I Hate My Mufflers

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EdM

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
578
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24
Location
Between the Texas Hill Country and North Idaho
My Car
1973 Mach 1 Q code, a 427 Dart based Windsor, Pro Flo 4, Tremec 5 speed, A/C, 12.7:1 steering conversion, SoT coil over and Dakota Digital dash.
My recently acquired 73 Q code has a relatively mild build with ten year old Flowmaster 40's that are too darn noisy. What I want is quiet whilst free flowing as the current Cleveland will be replaced with a 427 Windsor a bit down the road. This is a 2 1/2" system with long tube headers. Suggestions?

 
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Two things I know about mufflers, one is that stainless steel mufflers tend to be made out of thinner material because stainless steel is stronger than regular steel so it can be thinner, right? Well, thinner material transfers noise better and stainless is a little harder so that helps transfer noise, too. Tends to be a little tinny since they don't absorb as much of the higher frequency noise.

The other is size. Comparable, but bigger mufflers are quieter.

 
Have you thought about insulating the interior a little more? Unfortunately having free flowing mufflers with little noise is probably going to be hard to accomplish. I insulated the interior of my car and I still hear the exhaust but not to the point that it's annoying. Lots of different insulation material is available to work with. Good luck.

 
I have magnaflows on a 2.5" system with an x-pipe and Herman shorty headers running out of my 302, sounds awesome and I would recommend them to everyone. The other mufflers I like are spintech

 
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unfortunately there is no such thing as free flowing and quiet so you need to pick one or the other . . the thrush turbos rockett366 mentioned are good and the dual wall stainless dynomax are good . . you can add resonators if they are too loud . . if you want the quietest mufflers possible buy walkers.

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Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers flow well and are much quieter than the Flowmasters.
Agreed. A couple years ago I had some SS Magnaflow, but within 1 year (less than 600 miles) they became very loud. Summit gave me a full refund credit for them with which I purchased the Dynomax. Better, but not as quiet as I was hoping. Unfortunately, we are limited in size if you want to tuck them up and away.

 
Here's what I did after much research on here and forum exchanges:

Hooker Competition headers and collectors; Pypes 2.5" stainless steel Street Pro w/X-pipes exhaust system with Violator mufflers; 3.5" MBRP dual wall polished stainless steel tips. It is a little bit more expensive but should last almost forever and it really gives me the sound I was looking for. It's not real loud which is very important in a 'vert but yet gives me that muscle car sound when I step on it. I get compliments on the nice muscle car rumble all the time. The pieces all fit together really well. I only needed one slight bend where you connect it at the collectors. I did have a shop put it in since I didn't have the exact tools. They were so impressed with the fit and sound compared to other systems they deal with that they are going to start recommending it. Maybe not for everyone but wanted to share.

Cheers and Good Luck!

photo 3 (1).JPG

 
How long have you had the headers installed? I assume no issues, right?

1971 M-code Mach 1
Almost a year now and no issues. To be honest I never even thought about using any other kind of a gasket. From what I understand the Stage 8 Header Bolts really are the difference maker and so far so good!

JHawk

 
Here's what I did after much research on here and forum exchanges:

Hooker Competition headers and collectors; Pypes 2.5" stainless steel Street Pro w/X-pipes exhaust system with Violator mufflers; 3.5" MBRP dual wall polished stainless steel tips. It is a little bit more expensive but should last almost forever and it really gives me the sound I was looking for. It's not real loud which is very important in a 'vert but yet gives me that muscle car sound when I step on it. I get compliments on the nice muscle car rumble all the time. The pieces all fit together really well. I only needed one slight bend where you connect it at the collectors. I did have a shop put it in since I didn't have the exact tools. They were so impressed with the fit and sound compared to other systems they deal with that they are going to start recommending it. Maybe not for everyone but wanted to share.

Cheers and Good Luck!
+1

I got the same system and I really like them. Not really loud in my opinion.

 
I gladly replaced the Flowmaster 2 chamber catback with the Dynomax Super Turbo kit on my stock 4-cat equipped 5.0.

The Flowmasters were literally deafening in the car's interior, even in a convertible.

I've since learned that resonance (especially @2k RPM) is independent of sound output. Yeah, the Flowmasters sounded OK out of the pipe, but the tradeoff was in no way acceptable to me.

+1 for the Dynomax, but everybody's expectations are different. Your mileage may vary.

 
My magnaflows are too fricken loud. I asked for quiet mufflers and they told me these would be great. Removed the Flowmasters and installed these and I have to say that because of my gearing and highway driving my car is always louder than I want it. I have been told my car sounds great from those outside but I am in the car and near deaf because of them. I regret changing to these because they did not solve the noise problem and I also believe they introduce some vibration through the harmonics as well. I have dynamat throughout my car and it is still too loud. Don't let anyone tell you they are quiet because that is simply untrue. I have cams, and longtube headers and that may contribute to the excessive noise.

 
What sort of hangers are you guys using? The fabric strap kind always seem to be too stiff and likely to transmit vibration and resonance into the unibody. What about converting to rubber hangers like on newer cars?

 
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