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Loud exhaust, is it just me getting old?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by wex65, Jun 6, 2013.

  1. OldColt
    Joined: Apr 7, 2013
    Posts: 504

    OldColt
    Member

    After experimenting with different mufflers, the Dynomax Super Turbo did the trick for me. Deep powerful purring tone about as loud as an old 60's muscle car from the factory. No popping, blapping, or rapping even when letting off the throttle hard. Just enough high tones to hear the rpm's. The only problem was a loud "droning" right at cruising rpm. I took the car to my old performance muffler guy and asked for his help. He asked what rpm is your drone at. He then said, OK 12,000 feet divided by 3000 rpm is 4 feet. He measured 4 feet from the exhaust ports and put little foot long resonators there. Drone was completly gone, and I am a happy camper.

    --- Steve ---
     
  2. T.L.
    Joined: May 24, 2011
    Posts: 209

    T.L.
    Member
    from Colorado

    Flowmasters sound excellent on certain cars/engines. They sound great on my buddy's '66 O.T. car and on my '73 O.T. car. They just don't sound right on traditional 'Rods & Customs. Glass-packs seem to work best for those...
     
  3. Belchfire8
    Joined: Sep 18, 2005
    Posts: 1,540

    Belchfire8
    Member

    It's all about growing up, not growing old. I loved loud anything when I was 16. Shit I took the mufflers off my Honda 160 and drove my Dad nuts. Now that I am a little more mature I know that loud doesn't mean fast or tough or anything but LOUD. I take the caps off my lakes style headers on my 429 Ford for cruise night here and that's enough, one night. I live about 200 yards from a long underpass for a bridge and everyone with loud vehicles just has to rev them in there, the Harley's are the worst, I swear they are all ridden by twelve year olds....a little courtesy man. Don't get me started on the guys using their jake brakes on their big rigs coming down the bridge or coming off the expressway, especially at three in the morning!
     
  4. RichFox
    Joined: Dec 3, 2006
    Posts: 10,020

    RichFox
    Member Emeritus

    Note the engine pictured. It's in the car I went to Bonneville with and assisted with the starting. Yes, it's loud. But I didn't mind in the context, Outside my motel room at Mo.6, two Studebaker powered cars (one a chopped 32 sedan and the other his wife I think in a roadster) running open pipes parked every night. Late. Made a big production out of it. Backed in so the pipes were pointed right at my window. Those open pipes I began to hate. The point is if you are going to run open headers on the street have some brains about what you are doing and how it is affecting your surroundings. Or, just don't be stupid. PS. Yes I am old.
     

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  5. I thought that it was just me. In my younger days an open header 41 B/gas Willy's w/ blown Hemi was like music to my ears. In the 60's I has Thrush glass packs on my ride, you could hear me before you saw me. Today, quiet is good, I guess it goes with the age. My left hear is 1/2 of what is s/b; that's the hear I use for my wife...........LOL
     
  6. Close your eyes...
    Use just your ears....

    Now they either sound good or they don't
    I don't think they sound good, i find them rather irritating. Maybe it's just because there's a mustang around here that I rarely see but hear almost everyday. I can't see what the hell is irritating my ears.
     
  7. Truckedup
    Joined: Jul 25, 2006
    Posts: 4,661

    Truckedup
    Member

    The only purpose for loud pipes on a street vehicle is so people look your way "I'm cool,dig it". Performance exhausts don't need to be super loud to make nearly open pipe power.
     
  8. teejay99
    Joined: Sep 26, 2009
    Posts: 356

    teejay99
    Member

    Phwatt ? Phwatt did ya say ??:D I'm a certified old fart and liked a nice rumble for years and years ....no , not the fight kind , the sound kind. :cool:

    But several years ago I drove an F150 Ford Lightning around ( supercharged 5.4 L ) and quite enjoyed hearing the blower whine rather than a loud exhaust . That truck could haul ass and didn't need loud exhaust to make a statement . When I do get a 55-56 F-100 , I'd like to go the same route with motor/exhaust and just hear the blower .

