Muffler recommendations

[78C10BigTen]

Your voice is fine BTW. As is your mufflers, to my ears. The one thing that is really good about having your voice in there is one can establish that your talking in a normal conversation volume and compare that to the sound of the truck. Sometimes in a muffler video it's hard to tell volume because the listener can control the volume on the playing device. So I like them. I like the sound, but I would need longer tail pipes, maybe even out the back to tone it down a bit. I'm still rockin a single exhaust with larger than factory pipes so probably not going to change that, but I always enjoy hearing someone else setup.

I actually like the simplicity of my setup. Also in my vid both side windows were up so for real it sounds louder, the phone dont really translate. I dont hate the drone but it dont bother me, but im still in the "i want my truck loud" stage of life, hence why mud tire hum dont bother me either lol.

 

[SirRobyn0]

I actually like the simplicity of my setup. Also in my vid both side windows were up so for real it sounds louder, the phone dont really translate. I dont hate the drone but it dont bother me, but im still in the "i want my truck loud" stage of life, hence why mud tire hum dont bother me either lol.

Ya I don't know what in the hell happened to me. I had 70's Dodge van back in the day with glass packs and turn outs before the rear wheels. I loved it then. I'd not like it now lol. When I bought my truck it had a chrome air cleaner housing on it and I went back to the factory unit because I did not like the howl of the secondarys when towing over the pass, that's how bad I've gotten. lol

 

[Dutch Rutter]

Question, from a dummy who knows nothing about muffler magic, (let the flogging fly if its needed). I'll be going through this ordeal myself soon, so I'm keeping an eye on this thread. Does everyone just hate turbo style mufflers or they junk?

I ask because I believe mine has a set of turbo style mufflers (it's really a guess, as it came from the P.O. with whatever setup it is) and I actually enjoy how they sound good, but only get loud when you put your foot into it. Them plus the H pipe, and full out the side tail pipes gives zero drone. It still sounds good and loud when wanted but without pissing off the neighbors, and without being "shitbox loud".

 

[SirRobyn0]

Question, from a dummy who knows nothing about muffler magic, (let the flogging fly if its needed). I'll be going through this ordeal myself soon, so I'm keeping an eye on this thread. Does everyone just hate turbo style mufflers or they junk?

I ask because I believe mine has a set of turbo style mufflers (it's really a guess, as it came from the P.O. with whatever setup it is) and I actually enjoy how they sound good, but only get loud when you put your foot into it. Them plus the H pipe, and full out the side tail pipes gives zero drone. It still sounds good and loud when wanted but without pissing off the neighbors, and without being "shitbox loud".

I certainly don't hate turbo mufflers. I'm hardly a muffler expert, as you probably know I've been in the automotive repair business either as a tech or manager for a long time. Most of that carrier was in tire stores, I've never worked at an exhaust shop. So I'll impart what I know and try to apply it to our trucks as much as possible.

Since you asked we'll start with turbos. Thrush is probably the most well known manufacture of turbo mufflers. I've had a few though the years on various vehicles. While there are stainless steel turbo mufflers out there in general aluminized will be the most common as will crimped ends, as in the oval part of the muffler is crimped to the ends of the muffler. Honestly for me when I think about old school dual exhaust sound it is the thrush turbo muffler that produces that sound. Probably because every exhaust shop back in the 80's was selling them as an all around muffler.

In my mind a glasspack is the loudest muffler, the factory muffler the quietest, and the turbo in the middle. All three of those mufflers are basically using the same technology. Except the glass pack has only one straight though chamber. The factory muffler and turbo muffler are are very similar. Turbo mufflers are generally shorter in the 15 - 18" range and traditionally have two chambers, but turbos can be had a bit longer (around 20") to they just aren't as common. The factory muffler for a SBC (I said earlier another manufacture), but walker is the correct manufacture for the closest thing to factory you can get. If it's a dual outlet single exhaust system the muffler is 3 chambers and 25 1/2" long. If it's a single out let muffler then it's 26 1/2" long and 2 chambers.

