Mufflers are one thing that I would rather buy . I have Porters and they were not so expensive that I felt the need to make my own.
Because you can make it the size and shape to fit where you want. Inlet and outlet location and size as well.
What doesnt work Gearhead? The link? Reasons are that this is a rewarding diy project that came out sounding much better than the Smithys mounted before, and also I spent under 10€ doing it.
I've always wanted to make some 'mufflers'. I cut one open yesterday to see what was inside. Mufflers in quotes because I would like to leave them hollow, empty and see what they sound like.
Now Gimp, once was the time...when I conjured up something that resembled a muf-fleur! (Finance forces fabrication?) Ye, who makes his own rivets!
Not much free time, just a cool wife that likes to have me the not moaning mode. They might sound good if you deflect the sound waves like this one. I think straight flow might be too loud for a dd.
Back in the mid fifties an old circle track racer guy in Portland (Rod Love) built his wife? a '37 Ford flat back. Chev small block made all the adapters (Merc starter ring and flat plate) AND he made his own mufflers. Soooooo if you really want to be old school.......... Norm PS. It was a sleeper and it was fast.
on my beater (non- hamb) $400 old bmw straight 6 w/stick i de muffed it and put on straight pipes (that came from a junked 63 impala. what an absolutely sweet sound.... especially ripping through the gears. i did keep on the catalytic converter which muffled it ever so slightly. gonna do that again on my next whatever straight 6 or 8 (with stick) and let it sing!
When I worked at Hedman Hedders years ago we experimented with mufflers to insert into our boat header collectors. That was fun. Of course, we had all kinds of tubing and tube forming equipment to work with. Bob Hedman and I put our heads together and tried all sorts of designs. Slots, pinholes, F-glas packing, SS wool packing, buffer chambers, you name it, but it could only be 10" long. We had a Db limit we had to shoot for. Tested them at Edelbrock. They all killed the HP to a certain extent but we finally came up with a decent sounding compromise unit. I tried running them on my street car but under a car they were too loud for my taste. You certainly can make your own mufflers but there are some great mufflers out there for decent $$ (Hooker Aerochamber and Porters) so unless you are a compulsive tinkerer...................
I fabbed long mufflers for the side pipes of my Roadster. Could have bought them for sure...but I had a couple of short Cherrybombs and picked up two more barely used that matched. Cut them up and welded the bits back together into full length mufflers and added a couple of baffles at the front. Much quieter than the raspy 1 & 1/2" core junk that was on it and a better fit to the car because I made one side longer than the other to get the outlets the same distance from the tires. Added chrome turnouts and clad them in brushed stainless. Over this winter I plan to brace the GMC lever shock arms I used for rear hangers and add some early ford brake pedal pads as steps to make getting in the car easier. I really like the look and the sound...AND I made them myself to fit my car.
Thanks! They worked out really well. Have that "old" look and a small slip in leaf spring bushing fit like it was made for it. The triangular top piece is a bit homely, but I was running out of time to get the car out so they served the purpose for now. I'm gonna reshape them a little and use a different shade of silver on them this time around, but they won't be all that visible with the brake pedal pads there anyway. The little stuff never ends....hahaha
"The little stuff never ends...." Ain't that the truth, but you find some very clever workmanship in "the little stuff".
Are they any 'don't ever do's' you can share? I have a full length set made from early driveshafts I have to make something for. Any pointers you can pass along? I plan to get them coated and the baffles will have to be inside for that too. No picture but they are about 4' of the big tube.
I'm sure there are a lot of things people can share OJ! My thought would be to grab some Cherrybombs or the like and use the internal baffle & glass packing for the working bits while using your outer shafts as the housing. If you look inside the ends you will see that one end is welded to the internal baffle while the other is slip fit. Once you determine which end is which, you can decide which end is better to cut for your needs. They come apart easy. The longer you make the baffle and glasspacking, the mellower the sound will be. I went long as I like that mellow, deep sound over the sharper crackle of a shorter glasspack...but to each his own of course!
OJ, the longer your system is...the more she gro-o--o-o-ws! Suspect this isn't news. Gotta be clever to build a good support mount. The rear mount Hacker came up with looks smart!
Are you talking about straight pipes on your Yblock? Mine had too much 'bark' so I made some baffles/inserts that mellowed it just enough to avoid tickets but to leave a nice rap.
Not an Yblock, i run a 223 six. 5 different experiences so far: the OE beaten up way gone exhaust and muffler, this one fixed and gutted, a new built-by-myself exhaust line with smithys, the same but with straight pipes no muffler, and now the above posted muffler, the better so far. I guess its a keeper.
Nice job, but I agree with the others. Mufflers are so inexpensive, it seems penny-wise and dollar-foolish to spend that much time making what could be purchased for $40-50.
In the late 70s, I had a neighbor that bought at auction, a truckload of tractor mufflers of every shape and size. They were hollow and I bought a set for my 57,327 solid lift . The inlet was straight through and they were a little loud. Took em off and swapped for a set with offset inlet and outlet. Don't know why, but it changed the sound and they stayed on the car til I sold it. Wished I had another set.
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