I had ram horns ,2 1/4 exhaust through glass packs out the rear with a 300 hp sbc and it just sounded like a fishing boat to me .i hate glass packs if you want your motor to sound like a tractor make sure to run those. Now my ot truck with its 11:1 roller motor sounds good with flowmasters but it was built to actually go fast (and it does) most of the cars on this forum aren't really about power but more a style so just go with what you like .if you like tractors go glass packs and manifolds.
My wife does that, usually while shes also tailgating the car in front of her, so if/when it DOES go bad, her ONLY option will be to hammer the brakes and steer into the curb. Drives me apeshit...
I like a nice mellow sound.......noise is just that, after working around rivet guns and jet engines for 33 years, what little noise I can hear is just noise.
I don't think it's you getting old, just wiser. You're old enough to realize that hearing loss is real and it's something that can happen to you. I was using lake style headers with baffels. The open headers were near my door/window so that noise was blasting me in the ears. Not to mention the exhaust was entering the cabin of my car. I would arrive at car shows high from CO, stinking like exhaust, and ears ringing. That took a lot of fun out of it. I ran exhaust from the dumps on the headers out the back of the car. (just straight pipes) Car is still loud but very tollerable and it sounds great. No more loud noise blasting my ears, no more exposure to CO, and I don't stink like exhaust. It has made driving the car a lot more fun. It was mentioned earlier in this thread that "Loud exhaust can prevent accidents". I agree with this! That was one of the reasons I liked my loud exhaust. My car is small and people don't see me coming....but they could hear me coming, I felt safer. Run exhaust off your headers, under your car, straight pipes out the back ...you'll be happy you did.
X2, and I've been around since the days when my next door neighbor bought a new '56 Ford and got stopped by the local cops here with STOCK factory dual exhaust on the 292 Y block.
when you get older they sucks, when I was younger it was great couldnt get enough of the trshing roar in massachusetts there trying to pass a bill to ban loud exhaust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YB404ILJZY&feature=youtube_gdata That's my roadster with Speedway "Roadster Headers" and 3.5" collectors on 355" SBC with 9.7:1 comp. and 240* @.050 lift Comp. cam. I have "Spiral Turbo" baffles in the extensions. Since the video was taken the car has had one Sat. afternoon on the street, met a cop car driven by a female cop at an intersection on a narrow 2 lane street, waved at her and she grinned and waved back! Found some problems with the car in that tryout afternoon and back surgery and another surgery for a broken wrist have kept me from completing the work needed. But I'm concerned that a "gung ho" cop will decide to be a badass and ticket me, just cause he can. And then you really gotta quieten things down a lot to get back on the street. So I've been looking at the Speedway oval track exhaust stuff and they have a cone shaped, perforated baffle deal,goes in collector just behind header pipe merger, the increased surface area from the cone shape allows so many holes that the sq." area of all the holes combined is more than the sq" area of the collector. Thinking of installing those to go with the "Spiral Turbo" baffles. Helluva job to get this setup a whole lot quieter.
I have a little 12" bodied glasspack on my '40 stake truck. The stock flathead and peashooter sized exhaust pipe, carrying all the way out the back, cause me to barely hear it when I am driving. The coupe, on the other hand, has a set of 22" cherrybombs. When I first had the exhaust put in the car, it had turbos, but it didn't sound like a hot rod. I cut those off and temporarily clamped the glasspacks in place, but 4 years later, have yet to take it back to a shop for tail pipes.
Solid or hyd? Videos can be a little misleading, but I's actually surprised just how quiet that is. I've never actually used those spiral inserts, sounds like they work pretty good.
The more I look into exhaust, the more I find the current state of affairs perplexing. There are a whole host of companies that try to sell mufflers based on slight differences in the internal construction and methods used for attenuating sound ... without any reference to which bands of sound those mufflers attenuate, without specifying if they are best used on a V8, V6, I4, single or dual exhaust, tailpipe length, rear end gear ratio, and type of driving. In other words, all advertising focuses on the LEAST relevant aspects of the exhaust design and IGNORES the most important aspects. No wonder nobody can find exhaust they like without trial and error. As usual, the factory engineers are 2 or 3 or 10 steps ahead of the herd of wannabe customizers. When someone wants an exhaust that sounds "almost like stock," they usually are best served with an exhaust that looks "almost like stock". It's sad to think of all the effort wasted reinventing the wheel.
