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Quietest muffler?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by tanof, Oct 21, 2010.

  1. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    I have been searching through this forum for two hours looking for the quietest muffler. I keep getting suggestions for smithys, porters, flowmasters, whatever. but everyone is talking about a deep grumble, a mellow sound, a raspy noise from Hushpowers... A friend asked me today for a suggestion for his early 60s Caddy with a 500 in it. I told him I would look into it.

    A while back, I think it was Motor Trend for some reason, they had Borla put four mufflers on a dual exhaust system for a Caddy. They said it was quiet. My friend wants a system quiet enough to talk at a normal level on the highway and to enjoy his stereo system.

    I am figuring a dual 2.5" exhaust, with x pipe, with a pair of mufflers and a pair of resonators, or four mufflers. At the end, there will be turndowns exiting just under the rear bumper.
     
  2. Steves32
    Joined: Aug 28, 2007
    Posts: 1,280

    Steves32
    Member
    from So Cal

    Quiet?

    Loud pipes save lives! ;)
     
  3. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    Oh God!?!? Just what I did not want to hear. I need a real answer.
     
  4. 58custom
    Joined: Jan 1, 2009
    Posts: 398

    58custom
    Member

    Hows his weatherstripping? If he has any air leaks at all those quiet muffs will be a waste at freeway speeds.
     

  5. hammerstien
    Joined: Sep 16, 2010
    Posts: 49

    hammerstien
    Member

    an OEM style of mufflers off of the caddy should be nice and quiet being caddy is known for quiet right? quiet also tends to mean restrictive.
     
  6. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    Fresh interior, weatherstripping, with extra insulation on floor,hood, roof, firewall, doors, and behind rear seat. Dynamat and aluminum backed padding.
     
  7. Lone Star Mopar
    Joined: Nov 2, 2005
    Posts: 3,838

    Lone Star Mopar
    Member

    I also think OEM would be the quietest, you would have no problem talking over a stock Caddy exhuast.
     
  8. Ebbsspeed
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 6,257

    Ebbsspeed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I have some homemade mufflers on my Hemi New Yorker, similar to what Porters are. At highway speeds, there is just a barely discernable, muted rumble at the back of the car. The pipes exit at the rear, with a slight turndown. Passengers (front seat and rear) and I have no trouble at all talking/hearing at a living room volume, even when going up a long steep grade. When I press the loud petal, everything changes.
     
  9. tjet
    Joined: Mar 16, 2009
    Posts: 1,335

    tjet
    Member
    1. Early Hemi Tech

    Take a look at Dynomax Super Turbos. I think they have a 25" case model. The "X" pipes also brings down the noise level.

    Stay away from anything "chambered"
     
  10. VOETOM
    Joined: Aug 6, 2006
    Posts: 334

    VOETOM
    Member
    from MO

  11. Unsafe6
    Joined: Dec 7, 2007
    Posts: 129

    Unsafe6
    Member

    Resonators at the rear bumper make a huge difference. Mid 80s Ford Crown Victoria "police package" mufflers are an overlength turbo style muffler with a 2 1/4" inlet outlet and are really quiet for a perfomance type. those cars also used resonators at the very rear of the system.
     
  12. Retro Jim
    Joined: May 27, 2007
    Posts: 3,854

    Retro Jim
    Member

    A hotrod with quiet mufflers ?????

    Come on now , this is a hotrod forum , so make them loud and be proud !

    Retro Jim
     
  13. 1936hotrod
    Joined: Mar 13, 2009
    Posts: 136

    1936hotrod
    Member
    from RI/CT

    I sneak around at nite for my job and the best were 67 Chrysler mufflers from a newport 440 i think...also walker guarantee so 15 year and 3 sets for FREE.
     
  14. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    The problem with the stock exhaust is that it is a single 2 1/4" slowly rusting away. At idle you can not hear a thing. I accidentally restarted the car while it was running and got that horrible grinding noise. The dual 2 1/2" pipes will provide the flow we need to use the power of the warmed up 500 ci engine. Paired with the insulation we added, we are planning for the the noise level to be way, way down compared to my car with headers, 2 1/2" duals, h-pipe, and low clearance three chamber Flowmasters - pipes exiting straight out under the bumper.

    By the way, it is a hot rod, but will be considered a sleeper. No one will know what is under the hood, even when it passes you by.
     
  15. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 8,492

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

    Top of my head..68/69' Chrysler imperial...2.5/2.5 single exhuast with resonator..Just use two of each, plenty quiet and free flowing..
     
  16. I bought a pair of Thrush turbos mufflers ($25 each) from Summit.I bought them for the mean time for my 51.The glasspacks got a little annoying.Well to my surprised they sound great.The engine tone was perfect and when I open up it sounds good. I think they might stay on for a while
     
  17. Dave K
    Joined: Jan 31, 2006
    Posts: 344

    Dave K
    Member

    OEM is going to be the quietest. I have ringing in my ears that gets really bad when I am around loud sounds (I know it really sucks) so I had to put an OEM muffler on my truck. The OEM muffler is really quiet but the lack of breathing really robs some HP/RPMs
     
  18. On the Divco 502 it has 3 inch exhaust all the way.

    I used the OEM Mufflers off the SS 454 1990 Chevy.

    Three in and out, very quiet, for a warmed over 502.

    All I could hear was the Headers, at WOT (wide open throttle)
    Had no drone, at speed none at all.

    What Does Exhaust Drone Sound Like?<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
    <HR SIZE=1 itxtvisited="1"><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --><!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start --><!-- END TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start --><!-- google_ad_section_start -->There is a lot of talk about exhaust drone . I know I've read one person claiming they have no exhaust drone and another with the same exhaust claiming they have considerable drone. The subject of drone is not SUBJECTIVE as some may claim. It's either there or it isn't. There is drone and there is exhaust SOUND. They are two different things. If a certain make/model of muffler or catback is causing drone for one person it also will cause it for another on the same type of vehicle unless there is some type of problem with installation that is causing an exhaust leak. Since it is obvious that some people to not understand or realize what exhaust drone is, they then don't think they have any.

