Hello guys, i have put fenton headers on my 54 w/235cu. Now i need to know what mufflers to go with. I seen one that had glass packs on it and it sounded like it was going 70mph,but was about 20mph. I would like a mellow rumble. Any input will greatly be helpful.
Good Mufflers Well ; If you add a crossover , you can run sans any muffler and it'll sound sweet and mellow , even @ high RPM's . the crossover increases power lost by the split system , especially in the mid range RPM's where you do most driving . If you retain the split system , it'll always be raspy and offensive but installing Smitty's 40" (or longer) glass packs will reduce the rapping and crackling the split system makes . Flowmasters will make a LOUD basso-profundo rumble that'll make you tired and anyone under 50 years old , pissed off . Your choice . BTW : Fentons are racing manifolds and so don't help power until the engine is going full tilt boogie , not much use for street use unless you just like noise at the expense of power .
I too was looking into what i should run for my exhaust. I will keep my exhaust manifold, it seems to be working just fine. Right now i have 1/2 a muffler and it dumps out right after the cab. I don't want it to be loud by any means. Would a long glass pack do the trick? Or should I go with some typical muffler? Or would straight pipes be alright? Either way I plan on running the pipes all the way out the back either straight back or our right behind the rear tires. I will have the shop run 2 pipes one out each side, just for looks, don't care about making my truck a hot rod, it will be used as a truck I realize that this is very subjective to the person and the vehicle, but just looking for some additional info, thoughts ideas, input anything
Muffler Choice As was mentioned, muffler choice is very subjective. Like most others, I wanted an exhaust system that was functional, highlighted the distinct sound of an inline 6, yet wasn't too offensive to those around me. My truck has Fentons as well as some other goodies and I'm running a 261 grind cam, 5 speed transmission with my cruise at 70 mph at 2000 rpms. 2"OD duals on the drivers side all the way to the rear bumper so as not to give away my low-end torque. Mufflers to be located behind the cab, under the bed. My first pair were Cherry bomb glass packs which were relatively quiet up to about 2300 rpms where they took on the distinctive bark under WOT. Under 2300 rpms they had a nice mellow tone which was not offensive inside or outside the cab. Having a pair of used 40 Series Flowmasters, I necked them down to match up with the 2" OD pipes. They proved to be noisy even at idle and downright offensive once you hit 2300 rpms under WOT. From the Flowmasters I went to some Cherry Bomb Turbos which lacked the mellow tones on the lower end of the rpm range, but like the glass packs were loud once you passed 2300 rpms. I ultimately went back to the CB glass packs which give me the nice mellow tone through the lower end of the power band, can still bark once you hit 2300 rpms under WOT. With my normal cruising speeds at or below 2000 rpms at 70 mph my cab is quiet......life is good. However, if you're running stock gearing and are pushing you engine above the top of the torque band you're going to be making A LOT of NOISE that isn't going to enhance your over-the-road driving experience and will more than likely earn you a correction ticket from the local law enforcement folks. Once again, getting the most out of your ride involves matching up your cam, carbs, exhaust system, gearing, cab insulation/sound deadening to your driving preferences. I've put nearly 8000 miles on my truck in the past two years and find the driving experience to be as much fun as it was on the first day I put it on the road. Dave
Mufflers I don't run mufflers and the sound is pretty nice to my ears . Smitty's used to make 40" glass oacks , those had a deeper sound than the usual glasspacks do . Flowmasters are only useful on V-8 engines , everything else they make the nastiest noise ! so bad my son the racer took it off his Toyletta race truck .
