We just picked up a 61 T-Bird vert and I wanted to give it some kind of a rumble. I was thinking of glass packs, Cherry Bombs or Flowmasters. What do you think?
Flowmasters?! YUK! I think I just threw up a little in my mouth! Flows belong on 66 & up Chevelles, any Camaros, Mustangs, etc... I'd go with Blue Streaks or Cherry Bombs. Maybe even Smithys.
Straight pipes? Ha ha ha! I may take off the mufflers and piss my neighbors off. F-em if they can't take a joke! Ha ha ha!!!
straight pipes usually sound like shit. All noise, no tone and usually on the most anemic emissions v8s and 6s around. A nice set of Cherry Bombs, Smithys or Brockman steel packs will be plenty loud without making you look like a douchebag
Had Smitty's on my '41 and they were nice and mellow. Have Cherry Bomb's on my '31 and they're obnoxious as hell (just right!). Put a set of Mellowtones on my dad's '32 and I'm SOLD on them! Sound soooo nice, great off-throttle cackles, just perfect!!! I don't think I'll buy anything else but Mellowtone's from now on! Remember though, everyone hears but "good sound" is subjective. Listen to other cars and find what you like best. A flathead does NOT sound the same as a SBC or FE through the same set of mufflers... unless it's a Flowmaster. yawn.
1/2 the cars Ive seen on the street with straight pipes sound like outboard motors........cherrybombs are the shit if ya cant find old purple hornies
SMITHY'S. Thye come in different sizes to get the sound you want. More importantly does your Helms Truck have that special smell that got us all excitied as kids? Nothin else in the world smelled like it, must have been the combination of the wood and the donuts!
My 1962Thunderbird sounds great with the exhaust on it. I have duel pipes that have 2 1/4 inch pipes from the engine to just over the rear axle and then 3 inch pipes the rest of the way. There is also flowmaster mufflers on it.
Well, go with your gut, when I want to make something obnoxious, but not loud and snappy like a straight pipe, I use Cherry Bombs or SuperTraps. They both keep that tone when at low rpm, but awaken with the breath of a dragon when you rev 'em up.
Go for glass packs. Get the short ones like 12" or 18" I think. And have them installed close to the front of the car like under your seat. It will have a very good rumble to it and a good cackle when you put your foot in it.
In my opinion, flowmasters are for big cube high rpm. Some guys think 2 1/2" or 3 " piping is cool but they decrease low end torque and significantly decrease fuel mileage. Any small diameter straight muffler through sounds better and performs better for a street cruiser. The shorter the louder. If you really want to rap the pipes and set off car alarms with 2" exhaust, use shorty resonators which is what I have on the 41 chopped sled coupe.
First,Congratulations on buying the Tbird! It looks really clean in the pics. Please,Do NOT put Flowmasters on your '61. Go with glass packs or Smitty's. Or what I did This ties in with your post about the dash light question, ( http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363332 ) I had my Gen go bad while I was driving. When it backfired a couple of times,I "blew up" the stock mufflers. It looks like I used a can opener on them! Now it has a nice "semi-open" exhaust sound to it
Go with porter mufflers, there vintage and they sound great. I recently sent so-cal a set that there putting on Billy Gibbons T-Bird there building for him.
cherry bombs are decent and cheaper than just about anything else. they get better with age, too. smithy's will sound right too, just no flowmasters. flowmasters don't even sound good on muscle cars--you might as well put a borla muffler on the bird.
Short Blue Streaks sound sick... but, I've heard cheapy Cherry Bombs on stock SBCs and they raaaaap nice too. But what do I know? I run straight pipes now. -ns
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