Hot Rods Open Headers on a 200 mile road trip - bad idea?

Your an idiot put muffles on it what a stupid ass question back presssure ?

 

Open pipes to sound cool. Ear plugs to keep from going deaf. I love it.

 

fuzzy blue ear muffs and you'll be rad

 

what did you say..say again..o.k. I think I got it...

 

It's not just a bad idea but a dumb idea too.

 

Do the rest of us a favor and put some kind of mufflers on the car. I don't want to have to wear hearing protectors to save my hearing from the guy with open headers next to me in city traffic.

 

Whatever oldtimer. I must be THE ONLY ONE who can hear loud pipes when a bike (or Hotrod) is in my blind spot ...yeah right. You can keep telling anyone who will listen that it does no good, but my own experience is not going to let me buy what you're selling. There are crappy drivers everywhere, and not everything is going to work EVERYTIME, but every little bit helps. Maybe we need to get Mythbusters on this one.

 

No offense intended, but loud pipes don't save lives. Sounds good in theory, not in practice.

I believed this nonsense until I nearly got squashed when passing to the left of a car on a loud expansion chamber equipped two stroke twin (R5). The woman driving was startled as I passed and drifted to the left when she turned her head. Think about what happens when you are startled in such a way - you go toward the sound naturally for a split second. And the noise is much louder after you pass than as you approach.

After mentioning this to a few more experienced riders, their reply was basically, yeah, we know that already.

Love the sound of a properly tuned unmuffled performance engine - in the right setting.

Sorry to go OT, had to comment.

 

What cracks me up is that 98% of the guys who run open headers on thier hot rods also run lame-ass 9.5/1-10/1 motors with 230@050 cams, and most of them are quieter than a decent motor through the pipes. Couple years ago, I was walking through a parking lot, and this kid drove by in a decent looking '55 that sounded to me like it had Dynomax bullets on it. So I asked him "sounds good, you running bullets?" He looked kinda sheepish, and said "open headers".

 

Drove from Phoenix to Reno in a Factory 5 Cobra with side pipes....not as loud as open headers but the sound was great! we used an Ipod for distraction.

 

X2...Or the OP can put megs on it and see if he can irritate each and every person along the way..What an obnoxious thing to do and he probably thinks they look in admaration when in fact they are thinking what an ass...Shit, live for today; when the laws are made that takes the car hobby [no its not a privilage] out at the knees please post your address so we can come looking for you...We got it made here in USA, you should read some of the shit that has to be adhered to in Aussy...Many, many things get overlooked [ah, allowed] when your car is quiet...

 

Holy shit when did the HAMB become a bunch of pussies???? Run whatever the hell you want to. Don't listen to Barny Oldfield here.. Ohh my hearing!!!! When do you want me to install the wash line so you can gossip with the neighbors? Remember when this hobbie was fun and not full of a bunch of Milktoasts!!!

 

I remember when they used to build hots rods to race.

 

Did you mean "you're" ?

Did I just get cyber bullied?!

Do you have a source for 'muffles' ?

 

A 10:1 engine with a 230 degree cam is lame-ass? Well, a 13:1 engine with a 300 degree cam may be healither, but who wants to put $8 a gallon 110 ocatane race gas in a street car. Even a 8:1 engine with a 204 degree cam is pretty damn loud with open exhaust. May sound crappy, but loud crappy. Knida like that garbage truck crappy loud.

 

hahaha.....that make me laugh....thanks

 

GOD NO KIDDING,,,,,Its all for your own good, we all know its not good for your hearing..... so plug your ears... If you got a nagging old lady at home always on your ass, maybe drive without ear protection, lot quieter at the house that way. Some folks sound like they need the ear plugs and tampons. haha

 

Man I'm so glad I check this site regularly to find out about all the things I'm doing incorrectly as a hot rodder (poser). Like just now I found out that the engine in my car is 'lame -ass'. 400" 10/1 Pontiac with [email protected] Isky cam. Exhaust is zoomies with baffles. Guess I better change that right quick!! What should I put in it's place? A period correct flathead with a beehive aircleaner and Smithys mufflers?