Both the factory muffler (closest thing available today) and the turbo muffler will be aluminized, and have the housing crimped to the ends. The biggest difference is the length and number of chambers. Turbo will reduce the exhaust sound less compared to the factory.

Hopefully this has been helpful. But no I for one do not dislike the turbo in anyway.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Dutch Rutter I didn't even bring up flow master or other welded mufflers. Those are to me at least kind of in a different class than glasspacks, turbos or factory muffler. Fully welded design, 2 or 3 chamber I think is the most common, and of course the largest price tag. I think it's all about what a guy wants to spend and hear, but if you like turbos then run them. If I decide to go dual one day it'll either be dual factory style mufflers or turbos, probably factory as I like quieter.

 

[scrap--metal]

Also how and where you terminate the tail pipes can make a huge difference in what you hear in the cab. Straight out the back at the rear bumper will be the quietest. Sides behind the rear wheels will be next in line, with out the sides in front of the rear wheels being the loudest in the cab second only to no tail pipe or or turned down under the truck which IMO is just terrible in terms of sound and what it does to the underside of the truck. Seriously though the length of the tail pipe and where it terminates will make a big difference in sound. Even taking like the side exit, straight out the side vs angled out the side will make a subtle difference.

^^^ pipe length makes a bigger difference than most people give it credit for. Sure, full length straight pipes are still going to be louder than any system with a muffler. On the other hand, IMO, a full length system will sound better with any "super turbo" muffler when compared to a system with short pipes and comparable top of the line mufflers.

 

[SirRobyn0]

^^^ pipe length makes a bigger difference than most people give it credit for. Sure, full length straight pipes are still going to be louder than any system with a muffler. On the other hand, IMO, a full length system will sound better with any "super turbo" muffler when compared to a system with short pipes and comparable top of the line mufflers.

I certainly agree with that. To me tail pipes, out the side before the rear wheels are done for one reason. Simple and cheap. Certainly not done for sound quality or to keep exhaust way from an open window. I mean it's one 90 degree pipe and a straight section easily assembled at home for about $20. If combined with a factory type muffler it can be acceptable, but a turbo is still pretty loud. I had a friend years ago with a 72 C30 when he bought it was glasspacks, tailpipes out the side behind the wheels almost at the rear bumpers. When he had the exhaust redone he went to turbos with tail pipes out before the rear wheels because he wanted to save on the pipe costs. It was a fair bit quieter outside the truck, but inside it was nearly as loud, since the sound was now literally right behind the window.

 

[scrap--metal]

Does everyone just hate turbo style mufflers or they junk?

I certainly don't hate turbo mufflers.

I actually like "turbo/super turbo" mufflers. I ran a set of dynomax super turbos on my Monte Carlo for years. It was a dual side dump system that exited in front of the rear axel. That fact made it loud at high RPM, otherwise it was an awesome system, and it sounded mean to boot. I still run some generic 2.5" Jegs turbo mufflers in a full length dual set up (with H pipe) on my Camaro that exits out straight behind the rear bumper. It sounds good, and it's not too loud because it's full length.

 

[Shorty81]

I have headers, 3" duals run out and exit behind rear wheels. This is behind big block, Thrush chambered mufflers. Nice low rumble. But if I need 'angry exhaust' I open the electric cutouts!

 

[CalSgt]

Question, from a dummy who knows nothing about muffler magic, (let the flogging fly if its needed). I'll be going through this ordeal myself soon, so I'm keeping an eye on this thread. Does everyone just hate turbo style mufflers or they junk?

I ask because I believe mine has a set of turbo style mufflers (it's really a guess, as it came from the P.O. with whatever setup it is) and I actually enjoy how they sound good, but only get loud when you put your foot into it. Them plus the H pipe, and full out the side tail pipes gives zero drone. It still sounds good and loud when wanted but without pissing off the neighbors, and without being "shitbox loud".

