Hey everybody, im brand new here and to the muscle car world, just retired from imports. Anyways i got myself a 86 firebird with a 305 4bbl. I got some cheap Summit headers on there and the stock exhaust, now i have NO sound laws in my city so i want somethin LOUD! I found these on Summit, called Purple Hornies, honestly never heard of em before http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BI...T/?image=large BUT, i cant decide on either those, or good ol Cherry Bombs. Any advice? Thanks guys.

Please don't put those on a 305. Try something more along the lines of a normal muffler, especially if you are trying to join the muscle car world, whatever that means. You also need to describe what sound you want, or link us to a youtube video of what you like, then we can help you.

Well i spent 5 years working on Japanese 4cylinders so i guess by "muscle car" i mean anything american and V8powered lol

I really just want a low rumble sound, something deep and typical to a muscle car, i know i really dont like the sound that a Corvette makes, actually i really hate corvettes and im sure ill get my head chopped off for that

So maybe some suggestions for it? its just for now, my father and I are working on a 9.0:1 CR 383 stroker with a 177 weiand blower for it, it just got started tho, we got alot of work to do on that motor.
Found the video that got me lookin at the Purple Hornies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyO79nuYgI4

you'll want to consider brands like flowmaster and magnaflow, just to name two out of many. A great way to find what you like is to listen to an engine with similar displacement and see which muffler they use and determine if you like it or not - youtube is great for that just search muffler.

There's a lot to shaping the sound that comes out the end of your exhaust system though, so consider the size of the pipes used, full length headers or shortys or manifolds, and size of the engine. Good luck finding what you like - if it helps I was looking for a nice aggressive rumble and ended up going for flowmaster's super 40 series. you can try starting there.

Alright, i'll check those out. I was just going off the sound of my dad's 72 Chevelle with a 350, it has full length headers 2 1/2" straight pipes with Cherybomb glasspacks as resonators and it sounds 100% beastly and backs up the sound pretty well.
and if u check that video i posted a link to, thats what got me lookin at the Purple's because its a 307, pretty close to 305 in displacement so i figured it would be similar in sound.

If you're going to be supercharging it you don't want glasspacks with filling inside.

What do you mean by "filling inside"?
I dont know anything really about exhaust systems, on my cars it was 3" mandrel bent and use whatever muffler you want cuz they all sound the same lol

And the supercharged motor is going to take some time to build, we're doing it all our selves no shops involved. and im just looking to get the best sound i can out of the 305 in it while i drive it to school and work, i mean the motors gonna last me its only got 90K miles on it and theres no rush to drop my fuel mileage on my daily driver down even more

Check out 87_TA's thread comparing Flowmaster to SpinTech--

I like those Spintech's. Good throaty sound. How expensive would you say those run? im not stacked with cash right now after buying the firebird and all the parts for my 383.. i have maybe 200 for mufflers, the exhaust it self is good just shotty mufflers, and the left one has a nice hole in it

For the past 3 years I've been running a Thrush glass pack on my car. It was installed in the I-pipe about a foot behind the cat. After the pipe when over the rear axle I Y'ed it and installed two 3 1/2" X 18" tips. With the 305 it sounded amazing. Deep and throaty. There was no raspy sound like a flowmaster and I could hear it all the time, idle, cruising, WOT, etc... And, no it didn't sound like some hillbilly's beat up truck. The tips made all the difference in the world getting the deep sound. It was a great setup for what it was. It cost me a total of maybe $80 for the muffler and the stainless tips. It sounded great but it has gotten to be way to loud for my taste now.

But, I just got done hacking it all out with my sawzall about an hour ago because I recently installed a 350 and it needs to breath. Also, I really want to quiet my car down.

I wish I had gotten a sound clip, but I never did.

What brand of glass pack did you use? I really do think i want a glass pack, i dont really care for the rasp you get with the regular mufflers. And thats one reason why ive never liked the Corvette, is because it was too raspy for me, id rather hear the deep rumble of a big block in a real deal 60's muscle car.

See I would think that's the reverse. With Glasspacks sounding raspy

The brand I used was Thrush. I got it from Advance Auto for around $25-30.

No, glasspacks, atleast on my dads Chevelle, give a faulty sound of being mildly cammed with that classic lopy idle and deep growl on rev. i mean when we were moving i drove it here and hit the throttle at a stop light and i had atleast 20 people turn around and stare at it because it was so loud and deep

Alright, i have an Advance here locally, ill have to look into those glasspacks and see if i can get em for my car.

If you want your car to sound like that video your gonna have to do much more that just headers and mufflers. I'm talking about a big cam most of all. an Aftermarket intake and carb would work well with the cam and headers. You just cant put a set a mufflers on a car and expect it to have a loppy sound come from it.

Well it sure doesnt have a cam in it, but it does have a Edlebrock intake and carb, if that makes any difference. its not a bad little set up, but i found a video of a stock 305 in a 83 firebird with just a thrush glass pack replacing the muffler and i was satisfied with the sound so ill be getting one of those for it, it'll work until i get the 383 in there.