I have installed the Magnaflow muffler on my wife's Xfire. It was several hours of work as she wanted to retain the OEM exhaust tips and to keep it looking stock from the rear. (Note: If it had been my choice, knowing what I know now, I would have bought some aftermarket stainless tips from Magnaflow that were staight, as the OEM's are on "S" curved pipes. This added a complication to the cutting and fitting.) I made a short test flight on the car after the installation and the sound is sweet. In my opinion, this is how the car should have sounded new from the factory. Not loud, but with a low rumble, that says, "IT'S ALIVE!!!". I was pleasantly surprised that there was no resonance or drumming inside the car that I could detect even up to the max speed that I went, about 90 mph. We live out in the country and running it through the gears (Yes, she wanted a six speed.), nighttime with the windows up or down, it has a wonderful exhaust tone.

It was a little labor intensive, but after laying the OEM pipe and muffler out on a large piece of butcher paper and tracing it on my shop floor, it was easy to decide where to cut, section, and reweld the exhaust pipe to attach the Magnaflow muffler in place of the original muffler. I tryed cutting the pipe with a metal cutting blade in a SawsAll, but it became quickly apparent, that was not going to work. The pipe is very hard. Out came the Plasma Cutter which made quick work of the job. A few tack welds to temporarily hold it together to allow fitting back under the car to check alignment (Yep, had to make some minor adjustments). When the alignment was satisfactory, it was removed for the final mig welding and installation. I fabricated the rear hangers from 3/8 inch steel rod bent to the proper shape to hang from the OEM rubber hangers under the car body.

The wife is as happy as a "little meadow lark" now that her car sounds like it should.