whats the best sounding exhaust?

I use turbos and a crossover, exit behind the rear wheels. Sounds kinda quiet, but mellow. I like to hear my phone, stereo and anyone who is riding with me.

 

Turbo's are a great alternative if you like the sound of chambered mufflers...but you don't want the loudness of the flowmasters. And they cost about the same as glasspacks.

 

Yeah, if it was a V8 i'd definetly suggest glasspacks. they get a bad rep from a lot people, but I personally dig the oldschool sound. I agree that straightpiped is annoying and just a ridicules(sp) "BAAAAAAHHHHH!" Glasspacks do change the exhaust quite a bit compared to just straightpipes, glasspacks will keep it loud and a bit throaty, yet refine it and give it more of an agressive sound when you give it some throttle, and a mean loopy sound at idle. But with an I6 I dont know what to tell ya. ha.

 

272-292-312 Ford y-block with glasspacks..... how sweet it is/was

 

Do the glasspacks with bigger diameter inlet/outlet pipes have a deeper tone, or are they just louder?

My Malibu wagon is running stock manifolds with 1-7/8 in/out glasspacks, and I like the general volume & sound, but I was thinking it'd sound even better, maybe not so harsh a "cackle" with a deeper tone.

I used to have some 3" glasspack style header mufflers off of fenderwell headers on a 440 powered 69 Dodge Dart.....but with a built motor, big-tube headers and the mufflers bolted directly to the header collectors, the apocolyptic, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it sounds that came from that car is hardly a comparison LOL

 

Bigger diameter = Deeper tone
Smaller diameter = Louder


i cant stand some glass packs installations they sound just as bad ass those fart can mufflers.....

But then there's some that sound great like this one:

 

Then there's the length of the glass pack to consider too, so I'd assume the longer the glass pack, the quieter/mellower it would be

Most glass packs are in the 12"-20" length range......the ones I have my eye on are 2-1/2" in/out and 36" long.


another afvantage of glass packs over mufflers is they're not as bulky and don't take up as much space, especially side-to-side, which can be an advantage on lowered cars or where there's limited room in/under the chassis.

 

yeah but almost every kind of muffler is available compact now, they even have flowmasters like that . I would just choose a magnaflow over a glasspack, since they're like a modern glasspack. But they use stainless mesh instead of the fiberglass that will burn out eventually.

 

Good point, but for us old guys, the fiberfill burning off will just make our cars get louder as our hearing gets worse with age....that way, we can still hear our cars and feel like young hot-rodders! LOL

I haven't priced the Magnaflow or other brand steel mesh packed mufflers.....but at $29 for a 3" in/out, 30" inch long glass pack, if the fiber filling lasts a reasonable length of time, they might still be quite economical by comparison.

I do agree with you on one point though, you have to set-up and tune a glass pack exhaust system.....otherwise, most just sound loud and obnoxious, and not in a cool, "performance" way either.

I'm post glasspack generation anyway....in my day, glasspacks were already old-school......when it came to mufflers, it was either "Turbo" or "Hemi"....and no specific or popular brand. I think it was Walker that put out both Turbo and Hemi style mufflers, and was the brand of choice, if there was one.

You went Turbo mufflers if you wanted a deeper, throaty sound with some added volume, or went with Hemi mufflers for that distinct metallic "tinkle" that accentuated cam lope with a more factory muscle car-like volume.

There's alot more advanced technology and significantly more variety and choices today, that's for sure.


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I had never even heard of a Hemi muffler before, im going to go do some research on it

 

This was in the mid-to-late 70's, early 80's. The "Hemi" mufflers were wider and flatter than the standard Turbos of the time. I don't know if Hemi was an official name, or whether they were the style used on the old Hemi cars of the 60's and 70's, but that's what they were known by in SoCal back then....go to any muffler shop and ask for Hemi mufflers, they knew what you meant. They had a unique sound.....quieter than turbos, but a nice muscle car tone.....a little "tinny", if you had a cam, it really brought out the lope made it sound "crisp", and had a nice powerful but understated tone at speed.

If I remember, Walker (Now Dynomax) combined the Turbo and Hemi muffler....I don't know if the mix made for a mellower Turbo, or a louder Hemi....

Yup, Here's a parts site listing Walker/Dynomax "Hemi Super Turbo" mufflers

http://www.taperformance.com/products.asp?cat=246


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thanks for the info

here's something i heard on another forum

 

Here's some Hemi Super Turbo vids.....

a 67 Coronet 440, headers:



A 5.3 Sierra:



and a 65 Chrysler 300

 

I like magna flow and spin tech

 

Mine sounds the best

2 Chamber flows with an H pipe...