The thrush turbo mufflers have a great sound when you have a decent motor in front of them. Have them on an OT c10 with a 454. Love the deep sound
The cops, they be hatin' on loud noises, unless it's coming from the stereo (???). My first OT new car, had 16 inch Cherry Bomb's on it. I thought it sounded good, but the Lynnwood Police Department did't (Officer Joe Bruce, you can still kiss my *ss; I guess that attitude is what happens when you marry the Police Chief's DAUGHTER-and she was a real heifer at that). Then the so-called, "fart can exhaust", of the tuner generation, is OK I guess. A little noise is fine and dandy with me; the Harley riders have it right, you have to be HEARD before you can be SEEN. Straight exhaust, and just plain obnoxious loud, is a whole different thing. There's got to be a little rumble, if you want to tumble. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I had a '65 Chevy C30 PANEL TRUCK of all things with a warmed over 283 and headers. The maiden voyage I went out with no hood and open headers. I got it moving and saw a cop sitting in his car, he was looking all over to see where the noise was, never associated it with my truck. Now the cops ride around with their windows closed almost all the time, they have yet even to look at my Ford on the road. But I had to quiet it down in order to be able to talk in the car and hear the other person.
I've had Cherry Bombs on my 58 Chevy 350 since the early 90's, and are still quiet (all the way out back). When I bought the 63 Galaxie, it had 10" straight through 'mufflers' on the back. I put Cherry Bombs on in their place, and it has a nice quiet rumble.
The X pipe quieted it down considerably. It's actually louder IN the car (because of the dumps) than it is outside.
http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/71094050_1.jpg I run these guys. Good sound. Loud only at WOT. Moroso race mufflers. 3 inch in and out. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That was the year that I installed my first Chery Bomb. And the year that I got my first excessive noise ticket. Go figure. The old tin Thrush mufflers were cool I liked them real well and they were cheap. The other popular muffler ( I think in the '70s) were Cyclone Purple Horneys. They actually seems to make more noise than no muffler at all.
Walker Dynomax #17749... I have these in my Ford for about a year. Already they are getting noisier but not as bad as the glass packs. These have a good sound to them.
I have Powerstick mufflers on my '50. Shaped like a glasspack, sounds loud and rumbly. My '51 had glasspacks on it and they were too loud, IMO. Never had any GOOD glasspacks...
Much of what determines a muffler's noise level results from the engine's state of tune. An example is the Brockman Mellow Tone glass packs I run on two flatheads. The stock '51 239 has a nice familiar '50s "mellow" tone, while the '32's built 286 has a much louder/harsher sound, with both using the same 12" (18" overall) muffler.
I didn't like the little 1 1/2" core inserts in my side pipes so I sliced and diced 4 regular glass packs into 2 longer mufflers with a 2" core. Wrapped them in satin stainless and used the ends of the old side pipes as turnouts. Worked out great for me and they sound deep and mellow until you really get on them.
great thread. Im currently trying to figure out what to do with my exhaust. 401 Nailhead. looking at using 2.25" pipes. Plan to have cutoffs to switch from the 2" side pipes to a muffler system that exits through a Kaiser over rider. Had thought Flowmasters Super 40 or 44 series delta flows for exhaust. But came across a youtube of a 401 with four cherrys bombs that sounded great. Guy said he tested two up front and it was just ugly. then two at the back and it sounded good until highway speeds then two front and back and it works well. Had cherrys on my Buick but removed to run straight pipes (still isnt that loud). Can i get a few tips on glass pack/steal pack/ louvered. Short to long - whats the difference? ie shorter the louder? or is it longer the mellower deeper kinda thing?
I also run Smithy's.. love the sound. Have run glass packs or steel packs forever if possible. Forget the dumb ass comments about getting into the real world. Most any car that qualifies for this group runs some type of them... The newer Turbo mufflers are OK, but never will be old school...
I have worked on everything that rolls...some younger guys came over to the shop with those 'turbo' mufflers...One kid took off full throttle with his 389 Pontiac, The sound was...well, it sounded like a loud, "Brreeeeeee", sounded stupid to me. I still like the muffled sound that has a deep, defined 'note'. "Woooooom..." Cherry bombs do that for me, mine on my 350 in my F100 are 6 year 'worn-in' now, and louder than I'd like. They're 30". I have short tailpipes, and tapered, belled scavengers below the 9" housing...12" apart... Hot Roddd... The guy with the Turlock muffler shop that did the PREVIOUS set (manifolds out, all the way back to turn out under rear fenders, nice oval tips...) looked 'disbelieving' at me when I asked for 2-1/4" pipe going through 40" glass packs! I said, "If it's too quiet I won't be wanting to change, let's just do 40inch!" It was near-silent, just a hint of 'rumble', nice throaty (but quiet) sound on accel, NO crackling on decel. He was damn sure I was gonna say, "Change 'em!"... but I didn't. Everybody said how 'healthy' it sounded, but not 'til ya got up real close... More I think about it, I may just do 40 inch again. These 30s are starting to get my goat, light-footing it past police and CHPs...
I've got 26" Smithy's behind a split manifold on the 235 in my '56 and it sounds great. Thinking of putting 30" Smithy's on my daughters '55 with a 327.
Merc flathead, Red's headers, parts store glass packs on my roadster; ram's horn, Summit glass packs & echo cans on my '55 truck. Run 'em to the back bumper - sound great back there & U can still hear.
Every single one of ALL (past and present) my vehicles had packs (steel or glass). Can't beat the sound, I even found these to go on something in the future.
NO!! you'll let the magic out ?!?!?!?! From what I hear, if you run them long enough you'll find out what's inside as they tend to rot out.
Not a glass pack, and not a Turbo, not even a muffler really, but these spiral or auger baffles from Speedway sound great. If you're running headers with a 3" or 3 1/2" collector, just extend the collector long enough to insert these baffles, and then run your pipes out to the rear bumper for a great sounding exhaust system. Quiet enough that you won't draw the attention of Johnny Law, but loud enough that people will hear you coming. According to my seat of the pants dyno, there was no loss of power after installation.
Hahahahaha.......Yes...they were known to rust out really quick! I don't think they were glass packed...but then again I have no idea if there was any packing at all. Might be just chambers and baffles. ...or nothing at all.
I think the original Thrush were just expansion chambers. I found that if you installed them with the seam facing upward they lasted a lot longer, but that might just be the way I remember it.
New in the box header glass packs. There was a time that a pair of these hanging off white painted Doug Thorley's constituted a complete exhaust system.
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