    T
     
  9. Pop-Rodder
    Joined: Oct 6, 2011
    Posts: 325

    Pop-Rodder
    Member

    Loud is fine if you are a young kid, it's almost expected of you...you are simply maturing into finer things
     
  10. 40FordGuy
    Joined: Mar 24, 2008
    Posts: 2,907

    40FordGuy
    Member

    I just crank the radio up...... "Quieter", Porters or Smitty's are rather mellow, not too loud, and sound good.

    4TTRUK
     
  11. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Depends on the context. If the motor is actually rowdy enough (and only about 1 in 100 qualify) that quieter, smaller exhaust systems are actually hurting power, (somewhere around 260@050 is where you cross that line) then yea, I like it. If its some weak suck drive-in motor( which probably constitutes all the "bad-ass real hot rodders" posting on this thread) with no compression and a weak-ass cam going wug, wug wug then its just lame, and sounds like a f*cking farm implement. And I have felt that way since my twenties.
     
  12. Ayers Garage
    Joined: Nov 28, 2002
    Posts: 1,382

    Ayers Garage
    Member

    I sold a table full of used Flowmasters this weekend at the swap meet. All the young guys were buying them up and asking me why I was selling them.

    I just stood there with my grey hair and smiled while they bought them all up.

    Time marches on.
     
  13. hendo0601
    Joined: Aug 24, 2013
    Posts: 288

    hendo0601
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Since I run an exhaust shop I get to hear all kinds of ridiculously loud cars. Most are the little tuner cars the kids are building these days. As loud as they are from 20 feet away I couldnt imagine having to drive one of those things! My O.T. chrysler had a beefy big block in it and DynoMax Ultra Flow mufflers...they sounded amazing!!! After a few years one of the baffles inside came loose and started rattling so I replaced them with flowmaster super 44s and I hated it. The "tinny" sound they made was annoying and the drone at cruise made me want to not drive the car. To me, I like loud, but it has to be a good loud. If your exhaust is too loud, consider installing some short resonators in conjunction with the mufflers you already have. It will still have that nice sound but it will eliminate the drone and wont be quite so loud. Running full tailpipes out the back will also quiet it down. Dumps or turndowns just bounce all of the sound energy right off the road back up into your car.

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  14. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    I ran 4" flowmaster shoot-outs on a really rowdy motor, they were HORRIBLE. All that popping and banging that the stock 5.0 crowd loves so much because it makes thier 9/1 motors sound "bad-ass" is REALLY OBNOXIOUS with 280@050 and 12.5/1. Sounded like the pipes were full of marbles. I had to wear earplugs in the car. Felt like I had a hangover after a 20 minute drive. I swapped to Dynomax bullets, still loud as hell (Like blatantly illegall, hear it from 4 blocks away loud), and actually went quicker than the "no-flowmasters", but without all the popping and banging, way less obnoxious.
     
  15. Truckedup
    Joined: Jul 25, 2006
    Posts: 4,661

    Truckedup
    Member

    At least fucking farm equipment serves a purpose :D I live in a rural area and my house is about 350 foot off the road in the woods.With nothing solid to temper the noise, slow ass low compression loud bikes and cars take what seems forever to pass on by.
    Please,if you have a slow vehicle please muffle it :D
     
  16. I played in several loud rock & roll bands in my younger days,,always cranked up (remember if you ain't good ,play loud) so my hearing ain't that great anymore but I still love a good rumble from the exhaust but loud straight pipes run me up the wall. HRP
     
  17. alfin32
    Joined: Jun 20, 2006
    Posts: 1,588

    alfin32
    Member Emeritus
    from Essex, Ma.

    Exhaust note is critical for me.
    I'm running Flowmasters II on my long running build.
    Sounds awesome at idle, and puttering around town, but not so great at cruising speed.
    I'll be re-doing it this winter.
    The problem is, you can't really tell how it's going to sound in your application, until you install them.
     
  18. Depends how critical it is I guess & no you can't tell till you install them.
    That's why I had a pile of different mufflers ( not a small investment) and bunch of pipe joints to experiment on placement and another pile of expensive band clamps to hold it together. About 3 days experimenting and building the exhaust in about 50 different configurations. I took it pretty serious for that one.
     
