Hi, I would like to know what EXACTLY will happen if I keep my cars muffler off....(I removed it because its not my daily driver anymore and because its like a "work in progress" and because I enjoy the loudness. I am wondering what might happen if I keep running it with no exhaust (i dont drive it), because I have seen on several threads that it is bad for the car, it might wreck the exhaust valves, or it ruins backpressure.....but I also have heard that it does nothing, and that its fine to run my car without the muffler. PLEASE GET ME STRAIGHT ON THESE FACTS!

You may go deaf

How much of the exhaust did you leave on?

And aggravate a lot of your neighbors

Nothing bad will happen. I ran my car for over a year with pretty much open shorty headers and nothing ever broke. The only downside to running without a muffler on the stock exhaust is the crappy sound and the possible legal side effects of it.

You will continue to look and sound silly, while annoying everyone around you!!!!

"i dont believe in mufflers"
- tim allen

i live by that

I believe in mufflers.

I don't know how many things (like alternator bearings) I've heard in the early stages of going bad because I could hear them because I was running mufflers.

The sound of unmolested exhausted is a nice sound. Not extremely practical, in most cases, but it's just one of those things that puts a smile on a lot of faces.

Which is exactly why i am a big fan of cut-outs, particularly electric ones.

i took off my glasspacks, so i pretty much am running straight cats

sorry, but dude....who the **** doesnt love a true muscle car sound?

no offense, but a 305tbi has no "muscle car" sound

there is a big difference between farm truck loud and a good sounding loud.
Put a muffler of some kind on the car, your neighbors will be happier and you will have hearing later in life.

Hey dont make fun of the 305 tbi's, they dont sound much different than a 350. Anyways I have a cutout on my exhaust and i love it. Except on the highway, haha then its just an annoying rumble.

do you even have headers?

I drove my car with no muffler for about a month last summer. With the cat on as well as the intermediate pipe over the axle, I'm sure there is enough back pressure there.

I didn't mean to just lop the muffler off, but was putting on a flowmaster I had laying around with 4th gen t/a tips, then got busy, then got LT1, then planned new exhaust, then said I'll wait till I get a whole new exhaust to crawl under there again. Honestly, it might not sound like a '60s muscle car, but it does sound better than with the weenie stock muffler. And the flowmaster doesn't make it a whole lot louder. Or maybe I'm just a hillbilly and like the sound of uncorked tbi trucks, who knows.

mine came with no muffler on it. basically a straight pipe after the y pipe with a cat on it. and it does have a slight "muscle" tone to it compared to a 305 tbi with a muffler that i couldn't even tell was running ( brought a tear to my eye, not really). my friend tried getting me to get a muffler for it for diff. reasons but i really don't like the sound of it with a muffler. just my two cents though.

Having no muffler is not a true muscle car sound. Muscle cars came w/ a full exhaust, including mufflers. It's quite obvious to anyone who knows about muscle cars when an engine is built and a good runner vs the sound of a stock 200hp v8 w/no muffler..

Muscle cars lope from having a real cam and compression and have a much better torque curve at lower rpms w/a full exhaust..

to all who say a 305 isnt a muscle car sound, and that my car doesnt sound like a muscle car.....when i let it sit and run for about 20 minutes the idle seriously sounded like a muscle car, and what else am i supposed to call it? not a "farm truck loud" my car is louder than that, and i CANNOT drive my car (due to no insurance) so my neighbors will just have to deal with me driving it up and down my driveway

yes i do, i have cats and then i have an exhaust going all the way to the back, but where the muffler would be is just open space ))

Then you don't have to worry about your exhaust valves.

The "issue" is shutting the engine off hot, and some of the exhaust valves will be off their seat. Cold air going back up short open exhaust can unevenly cool the valve and warp it.

With a couple of feet of exhaust pipe, you don't have to worry about this. With a cat installed, no way cold air is going to get back to the exhaust ports.

The biggest issue with your "set-up" is carbon monoxide. What you're running is completely illegal in all 50 of the United States, and for good reason.


(BTW, don't try to lecture me about "true muscle car sound". That dog don't hunt.)

OKAY thanks for the extra facts, but i do know its illegal and i do like some mufflers, but in my case (WHERE I DONT DRIVE IT ANYMORE) I think I can take the exhaust off.....and guess what? THIS DOG DOES HUNT

not to beat the dead horse, but aside from cool air cracking exhaust valves, but water and moisture can get up there easier and rust pistons, cylinders, valves... and crack them too. i'm sure you've heard dont put cold water in a hot engine's radiator or wash a hot motor with cold water due to cracking the radiator and heads... well same applies, although harder if you still have most of your exhaust minus the muffler. more so a problem if you're running headers only or header tubes/no collector.