So, anyways, I had this '82 Supra with 235,000 miles on it, and the tailpipe decided to attempt an escape. Completely cracked around the entire circumference, just aft of the manifold.
Man, was that sumbitch loud. It was great! A nice, smooth inline six just sounded wonderful taking off at red lights.
Got a bit annoying at cruise, though, so after an abortive repair with muffler tape that lasted for 5 seconds after I put the car into gear, I decided to stop by the Depot and pick up a nice metal hose clamp, which fixed things for good.
Well, current car's an '88 Supra, non-turbo, has about 140,000 on it, and the muffler's not so much trying to escape as it is limping towards its grave. Kinda neat, actually, as what with the various pieces of sheet metal flapping around I get to hear three different noisy resonances as the engine spools up. Really loud at 1000, quiets out until 2500, gets LOUD until 3200, and then shuts up unless I hit 4000.
But anyway, I'm sick of it. Need a new muffler. Trouble is, my knowledge of cars is mostly academic. I know what a muffler does, and how it does it, and between my tools and Chilton, could very probably manage to swap it out myself without buggering things up too badly. However, I don't know which particular muffler to get.
I do know I'd like it to be inexpensive, since I'm mostly (not all-the-way, but mostly) broke. I would not mind it being a bit less restrictive than the stock muffler. I do not want it to be a big ricer ashcan that makes the car sound like a chainsaw engine trying to pull a gravel truck up a steep grade.
Can anyone offer any suggestions? 'cause if they could, that'd be neat.