Thanks Dave & Nate: I have heard flowmasters on a v6 before and it was just bad. on the other hand my buddy had one on his 97 trans-am with the 350 lt1 and wow they sounded great. but what i am thinkin is either a long glass pack or just a regular muffler. I plan on keeping the motor mainly stock as well as the drive train. i would like to get a lower geared rear end in it sometime, but that will be down the road a bit. I will let ya'll know what i end up doing. Still got to iron out some details
Consider ; Building it sans muffler and having the open pipe exit at the rear bumper , it'll be cheaper that way and you may well like the musical exhaust note ~ I certainly do . Then you can add a long glass pack if you want to sharpen/deepen it a bit . Remember this : having the exhaust end before the back bumper , regardless of mufflers or not , makes the cab very noisy as the exhuast noise bounces off the pavement and it telegraphed through the entire sheet metal . Before wheels side dump is the same thing ~ nasty , noisy cab making you like the way it looks but not liking driving it much .
Please consider a crossover pipe before the mufflers. I have a split exaust with glass packs all the way out past rear wheels. It is not loud at high speed but you can still let it pop coasting down hill. It seems that longer pipes have a better pop when coasting. Be respectfull of people and you probably wont ever get hasseled. School buses could really pop when coasting down hill.
thanks to all. What i think i am going to do is to run a single pipe from my stock manifold most of the way back to a long glass pack. Then i will split off from there to run "duals" either straight out the back or behind the rear wheels. this should give me a long run of pipe, and minimize the sound. if that is too loud, then i will put on a muffler. bur right now i have half a busted up muffler and it sure isn't all that loud. it does have a nice soft note to it. nothing like a 350 with headers, a mildly agressive cam, and glass packs.. man did that sound good
Muffler Placement And Noise levels IIRC , putting the muffler closer to the engine will reduce power a bit and make the exhaust note sharper..... I experimented with moving the muffler waayyy back to behind the rear axle and was surprised at how much quieter and more powerful the engine was.... Be aware the muffler will rust out sonner the further back you place it . My muffler guy had a fit when I insisted he move the muffler back as far as I could get it , he was worried I'd blame the early rust out on him but it's been over 10 years and no problems yet .
Thanks for the info Nate. I will have the muffler or glass pack placed as far back as I can. I drove it around the neighborhood the other day for bout an hour or so, and It is fairly loud. I would like to quite it down a bit
Ok Nate here is the exhaust thread I was thinking about. Anybody and everybodys suggestions would be helpful What kind of muffler would you recomend for my Stock 1952 GMC 3/4 Ton with the mighty 228 engine! Any sugestions would be helpful, As my 1/2 of muffler finially fell off. I do NOT want to get into a split manifold or anything like that. I DO want to be able to hear my truck a bit. I realize that this is very subjective, but I would like peoples input on what they have tried/liked. Thanks Brian
If you don't want to get into headers & dual exhaust installations .... You can use a simple inline exhaust cut out. I installed a cable operated one on my parts hauler. You can adjust the sound by simply pulling the cable. Cable knob all the way out for those loud applications {& sometimes flames on a hard deceleration}. Cable 1/2 way out for a fair amount of pop. Cable knob all the way in if a cop is around.
I used to run Hemi mufflers with Clifford headers. They were fairly long mufflers and were kind of heavy 2 1/4" in and out and they had that low quiet sound all the way through the power band and allowed you to hear the cam more. But there's nothing like the sound of a 300 HP. inliner shifting out of first gear in to second at 6 grand with the headers unplugged. .....Big Tim
Sweet thanks guys. I am just trying to weigh all my options here. I really don't want to go back and have this done twice. I would love to hear each of your exhausts!!!
Can you hear me now? Didja hear that? Wait~ How 'bout that? Sorry, but I am one big gas bubble right now and that was just what I needed to read! I think I'll try the Nate style first. _IF_ I don't like it, I can always have a muffler installed by cutting out where I want it to go.
Fwiw I had the local muffler shop install a complete system from the header to tailpipe staight out the back for $200. I didn't think the State Patrol would go for a straight pipe, so I had him install a glasspack. It is very mellow sounding, the State Patrol couldn't have cared less, they were only interested in serial numbers, and if I had it to do all over again, I would install just a straight pipe out the back. IL6 doesn't put out much noise, and you could always add the muffler later if you don't like it and think it is too loud...that and $2 will get you a cup of coffee
