I have a 76 maverick with a 250 l6 and I was just wondering if a muffler or a glasspack would be better. I dont want it to be super loud and I dont want it to sound like crap. I just want it to have a nice aggressive sound. Thankyou for any suggestions.
It is touchy making a 6 cylinder sound good and that is pretty subjective too. What sounds good to one person may not be what you are after. There are a few youtube vids out there where you can get a better idea what a system sounds like. Keep in mind those are subject to whatever camera/phone was being used to record it. Cheap camera will make anything sound tinny. I saw one video once, too, where the guy jumped in the car when it was cold and stumbling, and I am sure it would have been much better had he let the car warm up. It is pretty safe to say stay away from glasspacks. If you like how they sound from the start, that will change as the packing burns out. There are some really good chambered mufflers out there that aren't very restrictive. Frank, what stuff is Jeff running?
I used to be a big fan of glasspaks, and never had one blow out. Then I went to flowmasters, but they are a little too aggressive in volume, but I sorta like the sound. Just recently, the flowmaster on my 11 year old truck wore out (welds holding the baffles rusted and it rattled) and the muffler guy convinced me to use a Magnaflow. Basically a glasspak, filled with stainless wool instead of fiberglass, and shaped like an oval muffler. On the one in my truck, you can almost stick your arm straight through it, just a straight tube with holes in the sides to let the sound absorb into the fiber. Much quieter, but still aggressive tone.
I have a 6-2-1 header with a 2-1/2" pipe going to a 14" long turbo muffler then it splits out into two 2" pipes going over the axle and side exiting behind the tires. More detail and video on my website. http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/maverick_43.html
I just listened to Jeff's video .... I think that would be the answer! Doesn't sound like any six I have ever heard before. I agree with the idea that it sounds a bit like a hot flathead .... nice job.
as always it depends on...size of pipe, length of pipe, muffler (lenght-chambers and baffling) manifolds (stock/header). I had the same setup as Jeff and was told it sounded like a 5.0 Mustang...I used the same muffler shop as Jeff.
It also depends on the motor in front of it all ... lol. I had my pipes put on when it still had the original 302 with just a 4 bbl added. Leaving the muffler shop, my buddy said "let's hear it!", so I let it rip. His review was " it sounded great, except there was an odd clapping noise out of the passenger side". We wrote it off as one pipe being bent different. I proceeded to hammer on that motor for the next 20K miles .... it finally find died due to a cracked piston ... on the passenger side. I put the 351 in there and the exhaust sounded fine .... I think that 302 was wounded for a very long time .... lol. It drove great, didn't use a lot of oil, a real head-scratcher .... probably too loose to seize until it got horribly bad.
ive got a cherry bomb glasspack on my car now and hate it, i had a 40 series flowmaster and wanted a little more sound, now i got to much, but i did like the flowmaster muffler and im going back with it, glasspacks to me are just too loud, and i should of known better... but alot folks like them especially if their engines are cammed...
yeah ... I read that. Jeff's 6 is remarkable. It is a challenge to make a 6 sound good. The point of me telling my bit there is sick motor/odd sound vs overly healthy, hot rodded motor, the same exact pipes sound fine.
A "glasspack" is a muffler. There are several different types of mufflers. An I-6 really doesn't sound very good with a loud muffler. I'd go with a stock-replacement muffler. A V-6 sounds really good with glasspack (or two). An I-6 - not so much, and definitely stay away from Flowmaster for an I-6. That will sound horrible. If you simply must have it louder than stock, then the longest glasspack you can find, or a turbo-muffler will be the least of all evils.
