Hey i have 15 inch glass packs on my 302, and they work great. good sound at high rpms and a true rumble at an idle with a mild cam. i have the exhaust leaving infront of the rear tires with chrome exhaust turn downs that you can buy at orileys for like 3 bucks. A good set of headers give better sound. My only thing that i when the engine is not full warm, i get alot of backfire, small pops, but they go away with about 5 min of driving.
I dont have a very loud exhaust. but they are louder than the Loudmouth II exhaust that i have herd on some of the new mustangs. I Just wish that i had and X-pipe.
I agree, the pair of 15" 'packs I have sound really good. I just like the sound of glasspacks on hot rods. Mine exit just in front of the rear tires, but without any chrome tips or anything. I am still waiting for the right tip to show up and then I will cut off a couple inches and mount them, or maybe just keep the dead-end pipe like I have. I have a little of the popping when I let off the gas, just a couple of little pops, I assume from the collector area of the headers, and backpressure, etc. Not a "backfire", just pop-pop-pop, lightly...I like it, it lets others know I am coming, and I have a little power under the hood :evilsmile
Yea,but not all of us can afford Cal-Tracs,and a set of "good" slappers(ones that extend all the way to the eye of the spring,not out in the middle of the leaf)work just fine.Ixnay the rubber snubbers & weld a nut onto the end so you can use a large headed bolt in place of the rubber piece.This makes both sides fully adjustable.Redneck maybe,not ghetto. Scooper,I've run glasspacks and they are kinda cool,but the older I get the less I like the "rasp" of glasspacks under full throttle.I'm running Flowtech Afterburners on my truck('77 ford,460,2.5" dual out the back)and they have that Flowmaster sound(only $39 each when I bought them at Advance)but they get some of that glasspack raspiness(word?)under full throttle.Sorta look like a Flowmaster too.BTW,and this is JMO,I hate pipes turned out in front of the rear wheels,if you drive it alot I've seen the exhaust discolor the rear wheel centers('97 F150/4.6 comes to mind).It sounds good turned down at the rear(but lots of resonance/dust storms)but I'm with most guys here..whatever muffler you decide on,run pipes out the back if your gonna drive it alot.
Personally, I would rather not see the pipes at all. On my truck, I put 6" turndowns right after the muffler (40 series Flowmasters). Can't look any cleaner than with no pipes showing. As far as pipes out the back, some guys make it almost invisible, just barely peeking out the back turned down by the valence...I like that. But if you have to see the pipes, I like side pipes or exiting in front of the rear tire. Just has a "drag" look to it. I faught with myself for quite a while trying to decide where to exit my pipes, but finally decided that I like exiting in front of the tires best. I also like the sound better, especially when I am on bridges or overpasses, and the roar bounces off the cement barricades and back to my car...probably similar to the sound the car next to me hears when I pass them by :evilsmile
Oh yeah. gotta love it. the only thing that i changed quickly was to get some turn down tips. If a good rain came i would have a lot of water in the pipes, the only cool part was when id start it up, it would rumble even more, and water would shoot out the sides.
I work at a shop that does custom exhaust. So, I have tried a lot of different combos on my Comet. I like the glasspacks for their small size. Right now I run 72 inches of pipe on either side exiting just in front of the rear wheels. It's all 2 1/2 pipe (highly modded engine) I added a crossover to make it an H pipe. I use 3x24 glasspacks just after the crossover. It's all tucked in under the car except where it exits(only sticks out about 2 inches) No fumes but a little on the loud side. The best part about this set up is that with 8 bolts removed the whole exhaust comes out in 1 piece. That and I only spent $20 for pipe and less than $20 for the glasspacks. I bought myself a six-pack for the labor.
I have them all the way out the back but had those 2 bolt bell type connectors welded in right over the axle. That way 10 bolts and the whole exhaust system from the collectors to the axle easily comes out.
I always try and talk guys into that. It just makes it so much easier. I also weld a flange inbetween the H pipe.
Mine comes off easily, also...my muffler guy knows I am always tinkering (ie. taking things apart) so it all comes off with the header bolts and two mounting bolts at the end of each pipe. I have taken them off at least 3 times since installing them, also took off the rear parts when messing with fixing the lean and adding new springs. Nice to have it out of the way while working on it. No H or X, so I can take of one side at a time while working. I bet an X/H would sound better and maybe give a little HP boost, but I tend to do things the simple way (If I don't NEED it, I TOSS it!).
YUP...and it has. But overall, I get the "chopped" look that I desire. Not too fancy, but simple and effective.
