I need a set of mufflers for my 59 elky? its a 348 tri power. I Think I read that the longer the body of muffler, the quieter?? Or does it affect tone ? Is that right? I have forgotten? I really want deep tone. I do remember it matters the location of muffler, the size of pipe, before and after and the size of muffler tip, but not exactly what the rules of thumb is. Sorry Never mind. used search and found info i need!!
What dep tone are looking to hear? Your ride low-low or mainly stock height? A basically stock 350? I run a similar muffler style pictured here. It is on way low X-frame, and runs parallel to the frame-tucked up tight.
@B.A.KING call up Brockman Mellow Tones and tell them the sound you want and they will get what you need. Or even custom make to order what you need right here in the good ol USA. Mellow Tones are the best sounding mufflers I've ever heard on old cars.
I have 12" or 14" (can't remember) generic glass packs on my '60 Elco at the beginning of the X next to the frame and tucked. It's a 283 with a cam, they are semi blown out and it gets raspy on deceleration above 3000 rpm. My girls old '61 Bel Air had a 350 with 24" generic glass packs in the same location and it had a low rumble, but quiet. I've been running Porters on the new installs. The '41 has the offset 14" and sounds great. Look at the Porter on youTube for sound clips. You're going to get lots of different answers since exhaust tone is such a personal thing.
I like Smithy's mufflers... They have a deep sound like a Walker glass pack, but it's a little bit more throaty. The length of the muffler will vary the sound level - The placement of the muffler for and aft will affect the tone and performance. The closer to your engine, the louder the exhaust will be and it will have a higher tone... Transversely, the further away from the engine the deeper and lower the tone will be but the quieter the exhaust will be.
Hello, In 1961-62, my 58 Chevy Impala had seen its days at the local Lion’s Dragstrip. Trophies provided us plenty of memories of those good times. But, now, my brother had moved on to his college work after the year long+ recovery from the Willys Coupe accident. So, the local drive-in scene was in full force and the Impala stood out quite well. One day we were up in Los Angeles talking to our friend, the expert mechanic, with ties to just about anything automotive/hot rod parts/drag race stuff. We were talking about headers for the 58 Impala. He said that if headers were put on the Impala, it would no longer be in the A/Stock class. We would have to move to the Gas Coupe and Sedan Classes. So, he said he would do some research and come up an idea or two. Then a week later, our dad comes home with a trunk full of two tubular mufflers and accessory fittings and chrome tips. At first, they were called truck tubular mufflers from the Chevrolet dealer parts list. Then later, it was designated Corvette off road mufflers. What? Take a Corvette off road? But, we had our local muffler shop make some modifications to our muffler system and add in these two tubular mufflers. Jnaki At first, he did not have time to do the full custom piping to the rear and that he would get everything ready, partially assembled. When he was ready, we could spend the afternoon putting the finishing touches on the Impala. So, we had him weld on the tubular mufflers and drove off. Whoa! What a sound that came from just short tips on the muffler. Even with the windows up, it was as if we were rumbling in the staging area of Lion’s Dragstrip ready to make a run. When we accelerated, the sound increased to absolutely sounding like a race car coming off of the line at Lion’s Dragstrip. So, we eventually found a satisfactory RPM to mellow out the sound for the sanity of our ears. It was difficult to take the Impala out on a date, as it was hard to keep a conversation going when cruising around. The noise and shifting moments made it sound as if we were constantly racing. It certainly made everyone at the local drive-in think we just installed a 671 supercharger on our motor and decided to go into the Gas Coupe/Sedan Class. But, it was still stock and now, sounding very nice, like a full on race car. We even tried short exhaust tips in front of the rear wheels to see any improvement in sound, to no avail. A couple of weeks later, the rest of the muffler system was ready. After installation, the sound was still very strong sounding, but so much quieter with the exhaust system going out of the back below the bumper. The interior was a lot quieter and it made driving around pleasant. If one was to accelerate on a full power stomp, the overall sound was pretty outstanding for a 348 Impala. Today, there are newer versions with legal sounds for any situations. For the best performance, a straight through piping system is better than one that takes different reflections inside of a flat muffler. These never made a popping sound or the sound that the modern day Magnaflow style tubular muffler replacements make. (For shifting pauses or letting off of the gas.) Some people think it is cool, but as most know, it is those modern day cars with motors and loud mufflers that are the ones that make real hot rod guys/girls cringe. An “Idiot with a Mustang,” ( Chrysler or Camaro) with loud mufflers is/are the downfall of normal hot rod scene. YRMV https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/best-sounding-mufflers.1246375/#post-14255154
These are a little longer version of the original Corvair turbo muffler, Walker #21348 (discontinued). Ran those on several cars because of the deep mellow tone, until summonsed. I'd think that longer version would be ideal for an X-frame application.
Not cheap or purely traditional, Magna Flows are about the best all around I've heard in a long time. Nice and pleasant tone just loafing around, stomp on it, oh fkn hell yeah. Glasspacks are glasspacks are glasspacks, and then there's always glasspacks. I don't care who's name is on it or what color it is you really can't distinguish much if at all short of some high zoot sound analysis. The best of that style are sadly gone except for the occasional organ donor pricing when they show up. The original Thrush straight thru design. You could tell a block away. Nothing before or since has had that tone. Go ahead, pick on me about the glasspack thing, but somebody has to say it. I bought some generic unpainted Walker (I think) mufflers for mine because they had the right ends and size for my needs. The latest "red" mufflers were just under $70 each. These were $28 each. Other than paint I gotta say I saw no advantage to the red ones. And my opinion, ANYTHING sounds better than a fkn Flowmaster. Like a Journey song, I could go my whole life and never hear another.
Run Straight Pipes and forget about it.....................................................! Just my 3.5 cents Live Learn & Die a Fool
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