  19. I resemble that statement!:D
     
  20. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Actually that guy was probably def from his wife shouting in his ear. He was in a clapped out 69 impala wagon in the right lane and I was in the left lane with my front bumper even with his back bumper and she stuck her had across his face pointing to a cafe that was open on the left side of the road and he turned without looking or knowing I was there. 283 with a 30-30 cam, and Thrush side pipes.

    Back to the original subject, I think you can take two identical cars and put identical exhaust on the back to back of the mufflers and have one dump out in front of the axle either under the car or in front of the wheel and the other have tail pipes clear to the back and the one that dumps in front of the axle will drive you nuts on a road trip while the one with the full exhaust will sound great but save your sanity.

    I can remember when if you uncorked the headers on your car and cruised around with the headers open you were considered a show off asshole who thought his car wasn't garnering enough attention sitting still and now cars are built with open headers and no exhaust at all and it is considered the thing to do by many.
     
  21. hendo0601
    Joined: Aug 24, 2013
    Posts: 288

    hendo0601
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Its really tough trying to sell aftermarket exhaust, especially on an application you havent heard before. I telk my customers "buying exhaust isnt like buying shoes...if you dont like the shoes you can take them off...if you buy this exhaust and dont like it you still have to pay for it" I ended up doing and re-doing an exhaust system on an OT BMW because the owner just didnt like any of the sounds. He ended up spending nearly 600 bucks with me just to end up with his factory muffler installed back on the car. Your best bet...find someone with a similar engine setup as you that sounds good and ask the owner what it is. Some people like flowmasters, some people like purple hornies, some people like whisper quiet factory mufflers.

    Yeah, I brought back purple hornies!!!

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  22. 1great40
    Joined: Jan 1, 2008
    Posts: 485

    1great40
    Member
    from Walpole MA

    Anyone can do loud, the trick is in doing loud right. I put Flowmasters (40's) on my truck and while it idled with a very nice rumble, the minute you cracked the throttle it was LOUD and in the cab it was intolerable. I ended up with Thrush turbo mufflers, still have a rumble but at least you can hear yourself think and carry on a conversation while driving. Thankfully the Flowmasters sold for a lot more than I paid for them on ebay last week
     
  23. 39 Ford
    Joined: Jan 22, 2006
    Posts: 1,558

    39 Ford
    Member

    Years of exposure to loud noises, Guns, cars construction equipment etc. have left me 1/2 deaf not a great way to live. Take care of yourself we pay for everything we do in life.


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  24. afaulk
    Joined: Jul 20, 2011
    Posts: 1,194

    afaulk
    Member

    One of my old buds stopped by earlier on his old Harley with LOUD PIPES. He's deaf as a post and was wearing ear plugs LOL. Gotta love it!
     
  25. Engine man
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,480

    Engine man
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    I never liked loud exhaust. We found out, many years ago running engines on a dyno that loud doesn't mean more power when I was trying to find the best quiet exhaust. It often hurts engine power. Loud exhaust is for those trying to draw attention to themselves and annoy others. I always liked to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement.
     
  26. JB_roadrage
    Joined: Feb 25, 2011
    Posts: 379

    JB_roadrage
    Member

    I don't mind a loud exhaust if it has a reason to be loud... Like a big cubic inch engine with a big thumping cam, then yeah... I can dig it.... But a stockish engine with open headers, or close to it drive me nuts....
     
  27. That's why I never occupy that spot, aka drivers blind spot.
    Either lay back and stay out of it or get on the juice and get past them.
    Surprising how many people just cruise along in the blind spot oblivious to where they are.
     
  28. brandon
    Joined: Jul 19, 2002
    Posts: 6,368

    brandon
    Member

    earplugs and earphones....the rest of the noise helps clear my head. just did switch back to ramhorns and smittys...now I hear every creak and squeak in the car....:rolleyes:
     
  29. lakeroadster
    Joined: Nov 6, 2008
    Posts: 604

    lakeroadster
    Member
    from *

    How old are you :confused:.... tell us then I'll answer your question. :D
     
  30. y3
    Joined: Jul 2, 2012
    Posts: 34

    y3
    Member
    from Terrell Tx

    I run a lumpy cam,long tube headers,4 inch long baffles and open 60 inch lake pipes on my D100 daily driver..... its not loud.....its stereo!....been driven this way for a long time.

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