Tacoma Magnaflow - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

camtaco04 · 11-06-2004, 07:05 AM

Name is Kevin. New to site. Have had my 04 TRD Tacoma X-Cab V6 5 spd for about eight months. Looking thru the threads I don't see much talk on Magnflow catbacks for Tacomas. Thinking of that as my next upgrade. Anyone have any experience or opinion on the Magnaflow catback exhaust compared to others like TRD, flowmaster, gibson...? Thanks.

F014tomcat · 11-08-2004, 12:28 AM

I put a flowmaster (original 40) on my 04, before I traded it in for the 05. All I did was swap out the muffler ONLY, and left all the piping how it was. I really enjoyed the sound, but there really was no way to feel any power gains.

camtaco04 · 11-08-2004, 06:21 PM

Magnaflow catback - I went ahead and did it. Bought one installed it after work today. Fairly easy job. I'll let everyone know what I think of it after I use it for bit.

Kevin

2tacomas · 11-10-2004, 08:40 AM

How does the magnaflow sound on the 3.4 Tacoma? -I thought about putting one on my truck but when I went to Magnaflows website and listened to the sound byte of the Nissan Frontier (somewhat comparable to the Tacoma) with the Magna Flow on it, I thought it sounded pretty lousy- very high pitched and not throaty.
I recently put a flowmaster 50 series delta (in stainless steel) on my 2004 Tacoma (Xtra-cab,3.4, auto, 4wd, TRD, ...). It sounds really good, it has a nice deep/throaty sound that does not get "whiny" at higher RPM's (the flowmaster 40 series gets alot of complaints about this). It is loud enough to get people's attention, yet the interior resonance is not annoying. I can really notice a difference in the way my trans shifts- it's much smoother and I do notice an increase in power (I also have a K&N filter installed- I highly recommend it)-although make sure you disconnect the battery after installing the K&N and any new exhaust- that way when you reconnect it, your trucks computer will reconfigure itself to the new parts which work quite differently from the stock ones. I decided to keep my truck looking pretty much stock and I only changed out the muffler- I kept the same single output (I thought about getting a dual output, but it would require a lot of work b/c there is not a whole lot of room to run a second pipe out). I highly recommend getting a flowmaster- I should have done this a few months ago when I bought the truck.

camtaco04 · 11-10-2004, 11:12 AM

The magnaflow sounds really good. It is almost stock quiet at idle with just a little throaty "V8-like" rumble. My Tac's a 5-spd, so I regularly take it thru the full rev range and it is isn't annoying or too loud. Just about right. At higher revs it doesn't sound quite like a big american V8, but hey, it is a Japanese overhead cam V6 after all!! I too, checked out the Nissan Frontier .wav clip on the website and wasn't that impressed, but it is near impossible to hear the true sound thru speakers. It's quite different in real life. All in all, nice sound and still pleasant at highway speeds.

There is a noticeable difference in how the engine revs with the magnaflow - it seems more willing. I always felt that the 3.4L V6 was 'gasping' a bit above 3000 rpm (even with a K&N filter) - not any more! It actually feels like it wants to rev to redline. And, probably mainly because of the freer revving, there feels like there is substantially more usable power (I haven't dyno'd but there really is a noticeable improvement).

Keep this in mind if anyone thinks of buying one. I installed it myself, and while it is an easy job (took 2 hours start to finish), the magnaflow tail pipe is routed differently than stock. It stumped me at first (I thought I had the wrong tailpipe in my kit! and the instructions don't mention it!!). The new tailpipe runs between the leafspring and axle - very weird!, especially on the 4x4 that may experience long spring travel. I was skeptical at first, but after I figured it out and bolted it up, there is plenty of clearance.

FINAL VERDICT - I would recommend the Magnaflow catback for the Tac. Well built stainless steel, easy to install, sounds good, actually does improve performance, warranty for life, and I can't confirm this yet, but I've been told it will improve gas mileage (if that matters!). If you are comtemplating - stop - and go buy one!! Part #15811 for 4x4 and Pe-Runner.

2tacomas · 11-10-2004, 02:03 PM

I am glad it sounds good- nothing worse than getting stuck with a system that sounds bad. I would be a little nervous about the tailpipe running between the leafspring and the axle- especially because I like to take my '04 TRD 4x4 offroad and up some rough and very rocky terrain. But, I would think magnaflow wouldn't sell it for the Tacoma unless they had tested it off-road.....I hope.