    Some people seem to think drone is only something you experience at highway speeds above 50 mph. It's not. If you are getting drone at
    high speeds on the highway, your also getting it at lower speeds around town. Speed doesn't matter, it's the RPM range that matters. It's in the 1500-2000 RPM range that drone usually happens when the engine is under a load and that can be at a variety of speeds depending on what particular gear the transmission happens to be in at the time.
    I ran across a video clip on you tube that is a good example of what drone actually is. The clip is of a Nissan Titan with a Flowmaster 50 Delta Flow model muffler installed. It makes no difference what brand of vehicle, you can spend time on forums of any brand of
    truck and see plently of discussion on the subject of exhaust drone. I'm not picking on this particular muffler. I chose this clip simply because you can clearly hear what drone sounds like and to help people to be able to identify it and possible cut down on the confusion of what is and what isn't drone.
    http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/performance-exhaust-systems/118521-what-does-exhaust-drone-sound-like/
     

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    Last edited: Oct 22, 2010
  19. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,979

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I'd think that dual 2-1/4 pipes with Oem Caddy style mufflers would give plenty of flow and still have a bit of a burble at the back. I don't know what my coworkers 2009 Escelade has but that rig has a nice rumble to it and is quiet as hell inside with the windows up and it packs 403 hp that are all there.
    I can agree with 1936hotrod on the mid 60's 440 Chrysler mufflers too. I had a 68 Newyorker that walked and talked but was quiet as hell.
    I've stated it time and again before and I'll say it again. I'll go for a sweet sounding set of pipes every time over loud.
     
  20. JeffB2
    Joined: Dec 18, 2006
    Posts: 9,501

    JeffB2
    Member
    from Phoenix,AZ

    At one time a popular muffler was the "Hemi Turbo" muffler used in 1968-70 Mopars I think Walker still lists them and are available at NAPA,very quiet with a mellow purr if you add the balance tube it will quiet it even more and they are not very restrictive from tests that were in several mags,Thrush had their version but discontinued them in the late 80's.
     
  21. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    I searched Ebay and other sites for Chrysler Imperial muffler. Ebay did the weirdest thing where I kept getting 34 results whether I put Chrysler Imperial or Imperial. The titles of the mufflers changed, but looking at the pics, they were mostly rice burner mufflers. None looked like turbo mufflers. One was for a 30 something Imperial though. Yahoo Search found me more sites talking about mufflers than the sale of an actual muffler.

    Thrush has a longer 25" turbo muffler for around $35. Dynomax mentions that its X-pipe muffler is the quietest, but there is no place to put a muffler in the center of the car. It also has a 25 to 28 inch turbo muffler. But its style is a straight pipe versus Thrush's S shaped flow pattern. Flowmaster says that its Big Block II mufflers are the quietest, but I have never heard of a really quiet Flowmaster. I call my system, "relatively quiet at low rpm". It sounds like a submarine in Red October or Crimson Tide.
     
  22. Phil1934
    Joined: Jun 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,716

    Phil1934
    Member

  23. Have you looked into Spin Tech mufflers? We used to run them on our sprint cars and supermodified. VERY quiet exhaust note. Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL75_zQbWiY

    A lot of the performance guys don't run them because they make a big engine TOO quiet...go figure.
     
  24. RustyNCA
    Joined: Feb 18, 2009
    Posts: 410

    RustyNCA
    Member

    You have probably never heard of them, yet. But FloJo mufflers have a really nice tone and don't seem to have that drone like a flowmaster.

    I switched to a set of FloJo bulliet mufflers on my 2000 Camaro and it made all the difference in the world.

    Ron used my Camaro as one of his R&D mules, loved the sound it gave the car.

    I don't know how or where you get them, since the creator of them is a good friend of mine, I just get them from him directly....

    Here is his site ... http://www.flojomufflers.com/

    Cheers
    RustyNCA
     
  25. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    Are FloJos mufflers or someone's artwork with pipes? Never seen anything like it before. How does the core diameter affect the volume of the exhaust? What would be their quietest muffler? I bought some stuff from Spintech before, their oval pipes, not their mufflers. I will try to call them next week about noise levels.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2010
  26. BobbyD
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 581

    BobbyD
    Member
    from Belmont NC

    For my money the auto-zone turbo's are quiet enough, and around $18 bucks each, but I'm a jobber with them, may cost you a few bucks more. Sound good at WOT but fairly quiet at cruising speeds and come in many different inlet-outlet sizes and configurations.
     
  27. Gotgas
    Joined: Jul 22, 2004
    Posts: 7,177

    Gotgas
    Member
    from DFW USA

    As a general rule, the larger the muffler, the quieter it will be. The larger diameter, the lower the exhaust note. Find a pair of oem late model oem v8 truck mufflers, they're cheap, sound nice yet quiet, no droning, good performance, and well-made - usually out of stainless.
     
  28. Astrochimp
    Joined: Sep 15, 2009
    Posts: 191

    Astrochimp
    Member
    from NE Mo.

  29. tanof
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 107

    tanof
    Member
    from New Mexico

    I was looking for that!. I have his book, but it is in storage somewhere. Has anyone used resonators and know the sound difference between the mufflers alone and the mufflers with resonators?
     
  30. VOETOM
    Joined: Aug 6, 2006
    Posts: 334

    VOETOM
    Member
    from MO

    Tanof, I wrote that chapter in Dad's book. :):)
    Tom (Hand)
     

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