Ok guys and gals, I am the proud owner of a '62 mercury meteor with a 221 V8 and three speed auto. the drivetrain will be stock except for exhaust, I plan on doing 2" duels with H pipe but I'm stuck between which mufflers to go with!? I want a very traditional sound with little to no resonance on the inside. which mufflers do you guys suggest to give me that traditional custom sound porters or smithy's. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Either will give you the sound you are looking for. The H crossover tubing is not traditional and will affect the overall sound as well. Small diameter pipes with the mufflers as short and close to the engine as practical will give you a little rap when decelerating or coming off the throttle. I run Smithy's on the wagon in my avatar. If I had to do it again I would go with smaller diameter tubing for a little more rap. NAES
This is way I plan the exhaust to look out to the rear bumper. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I've heard that the old Smitty's were steel-packed, while today's Smitty's are glass-packed. Porters are steel-packed. Another thing I've heard is that it's better for the muffler tubing to be perforated rather than louver, which they say actually increases back pressure.
What I've heard is that steel packs are have less resonance inside a vehicle because the steel is densely packed which absorbs more sound vibrations!?! Is this true or marketing Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I go back to 1960 with Smithy mufflers, have not known them to be a "steel packed" muffler. If the O.P. is concerned with interior noise, the long Smithy ( 30" ) gives a nice sound when cruising, not ear drum breaking. Fact is, with the 30's, in vehicle conversation is easily accomplished, until you put your foot into the carpet. I have the 30's on one of my '51's. Nice.
You have to go with the Porters. Have a pair on my SBC powered Model A. Don't need no stinkin' radio. Please pardon the bags ( not airbags dummy ) I covered the electrical while washing the engine. Looks cheesy I know, sorry! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
h pipe will make it resonate inside the car. go without the H pipe. I have porters on my 40 and I love em.
I have used Porters since 1951.and will continue until they are no longer made.AND shitcan the "H" tube..with the "H" tube,use any kind you like,wont make any difference..
This is not true at all. Fiberglass and basalt attenuate sound MUCH better than steel. I don't have charts that show the differences handy but it is significant. Steel does have the advantage of not breaking down and getting blown out of the muffler though. Also, any sort of "glasspack" or straight through muffler like that only attenuates higher frequencies, at lower frequencies the packing has no effect. Louvers can raise back pressure if they are stamped toward the inside of the pipe, but that's not how they have to be oriented. Sound doesn't care, it doesn't need "scoops" to work. It will "see" louvers shaped to the outside of the pipe too. Fun fact about perfs is if the packing blows out they can cause a whistle, louvers don't do that. A drone in the car can be caused by a few things and what drones on a large car may not drone on a smaller one. Long pipes tend to cause issues with drones and raspy sounds so if you want to avoid that it's best to break them up with area changes at least. The abrupt change in area at the outlet of the pipe attenuates a lot of sound. FWIW I used to design mufflers for various automotive OEMs though the on topic cars here were before my time.
I like Smithy's (pronounced Smitty's), they were my Ol' Man's favorite muffler if he ran mufflers. So to me they just sound like a hot rod.
A lot of factors come into play with mufflers: 1st car: 39 Ford coupe, stock 221 Flathead, Cherry Bomb mufflers. Pipes exit in front of rear wheels 2nd car: 32 Ford Tudor sedan, 290 full load Flathead, Cherry Bomb mufflers. Pipes exit in front of rear wheels Sound: 39 is almost as quiet as a stocker at idle. Very mellow at cruise, not loud at all under power 32 is LOUD at idle, mellow at cruise, loud under power. Same mufflers on both, same diameter pipes, huge difference in sound
Walker Continentals. They were THE '60s glasspack, preceeding Maremont's Cherry bomb by a few years. Bullet shaped glasspacks are the '60s sound. The stamped, crimped end caps & rolled shells were gone except OEM stock & replacement. The steelpack muffler started losing ground to the fiberglass in the early '50s due many reasons, and by the mid '60s they're all but gone from catalogs. In the '50s & early '60s, any car with pipes automatically had "Smittys" on it, no matter what was underneath ... kinda like Fridge or Kleenex. H pipes are for dyno tests ...
I have Brockman's mellowtones on my Olds. About 30 years old and still sound great. Also have them on my 56 Ford 312 Y-block. About 1 yr old Very happy with them. Both are steel packs.
Well guys thanks for all the info!! I'm going with Brockman mellow tone steel packs without the h pipe again thanks for the replies and all the info Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A h pipe is shaped like its namesake and relies on exhaust expansion to balance the cylinder banks. A small section of tubing in between the main pipes provides an area for gases to expand into during exhaust pulses. Only a small amount of exhaust flows from one stream to the other as both sides push back and forth in the center section. so gains in performance are noticed from low rpm and give the exhaust a deeper, muscle car-like tone. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That was my question after spending all of that coin on ramshorns and dual exhaust, and then some chucklehead comes along and sez I need to spend more money ta connect 'em back together. H pipe gives better scavenging? Maybe a little more power? An X pipe is supposed to give more power at the high end.
After all I've read and seen it's all about the same for the maybe a 5 horse difference between the two. It's really a toss up because what works on one car may not work on the other it all depends on what you want to do the only real difference is sound Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
friends and i used steel and glass in 50's, steel pks used steel wool, when we put them on then we stuck a garden hose op the exht , filled them w/water, was suposed th blow them out sooner????? nothing sounds like a 55-56 yblk ford with blown stl pks...
Smithy's Porters, or Brockmans, they're all good mufflers for the 50s/60s sound, and yes, put that damn "H" pipe in the scrap bin. In fact in flathead days to get the best sound required "pennies in the manifold". This was done by removing the intake manifold, taking a couple of copper pennies, flattening them out to a somewhat larger size, then filing them down carefully to an interference fit for the oval passages in the intake that carried exhaust gasses up to heat the manifiold and carb. This meant a "cold natured" engine, but it completely blocked all balance pasasages for exhaust from left to right bank, inducing more of a flutter to the sound. The larger the pipe diameter, the less "rap" and the deeper the tone. One of the best sounding(to my ear) ones I ever had was an OT '73 GMC 350 SBC 4 bbl with 2.5" pipes front to back with 30" Mitchell glasspacks.
Brock will make you his mufflers in different lengths, and with glass, steel, or no packing. He also punches the louvers in the inside pipe in a spiral, giving his mufflers a deeper sound. Plus, he and Elaine are great people!