whats the difference between them? which one is louder? which one is cheaper? which one is better? Is a glasspack used instead of a muffler or is a glass packed used with a muffler? whats the sound difference? thanks!!!!!!!!
Mufflers can be divided into many categories. A glass-pack is typically a straight through muffler that uses fiferglass or similar material to absorb the sound. There are all kinds of mufflers and a glass-pack is just one. The thing with glass-packs is that they burn the sound absorbtion material out faster than almost any other kind of muffler. They are straight through so there are no baffles or chambers to act as a resonator so they get very loud very quickly. Most muffler types have chambers and baffles to help reduce the noise and they are designed to stay cooler to make the sound absorption material last longer. Glass-packs are usually more restrictive than a good high flow muffler with baffles. While glass-pack mufflers are noisier they can hurt performance too.
alright thanks. so let me get this straight: glasspacks are louder than mufflers, but normal mufflers dont take away performance? is that right? Does a glass pack take away power significantly or is it just a small amount? Thanks!!!
I don't think glass packs cause much flow problems. If you into the "whack a coffee can with a wooden spoon" sound, then glass packs are for you. If you want a deep sound, go with some flowmasters, dynomax, etc.
First off, with our cars (mine and Duster's) I don't think we will pick up any extra performance with a glasspack over a Flowmaster, nothing noticeable. So, based on that, choose by what fits and what sounds better. I LOVE the Flowmaster sound and have it on my truck, but think it sounds too much like a truck. Also, there wasn't a whole lotta room under my car, so a pair of 24" glasspacks fit nicely. I grew up with the sound of headers feeding into glasspacks...my dad had them on his 440ci Dodge van. I have used 'packs on a Suzuki Samurai, Chevy Luv Pickup, Datsun 280zx, everything that ever needed a new muffler. They are VERY cheap, and sound pretty good, without being so loud as to trigger car alarms in the parking lot. Also, they just add a little "throaty-ness" to the smaller engined cars, not sounding like the "fart-pipes" the kids nowadays use.
hey scooper since you live in Texas, I heard that glass packs are illegal in some states, are they illegal in Texas?
It's all a matter of personal preference. Glass-packs are not the best-flowing mufflers, and they are not the worst either. The have a mellow tone, and get louder over time as the packing burns out. Most are cheap, and do not last a real long time. There are all different kinds of mufflers out there, and it really comes down to what kind of tone and flow requirements (and budget) you have. Some mufflers cut the high frequencies while allowing that deep bass tone to pass through. Others, like Flowmasters, allow the full spectrum of tone, which also allows that "poppy" high frequency tone to be heard. Smaller mufflers are usually louder than bigger mufflers. Some mufflers are designed to increase exhause velocity for better performance, while others increase back-pressure. Your best bet is to listen to examples and decide what tone you like and what fits into your budget, and go from there...
Nothing is illegal in texas. Literally, if you have nothing on your exhaust pipes, it is illegal, otherwise anything else will get you inspected. I have had glasspacks on all of those cars in Texas. My first glasspack was only $15 and lasted until I sold the truck, maybe 8 years. The 280zx got 200,000 miles on one over my high school, college, graduate school, and then my wife's college years, maybe 13 years or so. If they do "burn out", it just sounds better and flows better afterwards. Feel free to come on down to Angleton and listen to them. I also have Flowmasters on my truck and you can clearly hear what TL is talking about. They really sound good, and you can hear the high pitched pops and stuff...I really like that. getting my flowmasters on the truck cost me almost $400, from the single one-in/two-out muffler, dualled out, exiting past the bumper. Putting the glasspacks on my car from header back, with exhaust dumps, cost me $230. the mufflers themselves were $35 each, I think. The flowmaster muffler was almost $300. Those are important numbers for many of us
Tylar, good example of how to make a smaller motor sound decent with glasspacks. Not obnoxiously loud, but you can definitely hear the growl of the 250. (By the way, I am in no way trying to put down the 250 as being "small"). I could not tell much difference in the Samurai, since we swapped out a muffler with holes for the glasspacks, and it was only a little louder, but "throaty". The 280 ZX with a little more power behind it had a deep sound that I really liked. Same with my chevy luv pickup (4-cyl, don't remember what size). It wasn't loud, but you could actually hear the engine rather than just a hum like with the stock exhaust. With my current slightly modified 302, it is quite loud, and turns heads. I think a good bit of that volume comes from the headers, as it gives the exhaust a more "tinny" sound, then lets the volume remain high as it exits the car. Now, my dad's 440...my dog would wake up when dad was about a mile from the house. I have a 30dB hearing loss (need hearing aides for work), and I could hear him within 1/2 mile of coming home. He also had the header/glasspack combo, and had it since I was 4 years old, so I will always be fond of that sound and the reverberation you feel from it. If I get time tomorrow, I will try to do a recording of my truck with the Flowmasters (5.7 Hemi, basically a 351) and my 302 with the 'packs. I would do it now, but at 8pm, the neighbors might get a little pi$$y.
Glass packs ARE mufflers. Step up to flow masters. I have a glass pack on my Mav (250 6cyl) and it sounds like a ricer. My '63 Ranchero with a built 200 6cyl sounds so much better with a flowmaster. There are different flow masters with different baffles to tune for sound and power. A glass pack will get ya sound, but NOT help power. A flow master will help sound and power. Years ago when stock cars (USAC) had to run mufflers, Cyclone came out with a 3 inch bore racing glass pack. Dyno tests showed that a good baffeled muffler worked better. Glass packs were just cheaper
Hold up Pah'dnah! We are not talking about horsepower here. Duster (and myself) have low performance, low output, streetable cars, and need cheap exhausts that give us a decent (but not a ricer) sound. If we were on the track trying to grab that one last .10 ET, then yeah, we would need that extra flow. But we (and I might be speaking for myself here) just need cheap, but effective and decent sounding exhaust for our 150-200 HP.
