I'm not sure if you could find them, but Original 1964 Chrysler Emperial Crown mufflers were so quiet that you couldn't tell the engine was running. I used to own one, and left it running all the time accidentally. Oh, and it was a 413 c.i.
Tman, Dad did not do the VOE muffler. It was done by Jim Hall, a former Pontiac Engineer who went on to work at Oldberg Exhaust and AP later in his career. He first did it in about 1964 and the patent issued in 1971 or so, after Pontiac had already stopped using it on 1970 GTOs. The sets I made are really sweet and sound great and are very quiet when closed. I love the ones on my 340 Barracuda. I stopped short in my previous message I posted. I wanted to add that the comments the other have made match what we saw. Big volume with packing does a fine job of noise and sound control as well as resonation elimination. If you use any of the chambered mufflers, you may end up with roar, rumble, and resonation. Many hot rodders can tolerate and enjoy all three but if you want quiet, you need either old stock restrictive mufflers, or "newer" technology ones like Super Turbos or Goerlich's XLERATORS or Magnaflows, or most anything with lots of sound absorbing material inside. Walker's new Dynomax VT does a really slick job of making the inside tone very quiet and the resonation is virtually gone. When you wail on the gas, they get loud like most straight through short mufflers do. They are a little touchy on big cubic inch, high compression, big-cammed cars but the engineers are tweaking them for this now. I love the Super Turbos, and the 17749 or 17748 are both very nice if you need 2.5" pipe size. The old Hemi mufflers, if you can find stock replacements, are also great but most are universal fit ones now. I used to use 1977 Cadillac mufflers on my 340; 2.5" in and out, offset-center with a short fat case. The large Imperial ones were also very quiet but were 22" long I think. Or, you can still get AP's turbocharged Corvair mufflers I think and even though they are short, our testing showed they still worked very well and did a pretty good all around. Tom
Thanks Tom. Exhaust is often an overlooked topic here. Way to easy to make some Limefire type headers and be done with it.
Go to your local parts house with the dimensions of the muffler you need and pick up a walker quietflow. You can usually get the universal fits for around $30.
Walker Quiet flows, I had them on a OT Chevrolet Caprice You cannot hear them inside the car but on a Dual exhaust setup on a 305 the have a nice slight rumble that sounds nice from outside. When I put the true duals on I installed dynomax super turbos on it but they droaned bad at a 50mph cruise in overdrive, altough sounded great at all other rpms. I swapped them out for the Quiet Flow's and was much happier, with the quiet mufflers they are louder when running as duals than when all 8 are going through one pipe. But still cant hear them inside, a very good compromise. Edit: I see someone above me is a much faster typer than I am
If you want it quit on the inside try some dynomat or lizard skin on your floor boards and the inside of your doors. Autozone sells cheap universal heavy duty mufflers that are quit and affordable at around 20 bucks each. Flowmaster has some that are quit as well. Cant remember what series but you can go to their site and listen to the sound bites.
To those astonished: Yes, quiet. Loud exhaust is cool and all, for a little while. After 400-500 miles, it really sucks. Being able to hear your radio (gasp) or talk to your girl (double gasp) is actually pretty nice on a long trip.
Gimpys, That is why I love the VOE muffler, and others like them, so much. Having the ability to run loud when you need to show off but be quieter than stock when you do not is really neat. Ever since I started driving in 1974, my goal was to find an "active" muffler that would allow this. Never did I think back then that I would have had enough pals and connections and parts to actually build them and that other companies would eventually offer things like them too. Tom
I have a 2 1/2 inch exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers. Driving along at 65 MPH you had to yell to hear each other talk. I added resonators and got it down to an acceptable, but annoying level. My conclusion is that headers is the source of most of your noise and if you have cast iron exhaust manifods you will not have to worry about noise. My next step is header wrap next spring. I just had quadruple bypass surgery and will be doing nothing before Spring. JB
JB2, I hope your recovery goes well. As for others, any more experiences between the difference of a muffler and a muffler with a resonator? Or should I just put an additional pair of smaller mufflers? I am going to go with the Dynomax 17749 that was mentioned here, it is also called a Hemi Super Turbo. But now I would like to know more about the resonators. I have already mentioned that I insulated the top, bottom, front, rear, and sides of the car. Can't add anymore unless I modify the upholstery or spray additional undercoating after removing the old exhaust.
The resonators will work to help bring the noise down.So I'm sure it will help.I use to work at euro performance shop and for quick $100 bucks I would cut off the resonators and weld in straight pipe.I did it on the BMW,Benz,Audi's, etc.The owners loved it and they didn't have to spend big money for an exhaust system. What was interesting,internally they looked just like glass packs.The inside was straight through and had spiral louvers.
No, they are mufflers. They are Ron's new take on mufflers. I believe he has a patent pending on them. Not sure about how it effects the volume of the exhaust, but Ron told me his goal was a system that did not generate a drone and was not raspy. He does have some sound clips on the web site. I can tell you, I really preferred the flojo tone on my Camaro over the flowmaster it had before. The other rig I heard them on was Ron's 70 or 71 Chevy truck. It was a 350 SB and it sounded really good on that truck. RustyNCA
I think this was stated already, but it's important - make sure the mufflers are as far back as humanly possible. And the resonators will help.
Wow.. I saw "Auto Zone" mentioned twice in this thread. Good to know you can still get SOMETHING at Auto Zone.. esshhh.. today's auto parts stores are getting down right depressing. I too am looking for a low-tone quiet muffler. Really like what they have in the new mustangs.. nice sound.. not loud.
Unless you are running flowmasters, mount them way back and they sound awful, at least they did on my Camaro. That and my exhaust friend told me he never mounts them way at the back, cuase they sound like ......
I work at Exhaust Pros for a living and if your looking for quiet you need longer and larger....if you have room for any more length Magnaflow makes a series of mufflers that give an engine I nice tone yet let you choose your length for sound. the mufflers we care are 5X9 body size and about 18" long for those who want deep and aggressive. for a little bit more quiet I would recommend the 5x9 by 26 in long body if you have room....good sounds, stainless, and lifetime warrenty!
Reading the Hand muffler test was interesting because of the quite fast "mild" 455 station wagon. My experience on my departed OT G body El Camino....modified 305,2 into one 3 inch pipe routed like a stock pipe,single long body Magnaflow muffler.3 inch tail pipe exits behind leaft rear wheel.Sounded nice,not too loud inside except for an annoying drone at 2200-3000 rpm.Added a 3 inch glasspack near the front and it helped some.
I have yet to hear about resonators and the change in volume. We have put the exhaust in and have room for resonators the size of a glasspack behind the axle. We also have a tiny amount of room for a short muffler between the mufflers and the headers.
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