I ran Hooker super comp turbo mufflers on mine with dual 2.25" pipes, they survived about 8 years of daily driving and sounded great with my little bumpy cam. They still seemed like they were in usable shape when I broke the truck down for restoration but the pipes were so corroded I don't think I could have made them look nice.

For the $25 each I paid for them in 1998 they were amazing

 

[Dutch Rutter]

Thanks all for the great info!

I really wish I knew what the ones I have are. But I haven't been able to find any number of branding on them at all. Any ideas by a bad picture? Don't mind the kobbled together looking H pipe.

I could get a sound clip of the pickup after work if OP would like to hear what it sounds like. I swear I'm not trying to completely de-rail the thread here.

 

[Bextreme04]

Thanks all for the great info!

I really wish I knew what the ones I have are. But I haven't been able to find any number of branding on them at all. Any ideas by a bad picture? Don't mind the kobbled together looking H pipe.

I could get a sound clip of the pickup after work if OP would like to hear what it sounds like. I swear I'm not trying to completely de-rail the thread here.

Well, they are flowmasters or knockoffs of flowmasters. Try taking a wire brush to the end caps of the mufflers. Flowmasters will have a stamped number somewhere on the end caps.

 

[Catbox]

Turbo mufflers can sound great.
I ran a set on my '72 Chevelle when I was younger as they were dirt cheap.
They are super simple as seen below.
They usually have an internal "S" shape with the inlet, center, and outlet pipe that are perforated and wrapped in a steel wool material to absorb the soundwaves.

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Flowmasters are different as they are a fully chambered muffler with no internal packing to blow out. They use the soundwaves against each other to cancel some of the sound waves.
Here is a cut away of a Flowmaster 40 series muffler.

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From Flowmaster you can get all kinds of different mufflers with different tones.
From loud as you want to have a conversation in the car simply.

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To go even deeper, you can concern yourself with the CFM of the muffler.
I have read for simplicity you want to have double the CFM of the induction for the muffler selection flow. So if you have a 600CFM carb or injection, you should in theory have (2) 600CFM mufflers in the exhaust.
Of course muffler CFM is not widely advertised, but has been tested by many sources and published on the web for us to peruse like the chart below.

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This is the same as the chart above, just easier to read.

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For way more information than I can remember, look here:

is backpressure hurting your combo?

any automotive engine will run best with little or no back pressure on the exhaust system , back pressure ALWAYS tends to reduce the cylinder fill and scavenging efficiency, this is not a guessing game. you can simply measure back pressure in the exhaust every500 rpm from about 3000rpm to where...

garage.grumpysperformance.com

This fine feller has been collecting information and posting it for years....

 

[Catbox]

My truck came to me with a falling apart muffler shop exhaust on it.
It was all 2-1/4" pipe with some cheap turbo style mufflers under it.
After one of the muffler fell off whilst driving, we decided to whip up a temp exhaust with things we have laying around.
We started with a set of Flowmaster Delta Flow 40's that turned out to be too quiet for our tastes.

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Currently on my truck we have a set of Jones Flow Pack mufflers.
They are 2-1/2" and a single chamber straight through design.

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Simple, cheap, and effective.
They were $25 each when I bought them and work quiet well.
The truck is fairly quiet at an idle and you can just barely tell it has a little cam in it. When you jump on the gas it lets you know.
Currently it just dumps in front of the axle with 45 degree bends that send the spent exhaust towards the ground in front of the tire.
This clip is while we still had the stock exhaust manifolds on the engine.

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Now we have headers on the engine and it sounds even better.
Soon we will be switching it up again for the forever exhaust with 3 inch pipe all the way from headers to tailpipes. The mufflers I choose will more than likely be the original Flowmaster 40 series mufflers after the Magnaflow Cats I have to install. We are going to be using fancy V bands so we can take it apart easily...

 

[82sbshortbed]

Gotta new glass pack in the box you can have cheap if ya want.