I always thought the most important aspect was how much power it cost me relative to optimized open headers, but then, I'm not really a HAMBer, I'm a "musclecar guy"...
It's sad to think of all the effort wasted reinventing the wheel. I agree completely. There is a lot of R&D that goes into aftermarket exhaust parts these days, and everyone has different tastes as to what sounds good. Case in point: A little old lady brought in an el camino last week that had Flowmaster 10 series mufflers on it (basically the loudest muffler ever made that still qualifies as a "muffler") and she said she couldnt even drive the car because it was too loud. I agreed with her and cut them off and put some 24" long glasspacks turned around the wrong way (this makes them resonators) and when I fired it up she was so happy! Turns out it was her husbands El Camino that he sold years ago and he recently passed away and she found it again and bought it. In the meantime the young guy had butchered the suspension in order to lift it and put 24" wheels on it and installed those flowmasters. He probably thought it sounded great and looked even better riding 3' off the ground on those huge wheels. I thought it was ugly as sin and loud as hell, but with a little help from my trained ear and experience i got it sounding good again. This just goes to show you that your exhaust sound should be what you want it to be, and if someone thinks your car is too loud...they are entitled to their opinion.
George, the lifters are flat tappet solid and the rockers are Comp Cam chrome moly roller 1.5:1, I'm not a fan of hydraulic lifters in a modified engine. Just old fashioned, I guess. As for the Spiral Turbo Baffles, I talked to the guy who developed and patented them and who now owns and runs the company before I dropped the cash for them, and he was a little concerned about the 3.5" collectors and extensions making them a little too loud. I'm happy with them as they are, good deep tone with no blaring, raspy sounds. Thinking of drifting over on one of the oval track forums and asking about the perforated cones I mentioned to seee if anyone has tried them. My concern is cops and the fact that if I get hassled about too loud by the cops, it ain't just a matter of changing mufflers with my setup!
Old fashioned, or experienced? I couldn't hear any lifter noise on the video, but guessed, based on 240@050 and the idle quality. As far as I'm concerned hyd. cams are for trucks, not performance vehicles. Lemme see, better idle, more idle vacuum and more rpm, and all I have to do is pull the valve covers once in a while? I'll stick with solids thanks. I'm putting a pretty similar custom grind 240/245 solid in the 327 in my O/T Chevy II.
I have flow master on the 47 but I put so much dynamat in along with telling the custom exhaust guy that I want it quiet inside. I do know when I get on it, its loud but thats what people tell me. I think the Megs tips amplify the sound which is more like a blat blat.... Now my RR is completely different its too freaking loud, I'm looking for old school hemi muffers for it. Very loud drone, with the flowmaster.
My buddy and I agreed this weekend in Kalamazoo that open headers = small penis. My tolerance for loud exhaust is getting smaller. My weiner hasn't gotten any l\bigger, but my cars are a little quieter these days. Brian
What we really need is a poll on the loud exhaust question, that is arranged by age. I don't know how to do that. But I think it would be interesting.
And by engine type. I'll bet theres a strong correlation between otherwise stock six banger chevies and straight pipes...
Sat ci sat bene: “It is done quickly enough if it is done well.” Latin Proverb Hmmm.^^ ~80K miles daily driver only vehicle '49 half ton '56 235 6 cylinder, Fentons, 'x-pipe', 2x30" cherry bombs, strong, mellow sound.
I used to like loud but now. I like a mellow rumble on a weekend car. I like my daily driver completely quiet. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I like my cars quieter now. [55yrs old]. I really like a big thumpy solid lifter cam and quiet pipes.
I am a little on the older side and still enjoy some fairly load exhaust note. However some can be really annoying, so adjust to your own comfort level and screw the ones that don't like the way your sound. ~sololobo~
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