GSR, driven about 120 miles daily. Car currently has 135k, and the exhaust has been on for about 12-15k miles. So this isn't one of those "I installed it yesterday and I like it lol" reviews. I had a few months of listening to it daily to give out my opinion. The car is basic, has an Injen intake, UR UICP, and a Cobb AP with an OTS stage 2 flash. The exhaust consists of:
-AMS "widemouth" downpipe -3" test pipe -MF 16823 CBE
The cat-back
Out of the box, the catback was well packed. Muffler and tips were heavily wrapped to not get damaged, and the rest of the box has plenty of packaging material to keep it safe. In itself it's a pretty basic exhaust. No fancy shiny piping, only the muffler and tips are polished, although it's all stainless. Feels sturdy and solid, although it is lighter than the factory exhaust. The hangers are nice and thick, and the exhaust doesn't flop around when the car is driving. Fitment is excellent, nothing hits the bottom of the car, with plenty of ground clearance (Car is also on Swift springs, so a slight drop...nothing crazy).
There is a couple of things about this system that I can say I do not particularly like:
-Slip on/clamp fit. I think the exhaust would've been nicer if it just had standard flanges. I had no problem with the clamp by the diff, but the one right on the muffler gave me some issues and has a slight leak. Something I will probably just get welded. -Necks down to 2.5" at cat. This I understand, as it's designed to bolt up to the factory cat. Luckily if you want a full 3" this is a simple fix. Cut off the 2" or whatever long section of 2.5" and flange, and weld it straight to 3" pipe which is what I did in this case. The test pipe is welded straight to it, with only the one 3" 2-bolt flange mating to the 3" AMS downpipe.
Muffler/Tips
I wanted to make a small section on this just to go over the muffler. It's a single 3" in, dual 2.5" out polished straight through muffler. If I am not mistaken, this is the same muffler they use in the Camaros which have similar exhaust routing. Part number on this muffler is 14267. It's a nice muffler, and definitely does a good job at keeping the noise down considering there is no other resonator or muffler along the entire length of the car. The tips are nice as well, really subtle round tips. They are resonated as well...Which not only adds a nice touch (in my opinion) but also makes it look extremely "factory" to anybody that doesn't know how stupid the stock tips look on these cars.
The sound
Soundwise, I want to say it sounds really sporty. Cold idle it has a nice little rumble, however not enough to upset anybody at 6:30 AM when I pull out of the garage. Warm idle it's quiet. Inside the car it can barely be heard, from the outside (back & sides) you can hear it. From the front, if you're 15 feet away you can hear the injectors ticking and hardly hear the exhaust.
Cruising around, you can hear it's there but it's by no means loud. On the highway you can hear it due to the X's buzzy nature, but again it's not loud. The road noise is probably louder, although you can still hear the exhaust. Windows up you can have a conversation at normal voice levels inside the car. Drone? Virtually nonexistent.
At WOT though, this thing wakes up and sounds extremely nice. You can most definitely hear it coming from blocks away when its under full boost. It has a really clean, yet deep and loud sound. But it's not raspy one bit, for lack of a better word it's not "offensive" and extremely tasteful both in quality of sound and loudness.
I will rate it here to the best of my ability. Let's do a scale of 1-10, 1 being stock Evo X and 10 being a full straight pipe turbo Mitsubishi...
It has the odd crack & pop here and there between shifts. The muffler does a good job keeping these quiet but sometimes they are just loud, it's in the X's nature
Performance
I don't have any dyno data or hardcore evidence, but I have been around turbo Mitsubishis for almost a decade and I can honestly say the car woke up after the CBE & test pipe. Even on the Cobb stage 1 flash it had at the time, the turbo spooled quicker and hit harder and the car just seemed more happy through the entire rev range. About a week after the exhaust I put the Stage 2 flash on and it further increased the car's response and power. By how much, I don't know. But the butt dyno says there is something to be gained (even on the same tune, by doing just the exhaust)
Things to note
Keep in mind this is my review on the exhaust. I do have a full 3" turbo back, so if you're looking to keep your factory downpipe and cat, some of the points above might be different. I can see the car being even quieter with the factory cat, so if you're looking for a quiet cat-back this will definitely do.
