Need advice on Exhaust!!!!!

Hi Steph,

When it comes to exhaust, you can read all you can, and listen to everyone's opinion, but in the end, there's no subsitute to actually hearing a car with a setup close to what you want and saying "That's what I want my car to sound like!".

It's probably the wrong time of year to give you this advice, but the best thing for you to do is hang around the Orange Julep or Cure Labelle and listen to some cars. Find one you like and ask the guy what he's got. Most car guys love to talk hardware.

That said, I had a Flowmaster on my Firebird, and I didn't like the sound at all. I researched and researched, bought exactly what I wanted, and in the end, I wasn't happy.

My '65 always had Blackjack headers, 2.5" pipes (no cats or X/H pipe), and shorty Thursh Turbo mufflers. Awesome sound!

My '97 has 2.25" pipes, an H-pipe, no cats, and shorty Walker Turbo's. It's okay, but it drones at about 2000-2500 RPM. Just give me a ring at lunch and you can come listen to it.

Hey RT,

Send me an e-mail and I will get right back to you. Not exactly sure who you are but let me know.

"RT" wrote | | When it comes to exhaust, you can read all you can, and listen to | everyone's opinion, but in the end, there's no subsitute to actually | hearing a car with a setup close to what you want and saying "That's | what I want my car to sound like!".

I agree completely. I had my heart set on a set of side exhaust by a well known company. I saw a Stang with them on it one day going the opposite direction and filiied a U turn and followed her several miles until she pulled in somewhere where I could talk to her. She was really nice about it (after she figured out I wasn't a fruit loop) and let me listen to it.

I didn't like the sound at all and it completely changed my mind on that idea.

Kate

Steve,

If you leave everything else basically stock, you will see near ZERO performance gains from "anything" you do with your exhaust system, unless you make the new one more restrictive then the stock system. You can also rob your low RPM torque if you open your exhaust system up too much, you have to maintain the "right amount" of back pressure. Exhaust systems DON'T give you or anyone any power, period. The power is produced by your engine, if you have some "power" that is being restricted by your exhaust system, then a better exhaust system would allow your engine to produce that power. So unless you make some performance changes, cam shaft, heads, injection system, etc., all the X pipe or H pipe stuff doesn't really matter. You are really talking about many hundreds of dollars for maybe if you are lucky 1 or 2 horsepower, which is really silly.

Basically the only thing you are going to do by changing your exhaust system is change the sound it makes. The thing I like about the Flowmaster muffler is that it keeps most of the noise going out your tailpipe instead of vibrating through the inside of your car. So inside you can hear the distinctive tingling of the headers and the roar of the engine and there is a great sound coming out the tailpipes. There are many street cars running sub 12 even 10 second quarter miles through Flowmaster mufflers.

Warning, Having run a straight pipe exhaust system (the window rattling would have made these current day "bass" stereo system guys very envious) on one of my cars ('71 Torino 351CJ) for about a year (one year too long) as a teenager I can attest to the fact that that extreme low tone drone can take any person with exceptionally good hearing and reduce them to a person with severe low tone hearing loss. At least the Harley Guys aren't riding around in a portable echo chamber. :-)

Once I put a new complete dual exhaust system with good high-flow QUIET mufflers on that car it was near magical how I suddenly became invisible to the police. :-)

Good Luck with your exhaust system

Mustang's want to drone, I assume it's the length of the pipes that causes it but I can't say for sure. What I do know is that in order for the factory to get around this problem they used two different length mufflers. The only place I know of that makes performance (turbo) mufflers specifically for the Mustang is Midas. They are only available in 2.25 diameter and will cost a pretty penny installed. On the up side, the car was a lot more responsive and much easier to live with once I trashed the Flowmasters and replaced them with the right mufflers.

Get Flowmaster's 2 chamber 40 Series DELTAs.

DELTAs do NOT have the dredded drone like all the rest. The are designed to eliminate the drone.

I have them on my 89 5.0 LX and LOVE the sound! REAL Aggessive under WOT !!

-ERIC