 

Yes its a bad idea. it will make you a mad man unless you are

1. already deaf
2. have really good ear plugs (ear muff like you wear around an airplane)
3. have a loud Ipod (but that will make you deaf).

I did something similar and was ready to sell the car before driving it home.

 

I drove an OT car around that was cammin' and ran 10's on motor... It was way too loud and my ears would ring. I drove it to GLD and back one.... over an hour each way.

I also like Chad was in bands for many years, I remember those days of having my ears ring for a day and a half.

 

Didn't have that thought in the least but from what I have seen locally and at some of the bigger events in the area in the past the guy who run open headers a rod events often seem to do so because they may feel that the car doesn't draw enough attention on it's own. Remember the last event you were at and kicking back with your buds and enjoying life and ten cars over was some clown with open headers who fired the car up and gunned the engine a half dozen times every half hour on the hour. All the sudden a bunch of Bubbas go running over to look at his car and he is happy for another half hour before it starts again.

I'm one of those old farts that rode in helicopters with a turbine whining behind my ear or a piston engine barking away behind my ear with a M60 machine gun laying across my lap and that along with being around a lot of loud engines and equipment over the years without hearing protection has pretty well killed the hearing in my left ear.

The car will be fine after the trip but at least take a supply of ear plugs so you can hear people when you get there and hear the phone after you get back. And yes a set of those ear muff hearing protectors would be better yet even if they look rather silly when you are driving down the road. Remember the gal at Roundup a couple of years ago riding in her guy's car with the yellow ones on.

 

lmfao!!

i'm at 11:1, decent sized cam, cleaned up heads. like i said before, i run dumped mufflers. nice, deep, gut shaking sound, but not very loud. the car is happier with no tailpipes. decent mufflers aren't much of a restriction, really. personally, i prefer the sound of a good muffler over the crackling of open headers, at least on the street.

i've seen plenty of rods with zoomies or whatever that were not loud at all. i imagine they're baffled internally? might be a good idea for a long road trip. then you can always remove the baffles for cruising to the local burger joint.

 

I have put alot of miles on my lincoln y block, open lakes headers. Seems like when ya get up to speed70-80 mph the wind is louder than the pipes.Then again I run loud eqipment everyday so I might be tone deaf,ha ha Rob

 

I've driven my T Bucket with Zoomies, 355, tunell ram, gear drive, 10.5 to 1, lumpy ass cam and 4 speed for 6 years on long trips. LOUD AS HELL and loved every single second! 100mph never sounded better!!! The car was recently destroyed and man do I miss her!! DO IT!

 

I've known a few Nascar guys over the last 30 years or so. They have Never mentioned the Noise factor esp " feeling noise ". I would agree about the low compression cars really having little benefit from open exhaust

 

I find it odd that guys get all butt-hurt when somebody tries to give them constructive advice. It's just advice, it's not a mandate. If you want to drive with open headers, do it.

I wish I would have listened to the "old-timers" and took some of their advice. Now that I'm older, I have serious hearing loss due to my job, military service, air tools, loud music, and open headers. I never thought about it at all until I caught myself always asking everyone to repeat themselves. Hell, I've totally lost my hearing on the frequency my wife speaks at . Seriously, you're only immortal and bullet-proof for the first part of your life. After that, you wake up in the morning and you feel like you got ran over by a bus, and you're 100% sober.

Oh yeah, I completely agree with the earlier comments about open headers on a stock engine. Or, the sound of open pipes on a straight 6 with split manifolds. Or, the sound of a stock Harley with open pipes. What makes it worse is the wingnut behind the wheel constantly rapping the throttle because he thinks everybody else loves it, too. Bad-nasty engine? Yes. Stocker? No.