Conclusion
I wanted to do this review because when I was shopping around for this exhaust and comparing it to others, I couldn't get any solid info on it. Some loved it, others didn't like it. Some said its loud, others said it's just like stock. Hopefully this will shed some light on those searching in the future. I am really happy with the exhaust system front to back, after all these miles and all the seat time. Sounds nice in my opinion, its loud when it needs to be, and blends in rank & file when needed. Comfortable to commute 120 miles in daily, comfortable on 650 mile long weekend trips, and it looks good. No fartcan to attract unwanted attention from cops and local ricers, yet still flows more than enough for my goals and needs. I think the muffler works hard and does an amazing job taming down the 4B11T, considering there is no other resonator or muffler but the one out back.
With that being said, this exhaust is not for you if you want something loud.
Videos
I apologize for the quality of both, these are all I have. Both WOT pulls, I will have to get a few better videos and post them as the time goes.
My friend drove in this first one. I guess the limiter creeps up a bit quicker than it does in his GSX.
It's been over a year since I put this exhaust on the car, and I must say I still like it and it's still very much there. However, a few things have changed. Over the winter I went from a basically stock car to a full bolt on, FP Black car. The stock (and cracked) exhaust manifold was replaced with an AFI tubular which is ceramic coated & wrapped, the turbine housing is ported and ceramic coated as well, and the cast AMS downpipe was replaced by a tubular screamer pipe, also coated & wrapped.
The sound did change a little bit, I have yet to wind it out and hit full boost as I'm waiting to get it tuned. But just driving around casually, there is more cabin noise and more drone where as before it was almost nonexistent. A little bit raspier, but really good sound wise. I will keep this thread updated as the car gets tuned and get comparison videos for you guys looking!
Great post. Do you have any updates after your tune? I'm looking into buying this exhaust.
Thanks.
I actually ended up replacing the exhaust and going with a single exit. Plans fully changed for the car over the years - what I initially intended to keep as a stock car with very mild bolt-ons, ended up having an FP Black hanging off the engine with all the supporting mods making twice the power it once did. Once I chose to go down that road, I went with a single exit for a little more noise and less weight. I also moved, so the early morning/late night come & goes are a lot less of an issue.
I do however still have the Magnaflow at the shop. I might go back to it some day, as I still really like the exhaust.
I actually ended up replacing the exhaust and going with a single exit. Plans fully changed for the car over the years - what I initially intended to keep as a stock car with very mild bolt-ons, ended up having an FP Black hanging off the engine with all the supporting mods making twice the power it once did. Once I chose to go down that road, I went with a single exit for a little more noise and less weight. I also moved, so the early morning/late night come & goes are a lot less of an issue.
I do however still have the Magnaflow at the shop. I might go back to it some day, as I still really like the exhaust.
Thanks for the reply back. Was afraid that the post was so long ago that you may not answer. Looking to sell it? hahahaha.
Thanks for the reply back. Was afraid that the post was so long ago that you may not answer. Looking to sell it? hahahaha.
I try to stay active around here. I don't have facebook and I hear the car groups are full of morons. So I frequent the forums And I could, yeah. You can PM me if you wish.
Nice write up and thanks for sharing . I have ETS Extreme and just ordered this Magnaflow exhaust as I no longer can take the loudness of ETS. I can tell you based on experience on other platforms Magnaflow makes quality exhaust and is made in USA not China.
Last edited by vegasmartin; Jan 26, 2019 at 11:36 AM.
I still have the Evo. Went from the Magnaflow in the review to a Tsudo single 3” after which I ditched that for a custom 3.5” from the downpipe back with a bit more of a stealth look compared to the Tsudo fart can.
Anyways, reason for the update... I ended up with a 2009 Ralliart in my possession. And it happens to have this exhaust on it. Well, it’s very similar minus the tips and the spacing at the back. It’s Magnaflow part number 15597 I believe. Came with a 3” test pipe as well as a 3” downpipe, and I think it sounds really good as the initial exhaust sounded on my Evo when it was close to stock.
It ticks all the original boxes that the original post mentions, on the Evo. So anybody with a Rallifart that’s looking for a good exhaust. I recommend this one!
Well ladies and gentlemen! I have an update on this exhaust. It’s still here with us.
Its been over 8 years since I bought it brand new. It was on my summer only 2008 Evo for a few years, I then sold it to a local friend with a 2013 MR. He ended up selling the car eventually, and somehow ended up buying it back very recently. The guy he sold it to winter drove it for years. The exhaust is still on the car, and it’s at my shop currently for a full fluid change, SST teach in, etc so I snapped a few pics to see the progress of the Magnaflow exhaust after 8 years, about half of that being beaten daily through the rust belt here in Southern Ontario.
This evo has a stock cat now (test pipe when I had it on my car) but despite its crusty looks now, it still sounds really good even after all this time. Enjoy!
